Last year's Clipsal 500 Adelaide.
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By Briar Gunther 6:07 AM Wed 10 March, 2010
Source: BigPond Sport
Adelaide, as V8 Supercars’ ambassador P!nk would say, is getting the party started for a rocking four-day festival of music and motor racing with the V8s headlining the weekend.
To use the words of the event’s boss, Jason Allen, the Clipsal 500 Adelaide is shaping up to be an “absolute cracker”.
Fans were given a taste of this year’s liveries when the first two events for 2010 held in the Middle East were beamed back to Oz last month and now they can see the gleaming paint jobs for themselves.
But the burning question is whether TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup can continue his winning streak this year.
He won both races at the Yas V8 400 in Abu Dhabi and a week later took out the two races in Bahrain at the Gulf Air Desert 400.
Past form at Adelaide shows that Whincup is right on target to make it six wins for six races. In the last two Clipsal 500 events Whincup took all the pole positions and race wins and he is gunning for a record fourth Clipsal event win this year.
But the Ford drivers will be keen to topple the TeamVodafone driver’s dominance.
Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom trails Whincup by 57 points and wants to close the gap at the Clipsal 500.
Stone Brothers Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen wants to retain his current Championship position of third, while Jim Beam Racing’s James Courtney reckons he is up for a “street fight” at Adelaide.
Courtney’s teammate, Jonathon Webb, is one of four drivers making their first Clipsal 500 starts.
The others are Gulf Western Oils Racing’s Daniel Gaunt, Fair Dinkum Homes and Sheds Racing’s Karl Reindler and Kelly Racing’s Tony Ricciardello, but Webb, Gaunt and Reindler have all raced the Adelaide Parklands circuit in the Fujitsu Series.
The Clipsal 500 Adelaide marks the 50th Championship start for Bundaberg Red Racing’s Fabian Coulthard, who is hoping for a better result than the ones he had in the Middle East.
After the racing is over each day, the Clipsal 500 Adelaide has a bunch of music acts on afterwards including Status Quo, Mental as Anything, Ian Moss, Eskimo Joe, Hilltop Hoods and plenty of Australian Idol graduates.
For more information head to www.clipsal500.com.au
