To celebrate the launch of the new 2019 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship (also known as the 2019 Supercars Championship), on-demand live-streaming service Kayo Sports has launched an exciting competition to capture the imagination of supercar fans Down Under. One lucky fan will receive the chance to win a brand-new Holden Acadia as part of a competition that marks the beginning of the new season at the Superloop Adelaide 500. Fans of V8 Supercars will already understand the importance of endurance and concentration at the wheel, and entrants to the Kayo Sports’ “Can’t take your hands off Kayo” challenge will experience an endurance challenge.
The competition will whittle down to 25 finalists that will drive head-to-head in the ultimate test of endurance at the wheel — but not in the way you may think. The contest will require all 25 finalists to place one hand on the vehicle, and the last person remaining with their hand touching the car wins the seven-seat Holden Acadia worth almost $65,000 (AUD). Willing entrants were asked to submit a competition entry and explain in no more than 25 words why they deserve to win a brand-new Holden Acadia. The competition was scheduled to take place within the Superloop Adelaide 500 precinct in the build-up to the first big weekend of racing in 2019.
McLaughlin Looking to Win Back-to-Back V8 Supercars Titles
Scott McLaughlin confident of winning successive V8 Supercars championships. (Photo by Kytabu / CC BY-SA 3.0)The 15-race 2019 Supercars Championship will see Scott McLaughlin battle to retain the crown he wore at the end of the 2018 season. McLaughlin is the overwhelming 9/4 favourite with the most leading bookies in Australia to retain his V8 Supercars Championship title from last year. For him and others, the Superloop Adelaide 500 is a fascinating place to start the 2019 campaign, especially with the racetrack celebrating its 20th anniversary since the V8 Supercars Championship first took place at the street circuit back in 1999. Driver Jamie Whincup is the most successful Supercars driver at the Superloop, winning four of the Adelaide 500 events, along with 10 individual race wins and seven ARMOR ALL pole positions.
Reigning champion McLaughlin will also hope to break new ground in Adelaide, with the first race of the 2019 season his 200th start in the Supercars Championship. Prior to 2019, McLaughlin has never managed to finish in the top spot, stacking a host of runner-up finishes to his name, the most recent coming in the Sunday race of the 2017 campaign. Nevertheless, McLaughlin will be in good company for the start of the season, with the grid boasting six former winners of the Adelaide 500 in the shape of Courtney, van Gisbergen, Kelly, Davison, Percat, as well as Whincup.
Superloop Adelaide: The Ideal Championship Starting Point
The Adelaide 500 has long been one of the most dramatic of events due to its tight, meandering street circuit. To date, no Adelaide 500 race has ever recorded a 100 percent finishing rate, although 2018 saw only one retirement from the 26-car field in the shape of Jamie Whincup. The Vodafone Safety Car is almost always required too, with 36 of the 42 meetings needing the Safety Car to restore order amid the madness of the Adelaide 500.
The V8 Supercars Championship will welcome two rookies into the field at the Superloop Adelaide, with Macauley Jones and Garry Jacobson both setting out in their maiden championship seasons in 2019. However, that’s not to say that either driver lacks experience around the Adelaide street circuit. Jones has appeared in 10 Super2 Series races around the Adelaide streets while Jacobson has once won in the Super2 Series.
Meanwhile, all the pre-championship talk was about the appearance of the new Ford Performance Mustang for the 2019 season, with reigning champ McLaughlin waxing lyrical about the impact of the switch to a linear spring. However, other teams struggled to get to grips with the linear spring change in practice, with the onus increasingly more on the driver refinement and technical ability as opposed to raw speed.