1. The Sandown 500 has a long and distinguished history. The first
endurance at Sandown was the 'Six Hour' back in 1964 followed by another
six hour race in 1965. After a two year absence the race returned as a
three hour event in 1968 before becoming the Sandown 250 in 1969. It
went metric in 1976 to become a 400 kilometre race and was extended to
500 kilometres in 1984. In 1999 the race was dropped in favour of the
Queensland 500 but returned in 2003. The 500 though had been a
Championship round prior to 2003. Back in 1976 and 1977 the race, along
with three other long distance races, was included in the series and on
both occasions Peter Brock was the winner in a Holden Torana as part of
his run of seven consecutive victories in the race from 1975 to 1983.


2. Russell Ingall took victory in the last round at Oran Park and team
mate Marcos Ambrose backed him up with second place to give Stone
Brothers Racing their third ever quinella. The first was at Queensland
Raceway in 2003 when Ingall won with Ambrose second while the other one
was at Sandown last year.


3. Holden's Todd Kelly shares the Number Two car with Mark Skaife for
this race and that will leave two drivers different ends of the spectrum
to share the second HRT machine. Jim Richards is the fourth most
experienced driver in terms of Championship starts while his partner
James Courtney will be making his Championship debut. Courtney won't the
first driver to make his V8 Supercar debut for HRT in the Sandown 500.
Back in the 1994 the team gave a driver to a young Melbourne lad, Craig
Lowndes, a chance and he repaid them by putting his car on Pole.


4. Since the endurance races were added to the Championship in 1999 it
has given the opportunity for a number of co-drivers to get a win or a
podium finish. All of the top three finishers at Sandown last year
featured a driver gaining his best Championship result. Greg Ritter
teamed up with Marcos Ambrose to take his maiden win while in second
place Cameron McLean claimed his first podium finish, as did Warren Luff
who took third place with Steven Johnson in the DJR Falcon. In 2003 Luke
Youlden showcased his talent by co driving the second placed Falcon with
Steven Ellery.


5. If a Holden driver can qualify in Pole position it would take their
Generals' total to 16 - equal with Ford - at Sandown. But when it comes
to total wins the red team has a slight edge. Holden teams have won the
Sandown round 16 times to Ford's 14. Since 1999 the manufacturers have
swapped win every year - Holden, Ford, Holden, Ford, Holden, Ford.


6. This round at Sandown marks the second anniversary of Mark Skaife's
last victory in the Championship. In 2003 he shared the winning car with
Todd Kelly and he has now gone 25 rounds without a victory, by far his
most barren spell in the Championship.


7. Mark Skaife might think that he has gone a long time between wins but
this weekend, Glenn Seton racks up a, somewhat, unwelcome milestone.
This will be his 100th Championship start since his last win. Seton has
had 17 wins in the Championship with his first being at Calder in 1987
and his last, so far, being at Eastern Creek in 1997.


8. This will be the 36th time a Championship round has been held at the
Melbourne circuit and will further extend its record as the most used
track in the series. It was first used in 1965, when the title was
decided over a single race and was won by Norm Beechey.