2002 Adelaide 500

The 2002 Adelaide 500 (known for naming rights reasons as the 2002 Clipsal 500 Adelaide) was the fourth running of the Adelaide 500 race. It was the opening round of the 2002 V8 Supercar Championship Series and was held from March 15 to 17, 2002. The weekend was dominated by the Holden Racing Team outfit. In particular, defending champion Mark Skaife claimed pole position and won both races. Teammate Jason Bright also exhibited strong pace and had led the first race until a handful laps remaining when he made contact with the wall, damaged his rear suspension and forced him out of the race. This year saw the introduction of the new 'sweeper' configuration at turn eight. The new addition would become of the most challenging and feared corners in Australian motorsport. == Background == The format, unique to V8 Supercars, and loosely similar to the Pukekohe 500 format, splits the 500 kilometre event into two separate 250 kilometre-races, each held on a different day. Points were assigned separately to the races, with Race 2 paying double points over Race 1 (180 points for a win in Race 1 and 360 points for a win in Race 2), and they combined to award a round result. The defending event winner from 2001 was Jason Bright of the Holden Racing Team. Following a spate of incidents over the previous two events, the turn eight chicane had been altered into a sweeper for the 2002 event. The corner would be taken in sixth gear with little in the way of lifting and would become a staple of the circuits characteristics for years to come. === Entry list === On the run-up to the event, the rising popularity of the category led to an influx of entries that the paddock could not accommodate. As a result, pre-qualifying would take place at the nearby Mallala Motor Sport Park with 41 drivers vying for 36 allocated spots on the grid. Those who failed to qualify included Tomas Mezera for Imrie Motorsport, Greg Crick and Ross Halliday for Halliday Motorsports, and Dugal McDougall for his privateer outfit. Trevor Ashby took part in official practice for pre-qualifying but did not partake in qualifying itself. As a result, this gave Ashby his 60th and final V8 Supercar entry. == Race report == === Qualifying === === Top fifteen shootout === === Leg 1 === === Leg 2 === === Round results === == Statistics == Provisional Position - #1 Mark Skaife - 1:22.1273 Pole Position - #1 Mark Skaife - 1:22.7698 Fastest Lap - #1 Mark Skaife - 1:23.7200 (new lap record) == External links == Official race results Official V8 Supercar website == References ==