VALO Adelaide 500 Full Wrap

The 2022 VALO Adelaide 500 has provided all the fanfare, fairytales and festivities that the four-day event has long been known for, thrilling the 258,200 people who flocked through the gates over the course of the event.

 

On the last ever weekend the Holden Commodore would be raced in Supercars – and in the town that Holden was founded in – Holdens dominated the races, taking a 1-2 finish on both Saturday and Sunday.

 

The two teams to have had the honour of being the factory Holden Racing Team over the years shared the spoils, with Walkinshaw Andrett United’s Chaz Mostert and Nick Percat finishing in the top two places on Saturday, and Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Broc Feeney winning ahead of Mostert on Sunday.

 

It was 20-year-old Feeney’s first race win to send out the Holdens on a high.

 

But there was still plenty for Ford fans in the crowd to cheer about, with Mustang drivers Cam Waters, from Monster Energy Racing, and Anton de Pasquale, from Shell V-Power Racing, finishing top in qualifying and securing pole positions in the two Top Ten Shootouts.

 

De Pasquale and fellow Ford driver James Courtney, from Snowy River Caravans Racing, took third place in each of the races to represent the brand on the podium.

 

The races themselves provided many exciting moments, with the highs and lows of motorsport experienced by fans as they celebrated passes and position gains, and bemoaned crashes and racing infringements for their favourite drivers.

 

Meanwhile in the support categories, Aaron Cameron smashed the Adelaide street circuit’s lap record during qualifying in the S5000 Tasman Series, an open-wheeler category.

 

The fresh surface of the circuit combined with the race car’s extreme speed to topple the record by almost 2.5 seconds to 1:15.4972.

 

The total crowd to attend the VALO Adelaide 500 was 25 per cent higher than the last time the event was held in 2020.

 

While South Australians headed to the circuit in their droves, the event also drew in race fans from as far away as Abu Dhabi, the US and the UK, including Royal sports couple Zara and Mike Tindall.

 

Spectators relished the return of many off-track favourites such as the Royal Australian Air Force’s F/A-18F Super Hornet which took to the skies above the circuit; the activities in the Family and Activation Zones and car displays for Holden and Jaguar’s 100th anniversary.

 

They also cheered on the support competitions, ranging from the Boost Mobile Freestyle BMX Invitational, which was won by Great Britain’s Kieran Reilly, to the maii Little Le Mans competition for children in pedal cars on pit straight.

 

The Holden Tribute Cruise from Elizabeth to the track on Saturday morning attracted more than 200 vehicles.

 

The 2023 VALO Adelaide 500 will be held on November 23 to 26.