This year’s running of the ArmorAll Gold Coast 600 marks the twentieth anniversary of motorsport on the streets of Surfers Paradise, with the V8 Supercars having been part of the action on this challenging street circuit since 1994.

This year’s event will provide race fans with plenty of action, with the grid’s 28 regular drivers being partnered by 28 ‘international class’ drivers from categories such as Formula 1, IndyCars, sports cars and international touring car championships.

Just how will the main players fare this weekend? And how will the international drivers – very acclaimed drivers in their own right – cope with the added challenge of being out of their natural environments?

Richard’s F1 previews this weekend’s action and takes a look at some of the talking points leading into the event…

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The Circuit

2011 ARMORALL GOLD COAST 600

Tight street circuit confines and guest international drivers make for plenty of carnage!

Located in the heart of the Queensland resort town of Surfers Paradise, the current layout of this temporary circuit came into being in 2010, when event organisers decided to shorten the 4.47-kilometre layout used for the previous two decades when the IndyCars Series used to call the event home.

Now shortened to just under 3 kilometres in length, the new circuit still poses a terrific challenge for drivers.

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The Players and Form Guide

Last year’s running of the ArmorAll Gold Coast 600 saw the event achieve ‘international’ status for the first time when a range of overseas drivers were brought in to join series regulars as their co-drivers for the weekend. The event proved such a success that organisers brought the formula back for 2011, albeit this time expanding the ruling that all 28 cars must field an international driver as a co-driver.

However, some sloppy scheduling issues have resulted in drivers from the FIA World Touring Car Championship and DTM championship being unable to take part this weekend, as their own series have championship rounds happening at Suzuka and Hockenheim, respectively. Here’s hoping they can coordinate their efforts better next time around…

The co-drivers are going to play a crucial role this weekend, particularly in the Team Vodafone camp, where multiple ChampCar titleholder Sebastien Bourdais will be partnering Jamie Whincup, while V8 Supercars championship points leader Craig Lowndes will be joined by former three-time World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx.

While both are among the most successful of all the international drivers here this weekend, Bourdais and Priaulx will have extra pressure on their shoulders, as a single slip-up for either of them could effectively destroy the championship hopes of their respective partners.

For the first time all season (and indeed, five years!) Lowndes finds himself leading the championship battle after team-mate Whincup’s mechanical troubles at the Bathurst 1000. Having come into the Bathurst weekend trailing Whincup by 92 points, the resurgent Lowndes left with a 100-point advantage after finishing second at ‘The Great Race’.

The pair will need to keep an eye out for that race’s winner, Garth Tander, who’s enjoying a late purple patch in his HRT Holden Commodore. The West Australian has an enviable record at Surfers Paradise, with seven race wins to his name on the street circuit. His record is incredibly consistent: he’s finished in the top-two in ten of his last thirteen appearances here!

And while Holden has so far enjoyed a dominant run of results in the 2011 V8 Supercars season, history dictates that Ford could emerge winners here, with the ‘Blue Oval’ having claimed 21 of the 39 races staged here to-date.

The final entry list reads as follows:

	Team		Driver	Co-Driver
1.	Holden Racing Team		James Courtney	Darren Turner
2.	Holden Racing Team		Garth Tander	Ryan Briscoe
3.	Tony D’Alberto Racing		Tony D’Alberto	Vitantonio Liuzzi
4.	Stone Brothers Racing		Alex Davison	Marc Lieb
5.	Ford Performance Racing		Mark Winterbottom	Richard Lyons
6.	Ford Performance Racing		Will Davison	Mika Salo
7.	Kelly Racing		Todd Kelly	Richard Westbrook
8.	Brad Jones Racing		Jason Bright	Stephane Sarrazin
9.	Stone Brothers Racing		Shane van Gisbergen	Emanuele Pirro
11.	Kelly Racing		Greg Murphy	Oliver Gavin
12.	Triple F Racing		Dean Fiore	Gianni Morbidelli
14.	Brad Jones Racing		Jason Bargwanna	Alan Simonsen
15.	Kelly Racing		Rick Kelly	Jörg Bergmeister
16.	Kelly Racing		David Reynolds	Alex Tagliani
17.	Dick Johnson Racing		Steven Johnson	Dirk Müller
18.	Dick Johnson Racing		James Moffat	Joey Hand
19.	Tekno Autosports		Jonathon Webb	Gil De Ferran
21.	Britek / Brad Jones Racing		Karl Reindler	Fabrizio Giovanardi
30.	Lucas Dumbrell		Warren Luff	Marino Franchitti
33.	Garry Rogers Motorsport		Lee Holdsworth	Simon Pagenaud
34.	Garry Rogers Motorsport		Michael Caruso	Augusto Farfus
39.	Paul Morris Motorsport		Russell Ingall	Jan Magnussen
47.	Stone Brothers Racing		Tim Slade	Helio Castroneves
49.	Paul Morris Motorsport		Steve Owen	Boris Said
55.	Rod Nash / FPR		Paul Dumbrell	Christian Klien
61.	Walkinshaw Racing		Fabian Coulthard	Patrick Long
88.	Triple 8 Race Engineering		Jamie Whincup	Sebastien Bourdais
888.	Triple 8 Race Engineering		Craig Lowndes	Andy Priaulx

 [Images via Flickr] Flickr]

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Richard Bailey

Founder & Chief Editor at MotorsportM8

Hasn't missed a Grand Prix since 1989. Has a soft spot for Minardi. Tattooed with 35+ Grand Prix circuits.

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