The 2012 V8 Supercar Season revs up this weekend with the Clipsal 500

The first round of the 2012 V8 Supercar Series will be held in Adelaide on the weekend. The Clipsal 500 will feature the new stars and cars including Alexandre Premat at GRM Holden and Lee Holdsworth now at SBR Ford. The new look season is the first to feature round one in Australia for a few years. Previous years have seen the Middle East grab the rights to kicking off the season. There’s more good news for Aussie fans too, with some great new car liveries, sharp new driver line ups and more to feature. Here’s a quick run down of all the news before the weekend kicks off.

Jim Beam Racing will have a new livery for the Clipsal 500. The #12 Falcon driven by Dean Fiore will now carry special Honey branding, while Steve Johnson will drive the #17 Falcon featuring Devils Cut branding. The two brands are the newest additions to the Jim Beam product range.

Craig Lowndes and Team Vodafone have announced that The Kid will remain at the team for a further three years. Lowndes was ecstatic with the new deal and said he would like to end his career at Team Vodafone. Being that they are current champions, it’s not a bad plan.

Triple 8 Racing and Walkinshaw Racing (Team Vodafone, HRT and HDT) have dominated at the Clipsal 500 in the past. Since 2006 they have won every race here.

Ford is looking to notch up its 200th pole position at the Clipsal 500. With 199 on the books, the two FPR cars as well as the two SBRs and David Reynolds at The Bottle-o Racing team look most likely to march up front with the Ford flag.

Alexandre Premat will be making his V8 Supercar debut at the Clipsal 500. The former Audi DTM and Le Mans driver from France recently made the switch to the V8 Supercar Series after being let go by Audi.

The 7 Network will be hosting coverage of the event. Tune in on Friday from 1pm, and from 1:30pm on Saturday and Sunday. That’s AEST.

Web: V8 Supercars/Clipsal 500