Event 1, Yas V8 400 Yas Marina Circuit Abu Dhabi: Races 1 and 2 of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series.

Point of Interest: The Yas Marina Circuit is part of a marina-based development that also includes a theme park, water park as well as residential areas, hotels and beaches. It features a permanent lighting system, with the YAS V8 400 to be the first-ever V8 Supercar race to begin in the daylight and end in the dark.

Circuit length: 4.5-kilometres
Circuit direction: Anti-Clockwise
Top speed: To be established
Fastest Point: To be established
Slowest Point: To be established

Brief description of the circuit: Construction of the Yas Marina Circuit began in May 2007 and was completed in October 2009 with a total of US$1.3 billion spent on the venue. A kilometre shorter than the Grand Prix circuit used by Formula 1, the circuit used by the V8 Supercars will feature a significant elevation change early in the lap in a section known as the ‘Corkscrew'.

10 FAST FACTS

1. V8 Supercar Champion Jamie Whincup is attempting to create history in 2010 and become just the second man to win the Australian Touring Car/V8 Supercar Championship Series in both a Ford and a Holden.
By switching to a Holden Commodore with TeamVodafone, Whincup is looking to emulate Hall of Famer Norm Beechey, who won the 1965 ATCC at Sandown in a Ford Mustang and then won it again in 1970 when it was a seven-round, seven-race championship in a Holden Monaro GTS 350.
Whincup's appearance in a Holden in Abu Dhabi is his first in a Commodore since Phillip Island 2005, his last event for Tasman Motorsport before he moved to Triple Eight/TeamVodafone.

2. Whincup's TeamVodafone team-mate Craig Lowndes also is making a big return to driving Holdens. A three-time champion in 1996, 1998 and 1999 with the Holden Racing Team before moving to Ford in 2001, Abu Dhabi is Lowndes' first race in a Commodore since Bathurst 2000.
On that day, he partnered Mark Skaife to a sixth place finish, the result enough to help Skaife secure his third ATCC/V8SCS crown. Ironically, Skaife will be assisting Lowndes' championship quest a decade later with the five-time champion signing to co-drive with Lowndes later this year.

3. Castrol Edge Racing's Greg Murphy will be missing from the grid in Abu Dhabi due to an unavoidable calendar clash with a Top Gear Live event commitment in his native New Zealand. Taking his place in the #51 Commodore will be team owner Paul Morris, who retired from full-time V8 Supercar racing at the end of 2008 and finished seventh last year at Bathurst.
Murphy has not missed a V8 Supercar Championship Series event since the beginning of the 1999 season, a total of 146 consecutive starts in the V8SCS. He will return at the Gulf Air Desert 400 in Bahrain.

4. The Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi becomes the 30th circuit to host an Australian Touring Car/V8 Supercar Championship Series event and, uniquely, is the second new circuit visited by the championship in a row given the last event of 2009 was also at a new venue in Sydney Olympic Park.

Abu Dhabi becomes the fifth international venue to host the series, joining Pukekohe (2001-2007) and Hamilton (2008 onwards) in New Zealand, Shanghai (2005) and Bahrain (2006-2008, 2010 onwards).

5. A total of 19 Holden Commodores VEs will take on 10 Ford Falcon FGs in the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series.

While the numbers are against Ford's favour, they have brought Jim Beam Racing back ‘into the fold' recently by announcing that they will re-establish direct factory support to the famous team this year.

Three teams will run three Falcons: Jim Beam Racing (Steven Johnson and James Courtney) will also field Jonathon Webb under the Dick Johnson Racing banner, Ford Performance Racing (Mark Winterbottom and Steve Richards) will also run Paul Dumbrell for the Bottle-O team and Stone Brothers Racing (Alex Davison and Shane Van Gisbergen) will also run the Wilson Security Racing Falcon of Tim Slade. The newest team to the Ford fold is Triple F Racing, with Dean Fiore taking over the ex-Fabian Coulthard car from last year.

6. A total of six brand new cars will have their very first start at Abu Dhabi after being completed during the offseason. Triple Eight Race Engineering has built three Commodores, two for their own TeamVodafone squad and another for Russell Ingall to drive for Supercheap Auto Racing.

Team BOC will debut a new Commodore for Jason Richards (complete with new Noonan Race Engine after the team's switch from Walkinshaw Racing's engines at the end of last year), while Ford Performance Racing will wheel out a new Orrcon Steel-backed Falcon for Mark Winterbottom. Todd Kelly will debut a new Kelly Racing-built Commodore with all cars having completed pre-season testing at their respective home circuits.

7. Former Bathurst winner Jason Bright is another driver having his first start in quite some time in a Holden in Abu Dhabi after spending the last few years driving Ford products.

After stints with Ford Performance Racing (2005-2006) and his own Britek Motorsport (2007-2009), Bright has joined Trading Post Racing run by Brad and Kim Jones and will take over the #14 Commodore used last year by Cameron McConville.

Bright's last start in a Holden came for PWR Racing at the 2004 season finale at Eastern Creek, the same year he finished third in the championship behind Stone Brothers Racing duo Marcos Ambrose and Russell Ingall.

8. Supercheap Auto Racing's Russell Ingall remains the most experienced driver in the V8 Supercar Championship Series field, with 176 championship starts prior to taking to the track in Abu Dhabi. Ingall, who sits seventh on the all-time list, is followed on the list of active full-time drivers by Steven Richards (168), Craig Lowndes (165), Greg Murphy (157, but will miss Abu Dhabi), Garth Tander (153), Paul Morris (146, no longer full-time but will replace Murphy in Abu Dhabi), Steven Johnson (146), Jason Bright (145), Jason Bargwanna (144), Todd Kelly (134), Jason Richards (119), Rick Kelly (110), Paul Dumbrell (101), Jamie Whincup (85), Mark Winterbottom (83).

9. The drivers of the V8 Supercar Championship Series have enjoyed their off-season break with three of them having particular reason to celebrate. IRWIN Racing's Alex Davison was married to long-time partner Melanie in Melbourne on January 10, while Fujitsu Racing GRM's Lee Holdsworth also was married to long-time partner Alana during the break. Jim Beam Racing's James Courtney become a father for the second time, wife Carys giving birth to a son, Cadel, on February 10.

10. Jonathon Webb (Dick Johnson Racing), Karl Reindler (Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing) and Daniel Gaunt (Gulf Western Racing) make their full-time V8 Supercar Championship Series debuts in Abu Dhabi having previously competed in both the Fujitsu Series and the V8SCS endurance races.
Webb is the reigning Fujitsu Series Champion and will drive an ex-Craig Lowndes Falcon purchased from TeamVodafone in the off-season that will be run alongside the existing Jim Beam Racing machines, while Reindler will drive the car driven by Jason Richards last year in new Fair Dinkum Sheds colours.

His Commodore is run under the Britek Motorsport REC, with preparation supplied by Brad Jones Racing alongside the team's existing Team BOC and Trading Post Racing entries.
Gaunt will drive a Gulf Western-backed Commodore for Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, a team formed by the younger brother of Bottle-O driver Paul during the off-season.

Dumbrell, 20, becomes the youngest team owner in pit lane and also becomes the first quadriplegic team boss in the series after being injured in a Formula Ford crash at Oran Park in 2008.

His team has an engineering and technical supply arrangement with Walkinshaw Racing, with Gaunt behind the wheel of the same chassis (WR004) Garth Tander used to win the 2007 championship for the Toll HSV Dealer Team.