The 2016 Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint was a motor racing event for Supercars, held on the weekend of 22 to 24 July 2016. The event was held at Queensland Raceway in Ipswich, Queensland, and consisted of one race of 120 kilometres and one race of 200 km in length. It was the eighth event of fourteen in the 2016 International V8 Supercars Championship and hosted Races 16 and 17 of the season. The event was the 16th running of the Ipswich SuperSprint.
The event was dominated by Triple Eight Race Engineering, with its drivers Shane van Gisbergen, Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes scoring a 1–2–3 result in Race 16. Lowndes and Whincup then went on to finish first and second in Race 17, while Van Gisbergen finished twelfth. Chaz Mostert completed the podium in Race 17, having finished fifth in Race 16. Chris Pither took his first career pole position in qualifying for Race 16; it was also the first for his team Super Black Racing. Whincup left the event with a 110-point championship lead over Van Gisbergen, with Mark Winterbottom a further ten points behind in third.
Report
Background
In the week leading up to the event, Aaren Russell and his sponsor Plus Fitness split from Erebus Motorsport, which had been preparing Russell's car during the 2016 season. The split was the result of a dispute over payments between the team and the Russell family. Craig Baird, the endurance co-driver for Erebus Motorsport's other car, was selected to replace Russell for the event, with sponsorship from Hungry Jack's.
DJR Team Penske continued its sponsor rotation system, running a Penske Truck Rental livery on both of its cars. Nissan Motorsport ran a new livery on Michael Caruso's car, promoting the GT Academy program.
Jamie Whincup entered the event as the championship lead, 53 points ahead of his teammate Shane van Gisbergen, with defending series champion Mark Winterbottom in third.
Practice
A 30-minute practice session was held on Friday afternoon for additional drivers, consisting mostly of Enduro Cup co-drivers. The fastest time was set by Jack Le Brocq, driving Cameron Waters' car. James Golding was second fastest ahead of Tony D'Alberto. The cars of Whincup, Van Gisbergen and Chris Pither did not participate in the session, with their respective co-drivers, Paul Dumbrell, Alexandre Prémat and Richie Stanaway, absent from the event.
The first session for regular drivers was held immediately after the additional drivers session and was one hour in length. Nissan Motorsport performed strongly, with Caruso setting the fastest lap time and Todd Kelly being third fastest. The pair were split by Scott Pye, with Brad Jones Racing teammates Jason Bright and Tim Slade completing the top five. A second one-hour session was held later on Friday afternoon, with Fabian Coulthard going quickest ahead of Craig Lowndes, Chaz Mostert, Rick Kelly and Pither.
A 15-minute session was held on Saturday morning. It was marred by a major accident involving Pye, who suffered a brake failure going into Turn 3. His car left the circuit at high speed and went head-on into a tyre barrier before coming to rest on top of it. Pye was not injured, but his car sustained significant front-end damage. Pye later described the incident: "I hit the brake pedal and it was solid and then clicked to the floor. That’s a horrible feeling when that happens...It came back up and I went for it again and I think it was only front brakes. It locked both front wheels and went straight on." The session was red flagged with just over one minute remaining and did not restart. Whincup had set the fastest time prior to Pye's crash, with Winterbottom second fastest ahead of Pither.
Qualifying – Race 16
Qualifying for Race 16 was a single 15-minute session held on Saturday afternoon. Only 25 cars took part, with Pye's car still being repaired after his Practice 3 crash. Pither took a surprise pole position, the first in the series for both himself and his team Super Black Racing. Mostert was second fastest ahead of the three Triple Eight Race Engineering cars of Whincup, Lowndes and Van Gisbergen.