1. V8 Supercars Championship leader Craig Lowndes got his 2013 season off to a great start with victory in Race 1 at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, but is looking for his first V8 Supercar race win at the Rolex Formula One Australian Grand Prix since 2009.
The three-time V8 Supercar Champion has competed at every Albert Park V8 Supercar event since 1996 bar one (in 1997 when he was committed to racing Formula 3000 in Europe).
A three-time pole-sitter at Albert Park with five race wins to his name, Lowndes turned on a brilliant drive last year in Race 2, charging from 27th to 7th after engine problems sidelined him in the previous race.
Lowndes holds a 12-point advantage over Red Bull Racing Australia teammate Jamie Whincup, and will want to continue his form into the MSS Security Challenge.
2. Clipsal 500 victor Shane van Gisbergen may be ninth in the V8 Supercars Championship after retiring from the opening race in Adelaide, but his recent form at the Rolex Formula One Grand Prix suggests he'll be a major factor in this year's event.
The Kiwi won a race last year and has been on the podium for the last three years in a row in the MSS Security Challenge at Albert Park. He's finished second twice (2010 and 2012) and third once (2011) over the last three years.
The TEKNO VIP Petfoods driver has a 100 percent finishing record at Albert Park from the 15 races he's started there since 2008.
3. This year's V8 Supercars MSS Security Challenge will have drivers compete in four races - it's the first time since 1999 a four-race format has been used at the event for the category.
Last year there was a qualifying race prior to three official races, but this year the format is very clearly four official races.
Qualifying will set the grid for Race 1 with the finishing order to determine the grid for Race 2 and the order from that race to set the grid for Race 3.
Accumulated points from the first three races will determine the grid for Race 4.
75 points will be awarded to the winner of each race to help determine the pointscore that decides the winner of the 2013 MSS Security Challenge.
All cars must make a pit stop in each race for four tyres to be changed and no two-car team is permitted to pit both cars on the same lap, unless changing from slick to wet tyres.
4. Supercheap Auto Racing's Russell Ingall remains the most successful V8 Supercar driver at the Rolex Australian Grand Prix, racking up eight race wins over the course of his career.
Ingall clean-swept all three races in 1997 and won all four in 1998 while driving for Larry Perkins' Castrol Holden team, before claiming his last win in 2003 for Stone Brothers Racing.
The 2005 V8 Supercar Champion is also the only driver to have competed in every single V8 Supercar event at Albert Park since the Grand Prix moved to Melbourne in 1996.
5. The absence of a member of the Johnson family behind the wheel at the recent Clipsal 500 broke a streak of 351 consecutive Australian Touring Car Championship/V8 Supercars Championship event starts for Dick and Steven Johnson.
And with Steven not driving in the MSS Security Challenge at Albert Park, it's the first time that a Johnson hasn't competed in the Australian Grand Prix showcase touring car/V8 Supercar event since the World Championship first visited Adelaide in 1985.
Johnson himself won in Adelaide in 1985 and 1987, while son Steven has raced at Albert Park from 2000 onwards.
Dick Johnson Racing has claimed two race wins at Albert Park - both taken by Paul Radisich in 2001.
6. After making their racing debuts at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, the all-new Nissan Altima and Erebus Motorsport-run Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG V8 Supercars will make their first appearance in the MSS Security Challenge.
The last time a car other than a Holden or Ford won an Australian Grand Prix touring car support race was 1992 in Adelaide when Jim Richards claimed a pair of wins in Nissan's mighty GT-R.
The last time a Mercedes-Benz competed in an Australian Grand Prix touring car support race was in Adelaide in 1990 when Phil Ward piloted a Mercedes-Benz 190E.
7. Five drivers are making their first start in a V8 Supercar at the Rolex Formula One Australian Grand Prix. They are:
- Maro Engel (SP Tools Racing)
- Jonny Reid (Dick Johnson Racing)
- Scott McLaughlin (Fujitsu Racing GRM)
- Tim Blanchard (Dick Johnson Racing)
- Scott Pye (Ekol Racing)
Of the five, only Reid has raced at Albert Park. The Kiwi finished runner-up to Craig Baird in last year's Porsche Carrera Cup round at the circuit, won a race in 2011 and held pole in the all-Porsche class in both 2011 and 2012.
Pye has driven a V8 Supercar around the circuit - last year he drove TeamVodafone's ride car in the Ultimate Speed Comparison against a McLaren-Mercedes F1 car and a road-going AMG Mercedes-Benz driven by Mick Doohan.
8. The Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander has the best record in recent times at Albert Park, racking up an impressive four podium results from the last five years at the showcase event.
The 2007 V8 Supercar champion won the Albert Park event overall in 2008 and 2010, finished second in 2011 and third in 2012.
The Western Australian has claimed six races wins at Albert Park in that time to go with his first taken in 2000, meaning he's one win away from tying Russell Ingall's all-time Albert Park V8 Supercar winning record of eight wins.
Tander has finished in the top four in the last nine races straight at the venue from 2010 to 2012.
9. In all 16 different drivers have claimed V8 Supercar race wins at Albert Park with nine of them - Russell Ingall (
, Garth Tander (7), Craig Lowndes (5), Jason Bright (5), Mark Winterbottom (3), Todd Kelly (2), Jamie Whincup (2), James Courtney (1) and Shane van Gisbergen (1) - lining up in the MSS Security Challenge in 2013.
10. The Dunlop Series may not race again until May at Barbagallo Raceway in Perth at the Chill Perth 360, but that doesn't mean that Casey Stoner won't be behind the wheel of a V8 Supercar at Albert Park.
The two-time MotoGP world champion will drive his Red Bull/Pirtek Commodore as part of the Speed Comparison at the Melbourne event against David Coulthard in a Red Bull F1 car and Mick Doohan in an AMG Mercedes-Benz.
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