V8 Supercars had competed at the Gold Coast since the 1990s as a support category to the Gold Coast Indy 300, with the event attaining championship status in 2002. When the IndyCar Series announced it would not return to the Gold Coast in 2009, and a planned A1 Grand Prix replacement also fell through, V8 Supercars became the headline category for the first time. To fill the scheduling gap the 2009 event expanded to two 150 km races each on Saturday and Sunday, marking the beginning of the endurance era at the venue.
In 2010 the circuit was shortened from 4.47 km to 2.96 km, and the event was rebranded the Gold Coast 600. The format required every team to field at least one driver of international standing as a co-driver, deliberately drawing names from Formula One, IndyCar, DTM and other premier series. From 2011 the rule was adjusted so that every car — not just every team — had an internationally credentialed co-driver, with Australians eligible provided they had a strong international pedigree.
The 2010 race itself was immediately memorable for a battle between Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen, with Whincup prevailing. The 2011 event was overshadowed by the tragedy at the IZOD IndyCar World Championship race at Las Vegas one week prior, in which Dan Wheldon was killed and Will Power injured. The International Driver Trophy introduced in 2010 was renamed the Dan Wheldon Memorial Trophy in honour of the British IndyCar and Indianapolis 500 champion. Brad Jones Racing co-driver Tony Kanaan, a close friend of Wheldon, withdrew from the Gold Coast event following the tragedy.
Sébastien Bourdais became the first driver to win on the Gold Coast in both a Champ Car — in 2005 and 2007 — and a Supercar, winning in 2011 and again in 2012. The 2012 event was notable for two large start-line crashes. One saw international driver Ricky Taylor barrel-rolled seconds after the start, necessitating a red flag and eventually a third attempt following further incidents on the second attempt.
From 2013 the requirement for international co-drivers was removed due to increasing costs, and the Gold Coast 600 became the third event in the newly formed Pirtek Enduro Cup alongside the Sandown 500 and the Bathurst 1000. The format remained the same. David Reynolds took the first win of his V8 Supercars career at the 2013 Sunday race, paired with Dean Canto.
In 2015, Jack Perkins scored a debut victory alongside James Courtney, who was returning to competition after nine weeks out with rib and lung injuries. Van Gisbergen won a race at the event for the third consecutive year in 2016, driving alongside French co-driver Alexandre Prémat, who joined compatriot Bourdais as a Surfers Paradise winner.
Chaz Mostert took consecutive Saturday race victories in 2017 and 2018 alongside Steve Owen and James Moffat respectively. A major thunderstorm in 2018 forced the abandonment of the second race, with fewer than half the race distance completed, so no points were awarded. In 2019, Scott McLaughlin crashed out of Sunday qualifying while chasing early championship confirmation, and the weekend was dominated by Triple Eight Race Engineering with one-two finishes in both races.
The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For 2021 the event was rescheduled as the championship finale in December with a changed format — two 250 km single-driver races — but was again cancelled due to COVID-19. The race returned in 2022 as the Gold Coast 500, maintaining the single-driver format.
The Gold Coast 600's defining characteristic was the international co-driver requirement, which for three years gave the event a glamour unique within the Supercars calendar. Names from across world motorsport appeared on the Surfers Paradise street circuit, adding a genuine cross-series dimension to the Australian championship. The Dan Wheldon Memorial Trophy served as a poignant reminder of that international connection. Even after the international driver rule was removed, the event remained a standout fixture of the Supercars calendar as the third leg of the Enduro Cup, before its eventual transition into the current Gold Coast 500 format.