2008_Supercars_Championship

2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series

2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series

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The 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series was the tenth V8 Supercar Championship Series and the twelfth series in which V8 Supercars contested the premier Australian touring car title. The championship began on 21 February at the Clipsal 500 on the streets of Adelaide and concluded on 7 December at Oran Park Raceway. It consisted of 14 rounds covering all states and the Northern Territory of Australia as well as rounds in New Zealand and Bahrain.

Race start at Round 2, Eastern Creek

Jamie Whincup secured the Drivers championship with two races in hand with victory in race 1 of the 2008 NRMA Motoring & Services Grand Finale. Whincup was also awarded the 49th Australian Touring Car Championship title by CAMS.[1] Triple Eight Race Engineering won the Teams Championship and Ford was awarded the Manufacturers Championship.[2]

Race calendar

More information Rd., Race title ...

Teams and drivers

Mark Winterbottom driving a Ford Falcon BF for Ford Performance Racing
Mark Skaife driving a Holden Commodore VE for the Holden Racing Team

The following teams and drivers contested the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series.

More information Manufacturer, Car ...

* Phillip Island 500 only
** Bathurst 1000 only

Team and driver changes

WPS Racing announced the closure of their team with the vehicles and equipment sold off to new owners, citing business and health issues affecting team principal Craig Gore.[5]

Two new entities entered the championship in 2008. The first of these was Development Series team Ford Rising Stars Racing, who bought a licence from Paul Weel Racing – Formula 3 Euroseries driver Michael Patrizi was hired to drive, but the team skipped the first round in Adelaide to prepare properly.[6] Walden Motorsport were committed to return to the series with Garth Walden driving, however the team failed to appear at the first two rounds and the franchise was put up for sale.[7][8][9]

Reigning series champion Garth Tander transferred from the HSV Dealer Team to the Holden Racing Team, replacing Todd Kelly. Kelly replaced Marcus Marshall at Perkins Engineering, with Marshall moving to Britek Motorsport in place of the outgoing Alan Gurr.[10] Tander was replaced at HSVDT with Paul Dumbrell, who moved from Paul Weel Racing which had intended to cease operations at the conclusion of 2007. This decision was reversed, with Andrew Thompson racing their sole Commodore VE.[11]

Russell Ingall moved to Paul Morris Motorsport, replacing Owen Kelly. Shane van Gisbergen took over Ingall's seat at Stone Brothers Racing following his half-season at Team Kiwi Racing.[12] Team Kiwi cut ties with Stone Brothers and settled on running a Triple Eight-built Falcon independently, signing Development Series veteran Kayne Scott.[13][7]

Dean Canto's contract with Garry Rogers Motorsport was terminated a year early.[14] He was replaced with 2007 Development Series runner-up Michael Caruso.[15]

Cameron McConville signed with Brad Jones Racing, whom he had previously raced for in Super Touring. The team moved from Ford to Holden and ran with the technical assistance of Walkinshaw Performance, the organisation that runs the Holden Racing Team and HSV Dealer Teams.[16]

Paul Cruickshank Racing signed Fabian Coulthard to replace the retiring John Bowe.[10]

Second tier Fujitsu series champion team Tony D'Alberto Racing moved to the V8 Supercar series, and took over the running of the Rod Nash Racing owned franchise, replacing Independent Racing Cars who previously operated the team. Tony D'Alberto replaced Steve Owen as driver.[17]

Mid-season changes

Due to a date clash with the final round of the New Zealand V8 series, Kayne Scott was not available to compete for Team Kiwi Racing at Eastern Creek and was replaced by Chris Pither.[18] Pither again replaced Scott for the Winton round later in the year. Following a crash at Bathurst that severely dented the teams' financial resources, Steve Owen was drafted in for the Gold Coast round, followed by Bahraini driver Fahad Al Musalam for the Desert 400 and 23-year-old Daniel Gaunt for the final two rounds of the season.

Shane Price was sacked from the Perkins Engineering a week after the Bathurst 1000 and replaced with endurance co-driver Jack Perkins.[19]

Rule changes

Technical

An option to use sequential gearboxes in lieu of H-pattern gearboxes was introduced.[20] Initially optional, sequential gearboxes later became mandatory.

Sporting

The points system was changed for 2008. Points were awarded to the top 30 drivers, with 300 points being the most available to a driver in each round.[21]

In Friday practice sessions, drivers who had finished in the top 15 in the 2007 Championship were not permitted to participate for the first 30 minutes.[22]

Results and standings

Season summary

More information Round, Race ...

Points system

Points are awarded to any driver that completes 75% of race distance and is running on the completion of the final lap.

More information Pos, Adelaide ...

NOTES:

Adelaide: Clipsal 500.

Std denotes all races except the Clipsal 500, L&H 500, and Bathurst 1000. These three races have unique rules.

L&H 500: Phillip Island races are split into qualifying races and 500 km feature race. The two drivers per team will be grouped into separate qualifying races that will count towards drivers' individual point totals and towards the starting grid for the feature race. The two drivers will then race one car for the 500 km endurance race.

Bathurst: Both drivers will share one car for entire race.

Drivers' Championship

More information Pos., Driver ...

Teams Championship

Triple Eight Race Engineering won the Teams Championship.[2]

More information Pos, Team ...
  • (s) denotes a single-car team.

Manufacturers Championship

Ford won the Manufacturers Championship having won more rounds than rival Holden.[23]

See also

2008 V8 Supercar season

Notes

  1. Walden had purchased a Racing Entitlements Contract and had been entered in the first round. Having initially entered a Holden Commodore VE but not purchased one, the team attempted to source a Ford Falcon BF but could not do so in time for the event and did not participate, despite Walden himself being in attendance.[3][4]

References

  1. [1]
    Australian Titles, 2016 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, as archived at web.archive.org
  2. [2]
    TeamVodafone scoops the pool Archived 12 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from www.v8supercars.com.au on 10 January 2010
  3. [3]
    "Chequered Flag Chat – Garth Walden". CF Media. 16 June 2020.
  4. [4]
    "V8 Supercar news". v8supercar.com.au. Archived from the original on 3 February 2008.
  5. [5]
    https://web.archive.org/web/20080307183739/http://www.wpsracing.net.au/latest_news.asp WPS/Wow Racing Withdraws From V8 Supercars, 11/02/2008, www.wpsracing.net.au, as archived at web.archive.org]
  6. [6]
    http://enews.mnews.com.au/djvu/Australian%20Motorsport%20News/Motorsport%20News/29-Jan-2008/webimages/page0000005_4.jpg Chance and Challenge]Archived 24 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine motorsport enews retrieved on 30 January 2008
  7. [7]
    V8 Supercar Championship Series gets full 2008 gridArchived 3 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine Official Site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series retrieved on 31 January 2008
  8. [8]
    Walden Motorsport Forced To Sell Or Lease Licence. Archived 23 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine Norrgard Motorsport Development retrieved on 21 December 2007
  9. [9]
    Walden licence for sale Archived 11 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine Official Site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series retrieved on 20 March 2008
  10. [10]
    Old faces, new seats motorsport enews retrieved on 18 December 2007
  11. [11]
    Andrew Thompson signs with PWR Racing [dead link] Official Site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series retrieved on 25 January 2008
  12. [12]
    Van Gisbergen claims prize SBR drive Stone Brothers Racing website retrieved on 30 January 2008
  13. [13]
    TKR goes it alone, Scott driving crash.net retrieved on 15 January 2008
  14. [14]
    Statement regarding Dean Canto and the 2008 series Dean Canto Racing retrieved on 12 January 2008 Archived 16 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  15. [15]
    Michael Caruso joins Garry Rogers Motorsport Official Site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series retrieved on 14 January 2008
  16. [16]
    New Cars, New Driver for Team BOC Team BOC website retrieved on 29 January 2008
  17. [17]
    A full field Archived 24 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine motorsport enews retrieved on 29 January 2008
  18. [18]
    Pither: Kiwi Sub Archived 21 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine motorsport enews retrieved on 4 March 2008
  19. [19]
    Price dumped for Perkins Archived 23 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine Official Site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series retrieved on 21 October 2008
  20. [20]
    V8s get into sequence Motorsport News issue 10 26 June 2007 page 7
  21. [21]
    V8 Supercars to reward more teams in 2008 points score Official Site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series retrieved on 25 January 2008
  22. [22]
    Ottley, S. "Champs penalised" Herald Sun 23 January 2008
  23. [23]
    Ford Wins 2008 Manufacturer's Championship Archived at www.webcitation.org on 10 January 2010
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