The 2011 International V8 Supercar Championship (often simplified to the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship) was an FIA sanctioned international motor racing series for V8 Supercars.^[1] It was the thirteenth V8 Supercar Championship Series and the fifteenth series in which V8 Supercars contested the premier Australian touring car title. It was the first since the series was elevated to the 'International category' status by the FIA.^[2] The championship began on 10 February in the Middle East at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit and finished on 4 December at the Homebush Street Circuit. It was contested over 28 races at 14 events. These events were held in all states of Australia and in the Northern Territory as well as in the United Arab Emirates, and New Zealand. The 52nd Australian Touring Car Championship title was awarded to Jamie Whincup by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport.

Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden driver Jamie Whincup won the championship by 35 points over his teammate Craig Lowndes. The best placed Ford driver was Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom, 458 points behind Whincup. Stone Brothers Racing driver Shane van Gisbergen finished in fourth, 38 points behind Winterbottom, with the Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander a further 98 points back in fifth.

Whincup won ten races during the course of the season, one shared with French driver Sébastien Bourdais at the Gold Coast. He finished on the podium in nine of the first eleven races, setting up a strong points lead. His teammate Lowndes chipped away at the lead, winning four races in a row in the middle of the season, one with Mark Skaife at Phillip Island, and briefly led the championship after the Bathurst 1000. Lowndes won his fifth race at the title decider in Sydney but this was not enough to take the crown away from Whincup. The other thirteen race wins were shared between eight other drivers. Reigning champion James Courtney won the second race of the year in Abu Dhabi while his teammate Tander won three races, including one race at the Clipsal 500 and the Bathurst 1000 with Nick Percat. Rick Kelly also won three races, taking his first race win since 2008 and the first for Kelly Racing at the Hamilton 400. Van Gisbergen won the first race of his career at the Hamilton 400 before scoring his second at Hidden Valley. Brad Jones Racing were another team to win their first championship race, with Jason Bright taking his first win since 2006 at Barbagallo and backing it up with another win at Winton. Winterbottom took his first win in just under a year at the Gold Coast, winning the Sunday race with British driver Richard Lyons, before winning the final race of the season in Sydney.

The following teams and drivers have been confirmed for the 2011 series.

More information Season entries, Endurance race co-drivers ...

Season entries							Endurance race co-drivers
Manufacturer	Vehicle	Team	No.	Drivers	Rounds		Phillip Island/Bathurst	Gold Coast
Ford	Falcon FG	Tony D'Alberto Racing[3]	3	Tony D'Alberto[4]	2–8, 10–14		Dale Wood[5]	Vitantonio Liuzzi[6]
				Taz Douglas[7] 2	9
		Stone Brothers Racing	4	Alex Davison[8]	All		David Brabham[9]	Marc Lieb[10]
			9	Shane van Gisbergen[11]	All		John McIntyre[9]	Emanuele Pirro[12]
		Ford Performance Racing	5	Mark Winterbottom[13]	All		Steven Richards[14]	Richard Lyons[15] 3
			6	Will Davison[16]	All		Luke Youlden[14]	Mika Salo[17]
		Triple F Racing	12	Dean Fiore[18]	All		Michael Patrizi[19][20]	Gianni Morbidelli
		Dick Johnson Racing	17	Steven Johnson[21]	All		David Besnard[22][23]	Dirk Müller[24][25]
			18	James Moffat[26]	All		Matt Halliday[23][27]	Joey Hand[24][25]
		Tekno Autosports	19	Jonathon Webb[28][29]	All		Richard Lyons[30]	Gil de Ferran[31]
		James Rosenberg Racing (SBR)	47	Tim Slade[18]	All		Daniel Gaunt[9]	Hélio Castroneves[32]
		Rod Nash Racing (FPR)	55	Paul Dumbrell[33]	All		Dean Canto[34][35]	Christian Klien[17]
Holden	Commodore VE	Holden Racing Team	1	James Courtney[36]	All		Cameron McConville[37]	Darren Turner[38] 1
			2	Garth Tander[39]	All		Nick Percat[37]	Ryan Briscoe[40]
		Tony D'Alberto Racing	3	Tony D'Alberto[41]	1
		Kelly Racing	7	Todd Kelly[42]	All		David Russell[43][44]	Richard Westbrook[45]
			11	Greg Murphy[46]	All		Allan Simonsen[44][47]	Oliver Gavin[48]
			15	Rick Kelly[42]	All		Owen Kelly[43][44]	Jörg Bergmeister[45]
			16	David Reynolds[49]	All		Tim Blanchard[43][44]	Alex Tagliani[50][51]
		Brad Jones Racing	8	Jason Bright[52]	1–12, 14		Andrew Jones[53]	Stéphane Sarrazin[54]
				Cameron McConville[55]4	12
				Andrew Jones[56] 4	13
			14	Jason Bargwanna[57]	All		Shane Price[58]	Allan Simonsen[59] 5
		Britek Motorsport (BJR)	21	Karl Reindler[18]	All		David Wall[53]	Fabrizio Giovanardi[48]
		Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	30	Warren Luff[60]	All		Nathan Pretty[61][62]	Marino Franchitti[63]
		Garry Rogers Motorsport	33	Lee Holdsworth[64]	All		Greg Ritter[65][66]	Simon Pagenaud[67]
			34	Michael Caruso[52]	All		Marcus Marshall[66][68]	Augusto Farfus[69]
		Paul Morris Motorsport	39	Russell Ingall[70]	All		Jack Perkins[71]	Jan Magnussen[72]
			49	Steve Owen[73][74]	All		Paul Morris[75]	Boris Said[72]
		Walkinshaw Racing (HRT)	61	Fabian Coulthard[74][76]	All		Craig Baird[77]	Patrick Long[78]
		Triple Eight Race Engineering	88	Jamie Whincup[79]	All		Andrew Thompson[80]	Sébastien Bourdais[81]
			888	Craig Lowndes[79]	All		Mark Skaife[80]	Andy Priaulx[81]
Wildcard entries
Holden	Commodore VE	Kelly Racing[82]	77	—	10	Grant Denyer[82] Cameron Waters[83]	—

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Notes:

1. ^ – Dan Wheldon was originally scheduled to drive alongside James Courtney at the Gold Coast 600, but was killed in an accident at the 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship one week before the race.
2. ^ – Tony D'Alberto was forced to sit out the L&H 500 after being diagnosed with chicken pox. Taz Douglas replaced him for the event.
3. ^ – Will Power was due to take part in the Gold Coast 600, but was forced to withdraw after sustaining a back injury at the IZOD IndyCar World Championship.
4. ^ – Jason Bright was injured and unable to take part in Race 24 at Symmons Plains. Cameron McConville replaced him for the race. Bright later withdrew from the next race at Sandown, where he was replaced by his endurance co-driver Andrew Jones.
5. ^ – Tony Kanaan decided not to participate in the Gold Coast 600 following the death of Dan Wheldon.^[84]

The following events make up the 2011 series.^[87] The event at Barbagallo Raceway was reinstated with the Western Australian Government providing $5 million to redevelop the circuit. The Desert 400 was scrapped with V8 Supercars stating that the decision not to hold the event was because the circuit's international racing calendar was too full for an early season date.

More information Event, Race ...

Event	Race	Event	Circuit	City / state	Date	Winner	Team	Report
1	1	Yas V8 400	Yas Marina Circuit	Yas Island, Abu Dhabi	10–12 Feb	Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering	report
	2					James Courtney	Holden Racing Team
2	3	Clipsal 500 Adelaide	Adelaide Street Circuit	Adelaide, South Australia	17–20 Mar	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team	report
	4					Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering
3	5	ITM Hamilton 400	Hamilton Street Circuit	Hamilton, Waikato	15–17 Apr	Rick Kelly	Kelly Racing	report
	6					Shane van Gisbergen	Stone Brothers Racing
4	7	Trading Post Perth Challenge[88]	Barbagallo Raceway	Perth, Western Australia	29 Apr–1 May	Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering	report
	8					Jason Bright	Brad Jones Racing
	9					Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering
5	10	Winton	Winton Motor Raceway	Benalla, Victoria	20–22 May	Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering	report
	11					Jason Bright	Brad Jones Racing
6	12	Skycity Triple Crown	Hidden Valley Raceway	Darwin, Northern Territory	17–19 Jun	Rick Kelly	Kelly Racing	report
	13					Shane van Gisbergen	Stone Brothers Racing
7	14	Sucrogen Townsville 400	Reid Park Street Circuit	Townsville, Queensland	8–10 Jul	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team	report
	15					Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering
8	16	Coates Hire Ipswich 300[89]	Queensland Raceway	Ipswich, Queensland	19–21 Aug	Craig Lowndes	Triple Eight Race Engineering	report
	17					Craig Lowndes	Triple Eight Race Engineering
	18					Craig Lowndes	Triple Eight Race Engineering
9	19	L&H 500	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit	Phillip Island, Victoria	16–18 Sep	Craig Lowndes Mark Skaife	Triple Eight Race Engineering	report
10	20	Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000	Mount Panorama Circuit	Bathurst, New South Wales	6–9 Oct	Garth Tander Nick Percat	Holden Racing Team	report
11	21	Armor All Gold Coast 600	Surfers Paradise Street Circuit	Surfers Paradise, Queensland	21–23 Oct	Jamie Whincup Sébastien Bourdais	Triple Eight Race Engineering	report
	22					Mark Winterbottom Richard Lyons	Ford Performance Racing
12	23	Falken Tasmania Challenge	Symmons Plains Raceway	Launceston, Tasmania	11–13 Nov	Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering	report
	24					Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering
13	25	Norton 360 Sandown Challenge	Sandown Raceway	Melbourne, Victoria	18–20 Nov	Rick Kelly	Kelly Racing	report
	26					Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering
14	27	Sydney Telstra 500	Homebush Street Circuit	Sydney, New South Wales	2–4 Dec	Craig Lowndes	Triple Eight Race Engineering	report
	28					Mark Winterbottom	Ford Performance Racing

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Adelaide Perth Winton Darwin Townsville Ipswich Phillip Island Bathurst Gold Coast Launceston Sandown Homebush Australian rounds

Hamilton New Zealand rounds

Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates rounds

Jamie Whincup won the opening race of the championship at the Yas V8 400, at the time it was his twelfth consecutive victory in races held outside of Australia, taking in wins in New Zealand, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain going back to the 2008 Gulf Air Desert 400. Whincup won by 14 seconds over the close pair of Alex Davison and Mark Winterbottom who in turn lead another pair of Fords in Shane van Gisbergen and Tim Slade. The second race was considerably more chaotic with a multi-car pile up in the opening laps ruling out amongst others Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander. Tander's new team-mate 2010 champion James Courtney, provided HRT with an opposing result, winning a late race battle with Jason Bright to take the second race win and to gain some points back after receiving the 50 point penalty the day before. Whincup was third ahead of David Reynolds completing an impressive return to the series after sitting out 2010.

Garth Tander won a shortened first race of the Clipsal 500. The race hinged on two safety car periods late in the race caused by incidents involving Russell Ingall and James Moffat. Tander lead Triple Eight Race Engineering team-mates Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes across the line at the head of a bunched queue. Jason Bright and Fabian Coulthard saw Holden fill the top five places ahead of Mark Winterbottom. The biggest of the incidents in the race saw Steve Owen crash at turn 8 with sufficient force that car would not be repaired in time for the non-championship Albert Park 400 a week later. Whincup became the first repeat winner for the year by winning the Sunday race by 1.3 seconds over Rick Kelly. The second place for Kelly was the best result since the formation of Kelly Racing in 2009. Ford Performance Racing and Holden Racing Team filled the next few positions with Mark Winterbottom taking third over James Courtney, Garth Tander, Paul Dumbrell and Will Davison. Whincup had diced entertainingly with Will Davison early in the wet conditions, while Turn 8 claimed more cars with Lee Holdsworth and Warren Luff both crashing out, while Bright crashed heavily at the Senna Chicane.

• 2011 V8 Supercar season