The 2001 Shell Championship Series was a premier Australian touring car competition, which commenced on March 24, 2001 at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit and concluded on December 2, 2001 at Sandown International Raceway, spanning 13 rounds. It was the third competition under the V8 Supercar name and the 42nd since the Australian Touring Car Championship's inception in 1960. It was also the first to feature an international round in New Zealand.
Calendar The 2001 Shell Championship Series consisted of 13 rounds, which included 7 pit-stop rounds of two or three races, two sprint races, two 2-driver races, and 2 1-driver endurance races. Rd. Race title Circuit City / State Date 1 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Phillip Island, Victoria 24–25 March 2 Clipsal 500, Adelaide Street Circuit Adelaide, South Australia 6–8 April 3 Eastern Creek Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 28–29 April 4 Hidden Valley Raceway Darwin, Northern Territory 12–13 May 5 GMC 400, Canberra Street Circuit Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 9–10 June 6 Barbagallo Raceway Perth, Western Australia 22–24 June 7 Calder Park Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 14–15 July 8 Oran Park Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 28–29 July 9 VIP Petfoods Queensland 500, Queensland Raceway Willowbank, Queensland 24–26 August 10 Winton Motor Raceway Benalla, Victoria 8–9 September 11 V8 Supercar 1000, Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst, New South Wales 4–7 October 12 Boost Mobile V8 International, Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe, New Zealand 9–11 November 13 Australian V8 Ultimate, Sandown International Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 1–2 December
Race formats
2 45-minute races (around 100 km) will replace the 3 20-minute sprint races. There will also be a compulsory pit stop that has to be taken within a certain time of the race There will be a Top 10 or Top 15 Shootout for all rounds during the season that will alternate from round to round. This involves a single lap around the circuit for the Top 10/15 qualifiers in qualifying. The winner of the shootout wins 18 bonus points 2 events will involve the 3 20-minute sprint races. This will happen at Round 6 and 7 at Barbagallo Raceway and Calder Park Raceway. There will be no compulsory pit stops At 3 events, there will be 3 races over the weekend, this will happen at Hidden Valley, Pukekoke Park Raceway and Sandown
Special events Round 2-Clipsal 500 at Adelaide: This involves two 250 km races over 78 laps of the Adelaide Street circuit. The winner of the event is the driver who wins the second race and not the driver who collects the most points. The second race involves double points over the first race. There are two compulsory pit stops in each race, one stop for tyres and one stop for fuel.
Round 5-GMC 400 at Canberra: This involves two 100 km races and one 200 km race over 25 and 50 laps of the Canberra Street Circuit. The winner of the event is the driver who collects the most points over the weekend. The 2nd race of the weekend will involve a reverse grid of the entire field. The 3rd race grid will be a culmination of the points of race one and race two put together. In the first two races there will be only one compulsory stop for tyres. In the 3rd race, there will be one stop for tyres and one stop for fuel.
Round 9-VIP Petfoods Queensland 500 at Queensland Raceway: This is the first of the double driver endurance events. This race is held over 161 laps over 500 km. The race will involve driver changes and fuel and tyre stops will have to happen at the same time.
Round 11-V8 Supercar 1000 at Bathurst (Known as "The Great Race"): Bathurst is the event that all the drivers want to win. It is again a double driver event and will involve driver changes at pit stops. The race is held over 161 laps over 1000 km. This season is the first time that the event isn't the last round of the championship.
Television coverage Channel 10 and Fox Sports broadcast the coverage for the 5th year since 1997 when they took over from Channel 7. Neil Crompton hosted the coverage for regular rounds with Barry Sheene. Bill Woods hosted the coverage at special events while Leigh Diffey hosted the coverage at the last 2 rounds. Matthew White hosted the coverage at Winton for the only time in the 2001 season. Neil Crompton, Barry Sheene and Mark Oastler commentated for most of the season with Leigh Diffey coming in from Queensland 500 onwards. Greg Rust and Grant Denyer were the pit lane reporters after Greg was commentator for the 2000 championship.
Teams and drivers The following drivers and teams competed in the 2001 Shell Championship Series. The series consisted of 11 rounds of single driver racing and two rounds (the Queensland 500 and the Bathurst 1000) of endurance racing with each car driven by two drivers.
Permanent entriesManufacturerVehicleTeamDriversEventsCo-DriversEvents Ford Falcon AU Gibson Motorsport 00 Craig Lowndes All Neil Crompton 9, 11 7 Rodney Forbes All David Parsons 9, 11 Stone Brothers Racing 4 Marcos Ambrose All Greg Crick 9 Wayne Wakefield 11 9 David Besnard All Matthew White 9, 11 Glenn Seton Racing 5 Glenn Seton All Steven Richards 9, 11 6 Steven Richards 1–8, 10, 12–13colspan=2 Jim Richards 9, 11 Dean Canto 9, 11 Larkham Motorsport 10 Mark Larkham All Wayne Gardner 9, 11 Dick Johnson Racing 17 Steven Johnson All Paul Radisich 9, 11 18 Paul Radisich 1–8, 10, 12–13colspan=2 Greg Ritter 9, 11 Paul Stokell 9 Cameron McLean 11 Brad Jones Racing 21 Brad Jones All John Cleland 9, 11 Steven Ellery Racing 31 Steven Ellery All Geoff Brabham 9, 11 Paragon Racing 40 Cameron McLean 1–8, 10colspan=2 Paul Weel Racing 43 Paul Weel All Tim Leahey 9, 11 RPM International Racing 45 Dean Canto 1–4, 7–8colspan=2 Phillip Scifleet 9, 11 Aaron McGill 9 Christian D'Agostin 11 Paul Little Racing 75 Anthony Tratt All Alan Jones 9, 11 Briggs Motorsport 600 John Bowe 1–11 Simon Wills 9, 11 Simon Wills 12–13colspan=2 Holden Commodore VS Romano Racing 24 Paul Romano 1, 3colspan=2 Commodore VT McDougall Motorsport 16 Dugal McDougall 2, 7colspan=2 Team Kiwi Racing 021 Jason Richards All Angus Fogg 9, 11 Romano Racing () 24 Paul Romano 2, 4colspan=2 Paul Morris Motorsport 29 Paul Morris All Matt Neal 9 Ashley Stichbury 11 John Faulkner Racing 46 John Faulkner 2–3, 5–13 Craig Baird 9 Peter Doulman 11 Clive Wiseman Racing 50 Tyler Mecklem 1–5, 7colspan=2 Mick Donaher 8–9, 11 Layton Crambrook 9, 11 Layton Crambrook 13colspan=2 Commodore VX Holden Racing Team () 1 Mark Skaife All Jason Bright 9 Tony Longhurst 11 2 Jason Bright 1–8, 10–13 Tomas Mezera 9, 11 Tony Longhurst 9 Lansvale Smash Repairs 3 Cameron McConville All Rick Bates 9, 11 Perkins Engineering 8 Russell Ingall 1–8, 10, 12–13colspan=2 Adam Macrow 9, 11 Luke Youlden 9, 11 11 Larry Perkins All Russell Ingall 9, 11 Imrie Motorsport 14 Greg Ritter 1–2colspan=2 rowspan=4 Tomas Mezera 3, 7–8, 12–13 Christian D'Agostin 4 Tony Ricciardello 6 James Brock 9–11 Steve Owen 9, 11K-Mart Racing Team () 15 Todd Kelly All Greg Murphy 9, 11 51 Greg Murphy 1–8, 10, 12–13colspan=2 Rick Kelly 9, 11 Nathan Pretty 9, 11 McDougall Motorsport 16 Dugal McDougall 1, 3–5, 8–11, 13 Andrew Miedecke 9, 11 Romano Racing () 24 Paul Romano 5–7, 9–13 Owen Kelly 9, 11 Garry Rogers Motorsport 34 Garth Tander All Jason Bargwanna 9, 11 35 Jason Bargwanna 1–8, 10, 12–13colspan=2 Paul Dumbrell 9, 11 Leanne Ferrier 9, 11 John Faulkner Racing 46 John Faulkner 1, 4colspan=2 Rod Nash Racing 54 Tony Longhurst 1–8, 10, 12–13colspan=2 Rod Nash 9, 11 Tony Ricciardello 9, 11 Part-time entries Ford Falcon EL Emerzidis Motorsport 20 Garry Holt 2, 8, 11 Kevin Mundy Sieders Racing Team 56 Luke Sieders 8colspan=2 Falcon AU Terry Wyhoon Racing 25 Terry Wyhoon 9, 11 Rod Salmon 9, 11 Halliday Motorsport 61 Ross Halliday 11 Greg Crick 11 Harris Racing 88 Craig Harris 9, 11 Dale Brede 9 Michael Simpson 11 Power Racing 500 Alan Heath 2, 11 Dale Brede 11 Prancing Horse Racing 888 Mark Noske 11 Craig Baird 11 Holden Commodore VS Lansvale Smash Repairs 23 Trevor Ashby 1–3, 6colspan=2 Steve Reed 4–5, 11 Trevor Ashby 11 Alan Taylor Racing 37 Bill Attard 11 Roger Hurd 11 Matthew White Racing 76 Matthew White 1–2, 4, 7, 13colspan=2 V8 Racing 77 Steve Williams 8colspan=2 Miller Racing 84 Daniel Miller 6colspan=2 Ric Shaw Motorsport 90 Ric Shaw 11 Mike Conway 11 GM Motorsport 111 Phonsy Mullan 7, 13colspan=2 Commodore VT Tomas Mezera Motorsport 32 Tomas Mezera 1–2colspan=2 Melbourne's Cheapest Cars 48 Eddie Abelnica 10colspan=2 Doulman Automotive 52 Peter Doulman 3, 8colspan=2 Team Kiwi Racing 777 Angus Fogg 2, 12colspan=2 Commodore VX Paul Morris Motorsport 67 Matt Neal 8colspan=2 Holden Young Lions () 255 Rick Kelly 13colspan=2
Driver changes After racing for the Holden Racing Team since 1994, Craig Lowndes moved to the newly created Ford team formed from the formerly Holden aligned Gibson Motorsport and acquired privateers front runner Rodney Forbes as a teammate. In between his Channel Ten commentary commitments, Neil Crompton joined the team for the enduros. Jason Bright replaced Lowndes in the number 2 Holden Racing Team car. Rookie Marcos Ambrose and V8 Lites series driver David Besnard joined the series with Stone Brothers Racing. Tony Longhurst found a drive with Rod Nash Racing and joined HRT for the long-distance races, while Craig Baird sat idle until the enduros. Sacked Gibson Motorsport driver Greg Murphy joined the former Holden Young Lions squad with new sponsor Kmart, he joined Todd Kelly at the team. Fellow superseded GMS driver Steven Richards, joined Ford Tickford Racing. As part of a franchise deal arrangement the Holden Young Lions identity passed to privateer outfit Romano Racing who ran Paul Romano. Cameron McConville joined the re-launched Lansvale Racing Team as a lead driver while owners Steve Reed and Trevor Ashby shared an older VS Commodore.
Team changes After running Holden Since 1993 .Gibson Motorsport switched to Ford Romano Racing became Holden Young Lions and ran an ex-HRT VT Commodore
Season review Phillip Island, Victoria Mark Skaife got off to the best start possible, collecting the maximum points at Phillip Island, with Craig Lowndes finishing second on his debut for Ford, thanks to the fastest pit stops of the weekend by his crew. Jason Bright finished third in his comeback to the sport.
Adelaide, South Australia At the next round in Adelaide, Bright wins the round and the double points race after coming from the back of the field following an accident on lap 1, leaving him at the top of the championship. Mark Skaife has a rough weekend, finishing fourth after being spun by Paul Radisich in Race 1, and suffering another spin in Race 2, leaving him in ninth place. Craig Lowndes won the Saturday race but tangled with Skaife in Race 2, disabling his car and causing him to fall behind in the championship. Paul Radisich had the fastest car of the weekend, but an axle failure in Race 1 and steering damage left him struggling in the championship. Russell Ingall had a solid weekend, finishing with a third and a second place. There was significant controversy over the race officials, as rule-breaking went unpunished, and they were under scrutiny at Eastern Creek.
Eastern Creek, New South Wales Craig Lowndes and Marcos Ambrose came first and second in the first race but got penalised because of incidents. Craig passed under a Yellow Flag that he could not see and Marcos made an illegal pass on Greg Murphy. This left Greg Murphy 1st on the grid for Race 2 and Mark Skaife second who started tenth in race 1 after he spun in the shootout. Greg Murphy lost his lead to Skaife after he was given a stop-go penalty for jumping the start, but there was more controversy after he didn't come to a complete stop. He got away with it but the rules were changed for the next round. Mark Skaife duly took out the race and round with teammate Jason Bright second but still leading the championship. Greg Murphy came third for the round even with the penalty.