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.
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.Australian Titles, 2016 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, as archived at web.archive.org Triple Eight Race Engineering won the Teams Championship and Ford was awarded the Manufacturers Championship.TeamVodafone scoops the pool Retrieved from www.v8supercars.com.au on 10 January 2010
Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers competed in the 2008 championship.
ManufacturerModelTeamDriver nameRoundsCo-driver name Ford Falcon BF Stone Brothers Racing 4 James Courtney All David Besnard 9 Shane van Gisbergen All Jonathon Webb Ford Performance Racing 5 Mark Winterbottom All Luke Youlden Dean Canto Steven Richards All Dick Johnson Racing 17 Steven Johnson All Steve Owen Warren Luff 18 Will Davison All Team Kiwi Racing 021 Kayne Scott 1, 3–7 Kayne Scott Chris Pither 2, 8–10 Steve Owen 11 Fahad Al Musalam 12 Daniel Gaunt 13–14 Britek Motorsport 25 Jason Bright All Adam Macrow 26 Marcus Marshall All Matthew Halliday Triple Eight Race Engineering 88 Jamie Whincup All Fabrizio Giovanardi Marc Hynes 888 Craig Lowndes All Paul Cruickshank Racing 111 Fabian Coulthard All John McIntyre* Alex Davison** Ford Rising Stars Racing 777 Michael Patrizi 3–14 Grant Denyer* Karl Reindler** Holden Commodore VE Holden Racing Team 1 Garth Tander All Glenn Seton Craig Baird 2 Mark Skaife All Tasman Motorsport 3 Jason Richards All Mark Noske Dale Wood 51 Greg Murphy All Perkins Engineering 7 Todd Kelly All Nathan Pretty Jack Perkins 11 Shane Price 1–10 Jack Perkins 11–14 Brad Jones Racing 12 Andrew Jones All Brad Jones Max Wilson 14 Cameron McConville All HSV Dealer Team () 15 Rick Kelly All Paul Radisich 16 Paul Dumbrell All David Reynolds Garry Rogers Motorsport 33 Lee Holdsworth All Greg Ritter Steven Ellery 34 Michael Caruso All Paul Morris Motorsport 39 Russell Ingall All Boris Said Matt Neal 67 Paul Morris All Paul Weel Racing 50 Andrew Thompson All Paul Weel Rod Nash RacingTony D'Alberto Racing 55 Tony D'Alberto All Jason Bargwanna
* 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.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]
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.http://enews.mnews.com.au/djvu/Australian%20Motorsport%20News/Motorsport%20News/29-Jan-2008/webimages/page0000005_4.jpg Chance and Challenge] motorsport enews retrieved on 30 January 2008 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.Walden Motorsport Forced To Sell Or Lease Licence. Norrgard Motorsport Development retrieved on 21 December 2007Walden licence for sale Official Site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series retrieved on 20 March 2008
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. 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.Andrew Thompson signs with PWR Racing Official Site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series retrieved on 25 January 2008
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.Van Gisbergen claims prize SBR drive Stone Brothers Racing website retrieved on 30 January 2008 Team Kiwi cut ties with Stone Brothers and settled on running a Triple Eight-built Falcon independently, signing Development Series veteran Kayne Scott.TKR goes it alone, Scott driving crash.net retrieved on 15 January 2008V8 Supercar Championship Series gets full 2008 grid Official Site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series retrieved on 31 January 2008
Dean Canto's contract with Garry Rogers Motorsport was terminated a year early.Statement regarding Dean Canto and the 2008 series Dean Canto Racing retrieved on 12 January 2008 He was replaced with 2007 Development Series runner-up Michael Caruso.Michael Caruso joins Garry Rogers Motorsport Official Site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series retrieved on 14 January 2008
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.New Cars, New Driver for Team BOC Team BOC website retrieved on 29 January 2008
Paul Cruickshank Racing signed Fabian Coulthard to replace the retiring John Bowe.Old faces, new seats motorsport enews retrieved on 18 December 2007
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.A full field motorsport enews retrieved on 29 January 2008
Walden Motorsport purchased a Racing Entitlements Contract and was entered in the first round at Adelaide. 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 Garth Walden himself being in attendance.
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.Pither: Kiwi Sub motorsport enews retrieved on 4 March 2008 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 Perkins Engineering a week after the Bathurst 1000 and replaced with endurance co-driver Jack Perkins.Price dumped for Perkins Official Site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series retrieved on 21 October 2008
Race calendar Rd. Race title Circuit City / state Date 1 Clipsal 500 Adelaide Street Circuit Adelaide, South Australia 21–24 February 2 Eastern Creek Eastern Creek Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 7–9 March 3 Hamilton 400 Hamilton Street Circuit Hamilton, New Zealand 18–20 April 4 BigPond 400 Barbagallo Raceway Wanneroo, Western Australia 9–11 May 5 Midas 400 Sandown Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 7–9 June 6 Skycity Triple Crown Hidden Valley Raceway Darwin, Northern Territory 4–6 July 7 City of Ipswich 400 Queensland Raceway Ipswich, Queensland 18–20 July 8 Winton Winton Motor Raceway Benalla, Victoria 1–3 August 9 L&H 500 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Phillip Island, Victoria 12–14 September 10 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst, New South Wales 9–12 October 11 The Coffee Club V8 Supercar Challenge Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Queensland 23–26 October 12 Gulf Air Desert 400 Bahrain International Circuit Manama, Bahrain 6–8 November 13 Falken Tasmania Challenge Symmons Plains Raceway Launceston, Tasmania 21–23 November 14 NRMA Motoring & Services Grand Finale Oran Park Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 4–7 December
Rule changes Technical An option to use sequential gearboxes in lieu of H-pattern gearboxes was introduced.V8s get into sequence Motorsport News issue 10 26 June 2007 page 7 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.V8 Supercars to reward more teams in 2008 points score Official Site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series retrieved on 25 January 2008
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.Ottley, S. "Champs penalised" Herald Sun 23 January 2008
Results and standings Season summary Race Event Pole position Race winners Round winner 1 R1 Adelaide Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup report R2 Jamie Whincup 2 R1 Garth Tander Garth Tander Will Davison report R2 Will Davison R3 Mark Winterbottom 3 R1 Hamilton Steven Richards Garth Tander Garth Tander report R2 Garth Tander R3 Garth Tander 4 R1 Perth Mark Winterbottom report R2 Mark Winterbottom R3 Mark Winterbottom 5 R1 Sandown Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup report R2 Craig Lowndes R3 Jamie Whincup 6 R1 Darwin Mark Winterbottom Mark Winterbottom Steven Richards report R2 Garth Tander R3 Steven Richards 7 R1 Ipswich James Courtney James Courtney Mark Winterbottom report R2 Mark Winterbottom R3 Mark Winterbottom 8 R1 Winton Mark Winterbottom Jamie Whincup Garth Tander report R2 Will Davison R3 Garth Tander 9 Phillip Island Craig Lowndes Jamie Whincup Garth Tander Mark Skaife report 10 Bathurst Garth Tander Craig Lowndes Jamie Whincup report 11 R1 Gold Coast Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup report R2 Jamie Whincup R3 Jamie Whincup 12 R1 Bahrain Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup report R2 Jamie Whincup R3 Jamie Whincup 13 R1 Launceston Garth Tander Todd Kelly report R2 Jamie Whincup R3 Jamie Whincup 14 R1 Oran Park Garth Tander Jamie Whincup Garth Tander report R2 Garth Tander R3 Rick Kelly
Points system Points are awarded to any driver that completes 75% of race distance and is running on the completion of the final lap.
Pos 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th Adelaide 150 138 129 120 111 102 96 90 84 78 72 69 66 63 60 57 54 51 48 45 42 39 36 33 30 27 24 21 18 15 Std 100 92 86 80 74 68 64 60 56 52 48 46 44 42 40 38 36 34 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 L&H 500 Qual 50 46 43 40 37 34 32 30 28 26 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 L&H 500 Feature 200 184 172 160 148 136 128 120 112 104 96 92 88 84 80 76 72 68 64 60 56 52 48 44 40 36 32 28 24 20 Bathurst 300 276 258 240 222 204 192 180 168 156 144 138 132 126 120 114 108 102 96 90 84 78 72 66 60 54 48 42 36 30
NOTES:
Adelaide: Clipsal 500.
Std denotes all races except the Clipsal 500, L&H 500, and Bathurst 1000. These three races have unique rules.