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Super2 Series

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Dunlop V8 Supercar Series)
Super2 Series
CategoryTouring car racing
CountryAustralia Australia
Inaugural season2000
Drivers30
Teams14
ConstructorsAustralia Ford
Australia Holden
Tyre suppliersDunlop
Drivers' championAustralia Zach Bates
Makes' championAustralia Holden
Teams' championWalkinshaw Andretti United
Official websitewww.supercars.com
Current season

The Dunlop Super2 Series (formerly known as Dunlop Series, Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series, HPDC V8 Supercars Series, Konica Minolta V8 Supercars Series and Konica V8 Supercars/Lites Series) is an Australian touring car racing competition, specifically the second tier series for Supercars competitors. Competing vehicles are older than those utilised in the Supercars Championship series and are usually run by smaller teams with lower budgets.

The vast majority of drivers in the Supercars Championship have raced at least one season in the Super2 Series Championship. For parts of its history, competing in the Super2 Series was required for most drivers to qualify for a Motorsport Australia Superlicence, which is required to compete in the Supercars Championship, or was enforced as a separate requirement by the Supercars Championship organisers.[1][2]

History

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The series was first held in 2000 as the 2000 Konica V8 Lites Series and this inaugural contest was won by Dean Canto. Towards the end of the season Stone Brothers Racing entered a car for David Besnard as preparation for the long distance races, in the main V8 Supercar series, the Queensland 500 and the Bathurst 1000, which unlike the other races require two drivers for each competing vehicle. Since then main series teams have used the series to help get their endurance co-drivers up-to-speed, or have employed drivers competing for other Fujitsu Series teams. While originally Fujitsu Series teams were allowed to enter main series events, this has since been discontinued as all main series events are limited to those teams carrying valid franchise slots for the main series, although in limited circumstances Fujitsu series teams have been able to lease entries from main series teams.

The 2007 champion, Tony D'Alberto, drove for the Tony D'Alberto Racing team, and like many of his predecessors, graduated to the V8 Supercar series in 2008, again with the family team.

From 2009 onward all Super2 Series have run on the Supercars calendar.

This series carries the colloquial title of 'Development Series' which was the name given to the series by V8 Supercar Australia between the 2004 and 2005 seasons. The colloquial title is referred to in many conversations, even though there has never been a Development Series race because a naming rights sponsor was found before the start of the 2005 season.

Started during the 2016 year season of the Dunlop Super2 Series (Named as Supercars Dunlop Series) Car of The Future later known as New Generation V8 Supercar specification cars were eligible in the series.

In the 2021 season of the series, The Kumho Tyre V8 Touring Car Series (Later named as Kumho Tyre Super3 Series in 2019 before being named as Dunlop Super3 Series) joined alongside the Dunlop Super2 Series category for the first time as a class racing on track at the same time.

Started in the year 2023 season of the Dunlop Super2 & Super3 Series only the Gen2 Specification built cars (Holden Commodore ZB & Ford Mustang GT (S550)) were to become eligible in the Super2 Series class. Car of The Future also known as New Generation V8 Supercar specification built cars were sold & sent down to teams in the Super3 Series class of the Dunlop Super2 & Super3 Series.

Starting in the 2025 year season the Dunlop Series will revert down to a single class of the Super2 Series removing the Super3 Series due to low grid numbers with as much as two or three cars in the Super3 Series class during round weekends of the 2024 Dunlop Super2 & Super3 Series season. Cars that were built under Car of The Future (Also Known as New Generation V8 Supercar) Regulations such as the Holden Commodore VF, Ford Falcon FG-X and Nissan Altima are set to be re-eligible back in the Super2 Series in the 2025 Year season.

Championship format

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The Super2 series runs at a subset of Supercars Championship rounds (for instance in 2025, there will be six Super2 rounds).[3]

During each round, there are two races of 40 minutes duration, one on the Saturday and one on the Sunday of the race weekend.[4] There is a separate qualifying session for each race.

Championship points for each race result are awarded on a sliding scale, with each race result given equal weighting (unlike in the Supercars Championship, where longer races are awarded more points).[5]

Costs

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One 2023 estimate puts the cost of competing in the Super2 series for a season at "up to A$600,000...for a top car".[6] While much lower than the Supercars Championship, it is much higher than many other Australian racing series such as the Trico Trans-Am Series, TCR Australia Touring Car Series, and the now-defunct S5000 Australian Drivers Championship.[7]

Series winners

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The Holden VZ Commodore of Marcus Zukanovic at the Adelaide Parklands Circuit for the opening round of the 2010 Dunlop Super2 Series (Back then as the 2010 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series).
The Ford BF Falcon of John McIntyre at the Adelaide Parklands Circuit for the opening round of the 2010 Dunlop Super2 Series (Back then as the 2010 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series).
The Holden VE Commodore of Paul Dumbrell at the 2014 Sydney NRMA 500
The Nissan Altima (L33) of Jack Le Brocq at the Newcastle Street Circuit for the 2017 Coates Hire Newcastle 500
Season Series Name Series Winner Car Team
2000 Konica V8 Lites Series Australia Dean Canto Ford EL Falcon Dean Canto Racing
2001 Konica V8 Supercar Series New Zealand Simon Wills Holden VT Commodore Team Dynamik
2002 Konica V8 Supercar Series Australia Paul Dumbrell Holden VX Commodore Independent Race Cars Australia
2003 Konica V8 Supercar Series Australia Mark Winterbottom Ford AU Falcon Stone Brothers Racing
2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Series Australia Andrew Jones Ford AU Falcon Brad Jones Racing
2005 HPDC V8 Supercar Series Australia Dean Canto Ford BA Falcon Dick Johnson Racing
2006 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Australia Adam Macrow Ford BA Falcon Howard Racing
2007 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Australia Tony D'Alberto Holden VZ Commodore Tony D'Alberto Racing
2008 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Australia Steve Owen Holden VZ Commodore Scott Loadsman Racing
2009 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Australia Jonathon Webb Ford BF Falcon MW Motorsport
2010 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Australia Steve Owen Holden VE Commodore Greg Murphy Racing
2011 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Australia Andrew Thompson Holden VE Commodore Triple Eight Race Engineering
2012 Dunlop V8 Supercar Series New Zealand Scott McLaughlin Ford FG Falcon Stone Brothers Racing
Matt Stone Racing
2013 Dunlop V8 Supercar Series Australia Dale Wood Ford FG Falcon MW Motorsport
2014 Dunlop V8 Supercar Series Australia Paul Dumbrell Holden VE Commodore Eggleston Motorsport
2015 V8 Supercars Dunlop Series Australia Cam Waters Ford FG Falcon Prodrive Racing Australia
2016 Supercars Dunlop Series Australia Garry Jacobson Ford FG X Falcon Prodrive Racing Australia
2017 Dunlop Super2 Series Australia Todd Hazelwood Holden VF Commodore Matt Stone Racing
2018 Dunlop Super2 Series New Zealand Chris Pither Holden VF Commodore Garry Rogers Motorsport
2019 Dunlop Super2 Series Australia Bryce Fullwood Nissan Altima L33 MW Motorsport
2020 Dunlop Super2 Series Australia Thomas Randle Nissan Altima L33 MW Motorsport
2021 Dunlop Super2 Series Australia Broc Feeney Holden VF Commodore Triple Eight Race Engineering
2022 Dunlop Super2 Series Australia Declan Fraser Holden VF Commodore Triple Eight Race Engineering
2023 Dunlop Super2 Series Australia Kai Allen Holden ZB Commodore Eggleston Motorsport
2024 Dunlop Super2 Series Australia Zach Bates Holden ZB Commodore Walkinshaw Andretti United

Rookie of the Year Winners

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Season Winner Car Team
2021 Australia Matt McLean Holden Commodore VF Eggleston Motorsport
2022 New Zealand Matthew Payne Nissan Altima L33 Grove Racing
2023 Australia Kai Allen Holden Commodore ZB Eggleston Motorsport
2024 Australia Jarrod Hughes Holden Commodore ZB Image Racing

Records (Top-5)

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Series wins Driver starts Driver round wins Driver race wins Team round wins
Pos. Driver Titles Pos. Driver Starts Pos. Driver Wins Pos. Driver Wins Pos. Team Wins
1 Dean Canto 2 1 Aaron McGill 68 1 Steve Owen 10 1 Dean Canto 21 1 MW Motorsport 21
Steve Owen 2 2 Geoff Emery 55 2 Dean Canto 9 Paul Dumbrell 21 2 Tickford Racing 18
Paul Dumbrell 2 3 Marcus Zukanovic 53 3 Andrew Thompson 8 3 Steve Owen 20 3 Eggleston Motorsport 15
4 19 drivers with single series wins 4 Mark Howard 39 Paul Dumbrell 8 4 Andrew Thompson 16 4 Howard Racing 11
Drew Russell 39 5 Adam Macrow 7 5 Owen Kelly 13 5 Dick Johnson Racing 9
Note: bold text indicates active drivers and teams.

References

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  1. ^ Clarke, Andrew (1 June 2023). "Rogers frustrated with Supercars' licence hurdle". Auto Action. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  2. ^ O'Brien, Connor (2023-07-20). "Supercars announces driver eligibility rule change". V8 Sleuth. Retrieved 2024-10-29.
  3. ^ "2025 Supercars Calendar" (PDF). Supercars Championship. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  4. ^ "2024 Repco Supercars Championship | Result 2024 Super2 | Supercars". www.supercars.com. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
  5. ^ "SUPERCARS OPERATIONS MANUAL 2023 DIVISION "D" – SPORTING RULES" (PDF). Supercars Championship. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  6. ^ Williams, Bruce (12 December 2023). "It's Crunch Time For S5000". Auto Action. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  7. ^ van Leewen, Andrew (30 June 2020). "ARG reveals post-lockdown season budgets". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
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