1994 Australian Drivers' Championship

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The 1994 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing competition open to drivers of racing cars complying with CAMS Formula Brabham (formerly known as Formula Holden) regulations. [1] The championship winner was awarded the 1994 CAMS Gold Star as the Australian Champion Driver. [1] It was the 38th running of the Australian Drivers' Championship and the sixth to feature the Formula Holden / Formula Brabham category which had been developed during 1988. The championship began on 17 April 1994 at Eastern Creek Raceway and ended on 28 August at Oran Park Raceway after six rounds.

The championship was won by Birrana Racing's Paul Stokell after a season long duel with Triple Eight Racing driver Greg Murphy. Murphy and his Ralt RT23 was the better combination at the start of the season, winning the first four races. Stokell started the year in a Reynard 90D, moving into the teams newer 91D at the second round. Stokell took his first win at Winton Motor Raceway and won every race bar one for the rest of the season to push past Murphy and win the championship.

Reynard 91D driver Adam Kaplan won the competition for third place in the championship on consistency, only finishing in the top three at the final race of the season with a second place at Oran Park. Tied for fourth place in the championship was Kevin Weeks (Reynard 91D) and Craig Lowndes in his first season in winged open-wheel racing cars. The emerging Formula Ford driver drove the ageing Cheetak Mk.9 owned by Brian Sampson with some impressive drives in the best of the aluminium constructed cars.

Teams and drivers

Greg Murphy's Ralt RT23 at the Lakeside round of the championship Murphy-ralt.jpg
Greg Murphy's Ralt RT23 at the Lakeside round of the championship

The following drivers competed in the 1994 Australian Drivers' Championship.

DriverNoCar
Allan Galloway 3 Reynard 91D
Ron Barnacle 4 Reynard 90D
Adam Kaplan 7 Reynard 91D
Paul Stokell 9 Reynard 90D
Reynard 91D
Graham Watson 11SPA 003
Peter Brennan 17 Ralt RT21
Rick Fabri 18 Ralt RT21
Arthur Abrahams 19 Reynard 92D
Greg Murphy 21 Ralt RT23
Chas Jacobsen 24 Reynard 92D
Ross Hodgson 32 Ralt RT21
Bernie Stack 38 Ralt RT21
Craig Lowndes 49
94
Cheetah Mk. 9
Bob Minogue 64 Lola T87/50
Kevin Weeks 70 Reynard 91D
Stan Keen 73 Shrike NB89H
Chris Hocking 74 Reynard 91D
Paul Collins 88Liston BF3
Roger Seward 96 Ralt RT23
Albert Callagher 99 Ralt RT21
Colin Milne Hocking 911

Results and standings

Race calendar

The 1994 Australian Drivers' Championship consisted of six rounds held in four different states. Each round consisted of two heats. The final round at Oran Park in Sydney used the shorter (1.96 km) South Circuit rather than the 2.6 km Grand Prix Circuit. Results sourced from: [2]

Rd.CircuitCity / stateDateWinner
1 Eastern Creek Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 17 April Greg Murphy
2 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Phillip Island, Victoria 22 May Greg Murphy
3 Winton Motor Raceway Benalla, Victoria19 June Paul Stokell
4 Lakeside Raceway Brisbane, Queensland 17 July Paul Stokell
5 Mallala Motor Sport Park Mallala, South Australia 7 August Paul Stokell
6 Oran Park Raceway Sydney, New South Wales28 August Paul Stokell

Drivers Championship

Points were awarded 20–16–14–12–10–8–6–4–2–1 based on the top ten race positions.

PosDriverRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6Pts
1 Paul Stokell 2nd4thDNS2nd1st1st1st1st2nd1st1st1st200
2 Greg Murphy 1st1st1st1st3rd2ndRet2nd1st2nd2ndRet178
3 Adam Kaplan 5th5th7th7th5th5th4th4th4th4th4th2nd128
4 Craig Lowndes Ret6th3rd4th4th3rd3rd3rd3rd3rd116
Kevin Weeks 3rd2nd2nd3rd2nd4th3rd3rdRetRet116
6 Bob Minogue 6th7th6thRet8th8th5th5th6th6th8th7th76
7 Allan Galloway 4th3rd4th5th6th7thDNS5thRetDNS72
8 Chris Hocking DNS6th7thRet5thDNS5th4th46
9 Graham Watson 8th8th9th9th6th6th28
10 Arthur Abrahams RetDNSRet6th2ndRet24
11 Bernie Stack 7thRet5th8thDNS10th21
12 Ron Barnacle 7th5th16
13 Peter Brennan 10thRet8th9th8th8th15
14 Chas Jacobsen 9th7th8
Stan Keen 7th9th8
16 Ross Hodgson 9th9th4
17 Rick Fabri RetRet9th10th3
18 Paul Collins 12th11th10thDNS10thRet2
19 Al Callegher 11th10thRetRet1
Roger Seward 10thRet1
PosDriverRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6Pts
ColourResult
GoldWinner
SilverSecond place
BronzeThird place
GreenPoints classification
BlueNon-points classification
Non-classified finish (NC)
PurpleRetired, not classified (Ret)
RedDid not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
BlackDisqualified (DSQ)
WhiteDid not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
BlankDid not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

References

  1. 1 2 Australian Title Conditions, 1994 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 164
  2. Normoyle, Steve, ed. (1994–95). "Worth the Wait". Australian Motor Racing Year. 24. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing Group Pty. Limited: 178–187 & 284–5. ISSN   0158-4138.