2000 Australian Drivers' Championship

2000 Australian Drivers' Championship

Drivers' Champion:
Simon Wills

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1999

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2001

The 2000 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of cars conforming to Formula Holden regulations. ^[1] The title was contested over an 8-round, 16 race series with the winner awarded the 2000 CAMS Gold Star. The championship, which was promoted as the 2000 Holden Australian Drivers' Championship, ^[2] was the 44th Australian Drivers' Championship and the 12th to be contested with Formula Holden or Formula Brabham cars.

Teams and drivers

Brenton Ramsay placed 20th driving a Reynard 94D (image from 2015)

Team	Chassis	No	Driver	Rounds
Birrana Racing	Reynard 94D	1	Simon Wills	All
		8	LeRoy Stevenson	All
		9	Brenton Ramsay	1, 3
D Samimi	Ralt RT21	2	Neville Wills	3
Stan Keen	Shrike NB89H	5	Stan Keen	8
Kmart Racing	Reynard 93D	7	Paul Dumbrell	All
Ralt Australia	Reynard 92D	11	Chris Staff	1–5, 7
	Reynard 94D	12	Matt Halliday	All
Chas Talbot	March 87B	14	Chas Talbot	1
3M Australia Racing Team	Reynard 91D	15	Les Crampton	1, 3, 8
Mantis Racing	Reynard 92D	17	Mark Ellis	3–6, 8
NRC Racing	Reynard 94D	20	Dale Brede	All
	Reynard 95D	25	Christian Murchison	All
Greg Murphy Racing	Reynard 92D	22	Tim Leahey	2–7
Camtech Racing	Reynard 91D	24	Ian Peters	All
Garry Haywood	Reynard 91D	26	Garry Haywood	1–2
Terry Clearihan	Ralt RT23	27	Terry Clearihan	4–8
Hocking Motorsport	Reynard 97D	28	Roger Oakeshott	All
	Reynard 97D	74	Craig Bastian	1–2
	Reynard 98D		Akihiro Asai	3
	Reynard 97D		Steve Owen	4–8
	Reynard 94D	75	Andy Booth	1–5
	Reynard 97D		Stuart Kostera Jr.	8
Laurentius Consultants	Reynard 94D	36	Lars Johansson	1, 3
Bob Power	Ralt RT23	48	Bob Power	2, 4–5
Rohan Carrig	Reynard 89D	49	Rohan Carrig	3, 6, 8
Peter Hill	Reynard 94D	66	Peter Hill	All
Damien Digby	Reynard 92D	69	Damien Digby	3

Schedule

The championship was contested over an eight-round series with two races per round. ^[3]

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team
1	R1	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit (Phillip Island, Victoria)	13 February	Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
	R2				Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
2	R1	Eastern Creek International Raceway (Eastern Creek, New South Wales)	26 March	Tim Leahey	Tim Leahey	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
	R2				Tim Leahey	Christian Murchison	NRC Racing
3	R1	Adelaide Street Circuit (Adelaide, South Australia)	8–9 April	Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Christian Murchison	NRC Racing
	R2				Simon Wills	Matt Halliday	Ralt Australia
4	R1	Canberra Street Circuit (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory)	10–11 June	Tim Leahey	Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
	R2				Simon Wills	Chris Staff	Ralt Australia
5	R1	Queensland Raceway (Ipswich, Queensland)	2 July	Simon Wills	Matt Halliday	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
	R2				Simon Wills	Christian Murchison	NRC Racing
6	R1	Winton Motor Raceway (Benalla, Victoria)	16 July	Tim Leahey	Simon Wills	Tim Leahey	Greg Murphy Racing
	R2				Christian Murchison	Tim Leahey	Greg Murphy Racing
7	R1	Oran Park Raceway (Sydney, New South Wales)	30 July	Simon Wills	Tim Leahey	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
	R2				Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
8	R1	Mallala Motor Sport Park (Mallala, South Australia)	27 August	Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Christian Murchison	NRC Racing
	R2				Christian Murchison	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing

Points System

Championship points were awarded on a 20–15–12–10–8–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the first ten finishers in each race. ^[4]

Review

New Zealand racer Simon Wills won his second Australian Drivers' Championship driving a Birrana Racing Reynard 94D Holden. ^[5] Wills won eight of the 16 races to finish 33 points ahead of Singaporean born West Australian Christian Murchison (Reynard 95D & 97D). Another New Zealander, Matt Halliday (Reynard 94D Holden) finished third in the points, 58 points behind Wills. It was the sixth Australian Drivers' Championship victory in seven years for a Birrana Racing driver.

In addition to Wills' eight wins, Murchison took four race victories and Tim Leahey (Reynard 92D Holden) took two with single victories recorded by Halliday and Chris Staff (Reynard 92D Holden)

Championship results

Pos.	Driver	PHI		EAS		ADE		CAN		QUE		WIN		ORA		MAL		Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
1	Simon Wills	1	1	1	Ret	8	2	1	7	1	2	2	2	1	1	3	1	244
2	Christian Murchison	3	4	2	1	1	5	3	2	2	1	Ret	6	3	2	1	6	208
3	Matt Halliday	2	2	3	3	2	1	4	Ret	5	Ret	3	3	4	3	2	2	163
4	Tim Leahey	DNS	3	Ret	Ret	3	3	2	Ret	Ret	Ret	1	1	2	Ret			109
5	LeRoy Stevenson	5	12	Ret	4	7	6	7	4	6	3	12	4	8	6	5	5	97
6	Paul Dumbrell	4	Ret	5	5	4	4	12	5	7	Ret	4	5	5	4	14	Ret	96
7	Dale Brede	7	5	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	5	3	4	12	6	Ret	7	7	4	3	80
8	Chris Staff	Ret	DNS	7	2	5	7	6	1	11	4							63
9	Andy Booth	6	13	4	6	6	8	9	Ret	10	6			6	5			57
10	Steve Owen							10	6	3	5	5	Ret	9	8	6	4	56
11	Peter Hill	9	7	6	DNS	9	9	8	Ret	13	11	7	7	10	10	9	7	37
12	Ian Peters	Ret	8	Ret	8	Ret	14	14	8	9	10	9	8	11	9	7	14	25
13	Mark Ellis					10	16	15	9	12	7	10	9			11	9	12
14	Garry Haywood	Ret	6	8	Ret													9
15	Les Crampton	8	9			11	10									12	15	8
16	Roger Oakeshott	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	15	11	11	DNS	15	9	8	DNS	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	7
17	Terry Clearihan							16	10	14	8	Ret	10	12	12	10	10	6
18	Craig Bastian	Ret	11	Ret	7													4
19	Stan Keen															8	12	3
=	Brenton Ramsay					Ret	Ret											3
=	Robert Power			Ret	DNS			13	DNS	8	Ret							3
22	Lars Johansson	10	Ret			Ret	12											2
23	Chris Talbot	11	10															1
-	Rohan Carrig					16	DNS					11	Ret			13	13	0
-	Akihiro Asai					Ret	Ret											0
-	Stuart Kostera Jr															Ret	11	0
-	Damien Digby					14	13											0
-	Neville Wills					13	15											0
Pos.	Driver	PHI		EAS		ADE		CAN		QUE		WIN		ORA		MAL		Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2

References

1. Australian Title Conditions, 2000 CAMS Manual of Australian Motor Sport, Page 7-11
2. Sporting Regulations - Administration Retrieved from www.formulaholden.com via web.archive.org on 17 January 2011
3. 2000 Holden Australian Drivers Championship Race Results Sheets Retrieved from www.formulaholden.com via web.archive.org on 17 January 2011
4. Sporting Regulations - Awards and Pointscores Retrieved from www.formulaholden.com via web.archive.org on 17 January 2011
5. "Gold Star Winners - 1957 - 2009". formula3.com.au. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2010.

Further reading

• Connor McNally, "Simply Simon", Motor Racing Australia, No 55, Dec 2000 / Jan 2001, page 44

External links

• 2000 Australian Drivers' Championship results at www.teamdan.com Archived 9 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine