2015 Australian Carrera Cup Championship

2015 Australian Carrera Cup Championship

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The 2015 Australian Carrera Cup Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. It was sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) as a national championship with Porsche Cars Australia Pty Ltd appointed as the Category Manager by CAMS. ^[1] The title, which was the eleventh Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship, was won by Nick Foster.

Sonic Motor Racing Services driver Foster won eight races during the season, with two runs of four consecutive victories including weekend sweeps at Townsville and Sandown. Foster finished sixty-four points ahead of Finance EZI Racing's David Russell, who took eleven podium finishes during the season but only one win, at Bathurst. Third place in the championship went to Matt Campbell (McElrea Racing), who won six races, including a weekend sweep at Surfers Paradise as part of a four-race win streak to close the season. Defending champion Steven Richards won five of the first six races, but only returned to the podium four times over the remaining sixteen races to finish fourth in the championship. Foster's teammate Nick McBride and Hamilton Autohaus driver Shane Smollen were the other race-winners, winning at Albert Park and Phillip Island respectively. Foster also won the Professional sub-classification by 46 points, while Smollen won the Elite sub-classification by 60 points ahead of Stephen Grove.

Teams and drivers

Nick Foster won the championship driving for Sonic Motor Racing Services.

David Russell finished runner-up in the championship driving for Finance EZI Racing.

Shane Smollen won the Elite class driving for Hamilton Autohaus.

The following teams and drivers contested the championship.

Team	No.	Driver	Rd 3 co-driver [2]	Class	Rounds
Steve Richards Motorsport	1	Steven Richards	Dean Grant	Professional	All
Grove Group	4	Stephen Grove	Scott McLaughlin	Elite	All
McElrea Racing	5	Spike Goddard		Professional	1–2
		Tony Walls		Elite	7
	7	Matt Campbell	Tim Miles	Professional	All
	56	Shane Smollen	Nick Percat	Elite	All
Garth Walden Racing	6	Ash Samadi	Dean Fiore	Elite	All
Porsche Centre Melbourne	8	Craig Baird	Max Twigg	Professional	All
Hallmarc	9	Marc Cini	Christopher Mies	Elite	All
Finance EZI Racing	10	David Russell	James Koundouris	Professional	All
Team BRM	11	Simon Hodge	Ray Angus	Professional	1–5
		John Magro		Professional	6
	22	Richard Muscat	Sam Walter	Professional	All
	45	Duvashen Padayachee	Indiran Padayachee	Professional	All
Porsche Centre Brighton	13	James Bergmuller	Alex Davison	Elite	All
Buik Motorsport	14	Cameron McConville	John Goodacre	Professional	1–3
	25	John Martin [3]		Professional	4–8
	26	Michael Almond	John Karytinos	Professional	All
AVCS	18	Max Twigg		Elite	2
Lago Racing	23	Roger Lago	Steve Owen	Elite	1–4
Tony Bates Racing	24	Tony Bates	Daniel Gaunt	Elite	All
Sonic Motor Racing Services	39	Adrian Mastronardo	Tim Slade	Elite	All
	77	Nick McBride	Neale Muston	Professional	All
	777	Nick Foster	Dylan Thomas	Professional	All
DNA Racing	65	Fraser Ross	David Ryan	Professional	All
Koala Motorsport	69	Brenton Griguol		Elite	7
Scott Taylor Motorsport	88	Shae Davies	Geoff Emery	Professional	2–3, 5-6, 8
	222	Scott Taylor	Dean Canto	Elite	1–5, 7–8
		Aaron Seton		Professional	6

All vehicles were Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Type 991 cars, as mandated by the championship regulations. ^[1]

Race calendar

The championship was contested over eight rounds. ^[4]

Round		Circuit	City / state	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Round winner
1	R1	Adelaide Street Circuit	Adelaide, South Australia	27 February	Nick Foster	Steven Richards	Steven Richards	Steve Richards Motorsport	Steven Richards
	R2			28 February		Nick Foster	Steven Richards	Steve Richards Motorsport
	R3			1 March		Steven Richards	Steven Richards	Steve Richards Motorsport
2	R1	Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit	Melbourne, Victoria	13 March	Nick McBride	Cameron McConville	Nick McBride	Sonic Motor Racing Services	Steven Richards
	R2			14 March		Steven Richards	Steven Richards	Steve Richards Motorsport
	R3			15 March		Shae Davies	Steven Richards	Steve Richards Motorsport
3	R1	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit	Phillip Island, Victoria	23 May	Cameron McConville John Goodacre	Stephen Grove Scott McLaughlin	Shane Smollen Nick Percat	Hamilton Autohaus	Shane Smollen Nick Percat
	R2			24 May	Matt Campbell Tim Miles	Stephen Grove Scott McLaughlin	Nick Foster Dylan Thomas	Sonic Motor Racing Services
4	R1	Townsville Street Circuit	Townsville, Queensland	11 July	David Russell	Richard Muscat	Nick Foster	Sonic Motor Racing Services	Nick Foster
	R2			12 July		Steven Richards	Nick Foster	Sonic Motor Racing Services
	R3					Nick Foster	Nick Foster	Sonic Motor Racing Services
5	R1	Sydney Motorsport Park	Eastern Creek, New South Wales	22 August	Nick Foster	Matt Campbell	Matt Campbell	McElrea Racing	Nick Foster
	R2					Nick Foster	Matt Campbell	McElrea Racing
	R3			23 August		Nick Foster	Nick Foster	Sonic Motor Racing Services
6	R1	Sandown Raceway	Melbourne, Victoria	12 September	Matt Campbell	Nick Foster	Nick Foster	Sonic Motor Racing Services	Nick Foster
	R2					Nick McBride	Nick Foster	Sonic Motor Racing Services
	R3			13 September		Nick McBride	Nick Foster	Sonic Motor Racing Services
7	R1	Mount Panorama Circuit	Bathurst, New South Wales	9 October	Matt Campbell	Matt Campbell	David Russell	Finance EZI Racing	Matt Campbell
	R2			10 October		Race abandoned [N 1]
	R3			11 October		Matt Campbell	Matt Campbell	McElrea Racing
8	R1	Surfers Paradise Street Circuit	Surfers Paradise, Queensland	24 October	David Russell	Matt Campbell	Matt Campbell	McElrea Racing	Matt Campbell
	R2			25 October		Craig Baird	Matt Campbell	McElrea Racing
	R3					Matt Campbell	Matt Campbell	McElrea Racing

Championship standings

Points system

Championship points were awarded at each race as per the table below: ^[1]

Points format	Position
	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
Three races	60	54	48	42	36	32	29	26	23	20	18	16	14	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1
Two races	90	81	72	63	54	48	43.5	39	34.5	30	27	24	21	18	16.5	15	13.5	12	10.5	9	7.5	6	4.5	3	1.5

Each driver was deemed by the Category Manager to be in either the Professional Class or the Elite Class for the purpose of awarding class points. ^[1] For class awards, each driver in each class who was classified as a finisher received points in accordance with the above pointscore table relative to each other driver in their class. ^[1]

Overall

Pos. Driver [6] No. ADE MEL PHI TOW SYD SAN BAT SUR Pts. [6] 1 Nick Foster 777 Ret Ret DNS Ret 10th 5th 6th 1st 1st 1st 1st 2nd 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st 3rd 4th 3rd 3rd 3rd 956 2 David Russell 10 2nd 4th 3rd 5th 8th 6th Ret 16th 3rd 2nd 17th 5th 3rd 3rd 4th 4th 5th 1st 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 892 3 Matt Campbell 7 Ret 15th Ret 4th 7th 7th Ret 11th 4th 6th 5th 1st 1st 5th 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st 860 4 Steven Richards 1 1st 1st 1st 2nd 1st 1st 7th 10th 6th 3rd 2nd 3rd Ret 8th Ret 7th 4th 4th 3rd 12th 12th 11th 846.5 5 Craig Baird 8 4th 2nd 2nd 6th 4th 2nd 9th 7th 5th 5th 3rd 6th 4th 2nd Ret 10th 6th 5th 5th 5th 4th Ret 806 6 Richard Muscat 22 5th 5th 6th 8th 6th 8th 12th 3rd 2nd 4th 4th Ret DNS 9th 3rd 3rd 3rd 8th 7th 6th 5th 4th 754 7 Nick McBride 77 3rd 3rd 4th 1st 3rd 23rd 4th 5th DNS 10th 7th 8th 6th 6th 17th 11th 11th 6th 6th 9th 8th 7th 692 8 Michael Almond 26 7th 7th 7th 10th 9th 9th 11th Ret 7th 7th Ret 10th 7th 7th 8th 5th 8th 7th 11th 4th 7th 8th 538 9 Shane Smollen 56 15th 14th 12th 17th 17th 16th 1st 2nd 12th 11th 13th 13th 13th 13th 9th 16th 14th 12th 13th 10th 15th 15th 445 10 Shae Davies 88 7th 5th 4th 5th 8th 4th 5th 4th 12th 13th 9th 8th 6th 6th 438 11 Stephen Grove 4 11th 13th 13th 13th 18th 18th 2nd 6th 13th 12th 11th 14th 11th 15th 13th 15th 15th 14th 14th 18th 14th 13th 388 12 Duvashen Padayachee 45 Ret 11th 9th 9th 13th 12th 16th 17th 9th 16th 8th 12th 9th 12th Ret 17th 12th 9th 9th 7th 16th 10th 366.5 13 Fraser Ross 65 8th 9th Ret 14th 12th 10th 15th Ret 11th 19th 12th 9th 8th 19th 10th 6th Ret 10th 10th 15th 9th 9th 359.5 14 Cameron McConville 14 6th 6th 5th 3rd 2nd 3rd 3rd Ret 322 15 Tony Bates 24 9th 10th 10th 15th 14th 17th 14th 19th Ret 13th 10th DNS DNS DNS 7th 14th 13th 13th 12th 11th 11th 12th 284.5 16 John Martin 25 10th 9th 6th 7th Ret 10th Ret 9th 7th 11th 8th 20th 10th 5th 282 17 Simon Hodge 11 10th 8th 8th Ret Ret 14th 17th 18th 8th 8th 9th 11th 10th 11th 240.5 18 Ash Samadi 6 13th 17th 15th 20th 21st 20th 13th 13th 16th 15th 15th 15th 16th 16th 14th 20th 18th 16th 17th 17th 17th 18th 227 19 Adrian Mastronardo 39 Ret 16th 16th 21st 20th 21st 10th 4th 18th 20th Ret Ret 14th 17th 16th 18th 17th 18th 20th 19th Ret 17th 221 20 Marc Cini 9 14th Ret 14th 16th 19th 19th 18th 14th 15th 14th 16th 18th 17th Ret 15th 19th 19th 17th 19th 14th Ret 16th 191 21 James Bergmuller 13 DNS DNS DNS 18th 22nd 22nd Ret 15th 14th 18th 14th 16th 12th 14th 11th 21st 16th Ret 18th 13th 13th 14th 183.5 22 Roger Lago 23 12th 12th 11th Ret 15th 15th 8th 9th DNS DNS DNS 145.5 23 Scott Taylor 222 16th 18th 17th 19th 23rd Ret Ret 12th 17th 17th Ret 17th 15th 18th Ret 16th 16th 18th Ret 135 24 Aaron Seton 222 6th 12th 10th 68 25 John Magro 11 5th 8th Ret 62 26 Max Twigg 18 11th 11th 13th 50 27 Spike Goddard 5 Ret DNS DNS 12th 16th 11th 44 28 Tony Walls 5 15th 15th 22 29 Brenton Griguol 69 19th Ret 7

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points classification Blue Non-points classification Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired, not classified (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold - Pole position Italics - Fastest lap

Professional

Pos.	Driver [6]	Pts. [6]
1	Nick Foster	971
2	David Russell	925
3	Matt Campbell	883.5
4	Steven Richards	881
5	Craig Baird	839
6	Richard Muscat	778
7	Nick McBride	748
8	Michael Almond	557.5
9	Shae Davies	478
10	Duvashen Padayachee	423.5
11	Fraser Ross	416.5
12	Cameron McConville	340
13	John Martin	292
14	Simon Hodge	277
15	Aaron Seton	68
16	John Magro	62
17	Spike Goddard	50

Elite

Pos.	Driver [6]	Pts. [6]
1	Shane Smollen	1178
2	Stephen Grove	1118
3	Tony Bates	972.5
4	Ash Samadi	784
5	James Bergmuller	684
6	Marc Cini	675
7	Adrian Mastronardo	637
8	Scott Taylor	459
9	Roger Lago	393
10	Max Twigg	180
11	Tony Walls	84
12	Brenton Griguol	26

Notes

1. Race abandoned due to heavy rain. ^[5]

References

1. "Sporting and Technical Regulations – 2015 CAMS Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship – Version 2" (PDF). Confederation of Australian Motor Sport . Confederation of Australian Motor Sport Ltd. 26 March 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-26. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
2. Bartholomaeus, Stefan (12 May 2015). "Full Carrera Cup Pro-Am line-up revealed". Speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
3. "John Martin secures Porsche Carrera Cup drive". Speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
4. "Results". Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship . Confederation of Australian Motor Sport. Archived from the original on 26 December 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
5. "Second Carrera Cup race abandoned". Speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. 10 October 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
6. "Standings – Season 2015". Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship . Confederation of Australian Motor Sport. Archived from the original on 26 December 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2016.

External links

Media related to 2015 in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website