Super2 Series

Last updated
Super2 Series
Dunlop Super2 Series Logo.svg
Category Touring car racing
Country Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia
Inaugural season2000
Drivers22
Teams16
Constructors Flag of Australia (converted).svg Ford
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Holden
Tyre suppliers Dunlop
Drivers' champion Flag of Australia (converted).svg Kai Allen
Makes' champion Flag of Australia (converted).svg Holden
Teams' champion Eggleston Motorsport
Official website www.supercars.com
Motorsport current event.svg 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.

Contents

The vast majority of drivers in the Supercars Championship have raced at least one season in the Super2 championship. For parts of its history, competing in Super2 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

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.

Championship format

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

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

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

Rookie of the Year Winners

SeasonWinnerCarTeam
2021 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Matt McLean Holden Commodore VF Eggleston Motorsport
2022 Flag of New Zealand.svg Matthew Payne Nissan Altima L33 Grove Racing
2023 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Kai Allen Holden Commodore ZB Eggleston Motorsport

Records (Top-5)

Series winsDriver startsDriver round winsDriver race winsTeam round wins
Pos.DriverTitlesPos.DriverStartsPos.DriverWinsPos.DriverWinsPos.TeamWins
1 Dean Canto 21Aaron McGill681 Steve Owen 101 Dean Canto 211 MW Motorsport 21
Steve Owen 22 Geoff Emery 552 Dean Canto 9 Paul Dumbrell 212 Tickford Racing 18
Paul Dumbrell 23Marcus Zukanovic533 Andrew Thompson 83 Steve Owen 203 Eggleston Motorsport 15
418 drivers with single series wins4Mark Howard39 Paul Dumbrell 84 Andrew Thompson 164Howard Racing11
Drew Russell 395 Adam Macrow 75 Owen Kelly 135 Dick Johnson Racing 9
Note: bold text indicates active drivers and teams.

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References

  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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