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The 2007 V8 Supercar season will be the 12th V8 Supercar Championship Series. The season is scheduled to begin on 4 March and will finish on 2 December. the season consists of 14 rounds covering all states and the Northern Territory of Australia as well as rounds in New Zealand and Bahrain.
The 2007 season is significant in that two new models of cars will be used by the teams. The Holden VE Commodore is a completely new car and the Ford BF Falcon consists of several changes from the previous model. These cars will be debuted at the first round of the season at the Clipsal 500.
This season is also significant in that Channel Seven will broadcast the series for the first time since 1997, after Channel Ten had rights to the series for the past ten years.
[edit] Pre-season
The 2007 pre-season began with a number of driver and team changes which occurred during December 2006 and January 2007. The most important of the driver changes being Greg Murphy moving to Tasman Motorsport from Supercheap Auto Racing and Steven Richards changing not only teams, but also manufacturers by moving from the Holden based Jack Daniel's Racing to the Ford Performance Racing team.
A number of team changes also occurred during the off-season with Vodafone being the naming sponsor for Triple Eight Race Engineering and Jim Beam joining forces with the Dick Johnson Racing team.
Most of the team launches occurred during late January and early February with a few exceptions, including the launch of Mark Winterbottom's FPR car in early January. As well as the individual team launches, an official season launch was held in Sydney's Martin Place on the 15th February.
A number of testing days were also held during the pre-season. These tests were conducted at a number of race circuits around Australia including Queensland Raceway (TeamVodafone, DJR and WPS Racing) and Winton Raceway (most Victorian based teams including HRT, Ford Performance Racing, Toll HSV Dealer Team and Jack Daniel's Racing). Both of these major tests were conducted on the 19 February 2007.
One of the other major stories of the 2007 pre-season involved both of Holden's most supported teams, being the Holden Racing Team and the Toll HSV Dealer Team. Both teams temporarily had their TEGA licences revoked meaning they would not be able to compete in the championship. This was due to issues relating to the ownership of both teams.[1] This problem related to the ownership of the teams, where under V8 Supercar regulations, one person can only own one team. Officially, Mark Skaife owns HRT and John Kelly (father of Todd and Rick) owns Toll HSV Dealer Team, however the close relationship between the two teams and the presence of Tom Walkinshaw in both teams clouded the ownership of both teams.[2] The teams had their licenses reinstated temporarily pending the presentation of documents proving the ownership of each team to TEGA. On the 22 February 2007, the Toll HSV Dealer Team produced the required documents and has been fully reinstated to the championship,[3] and HRT was cleared to race on 27 February 2007 after satisfying TEGA that Mark Skaife is the true owner of the team.[4]
[edit] Teams and Drivers
The following teams and drivers have been confirmed or are currently speculated for the 2007 V8 Supercar season. Drivers are numbered as per the official 2007 entry list listed on the V8 Supercar website.
[edit] Race Calendar
| Rd. |
Race Title |
Circuit |
City / State |
Date |
Winner |
Team |
Report |
| 1 |
 Clipsal 500 |
Adelaide Street Circuit |
Adelaide, South Australia |
1 - 4 Mar |
Rick Kelly |
Toll HSV Dealer Team |
Report |
| 2 |
BigPond 400 |
Barbagallo Raceway |
Wanneroo, Western Australia |
23 - 25 Mar |
Garth Tander |
Toll HSV Dealer Team |
Report |
| 3 |
 PlaceMakers V8 Supercars |
Pukekohe Park Raceway |
Pukekohe, New Zealand |
20 - 22 Apr |
|
|
Report |
| 4 |
Winton |
Winton Motor Raceway |
Winton, Victoria |
18 - 20 May |
|
|
Report |
| 5 |
Eastern Creek |
Eastern Creek Raceway |
Eastern Creek, New South Wales |
9 - 11 Jun |
|
|
Report |
| 6 |
Skycity Triple Crown |
Hidden Valley Raceway |
Darwin, Northern Territory |
22 - 24 Jun |
|
|
Report |
| 7 |
Queensland |
Queensland Raceway |
Willowbank, Queensland |
20 - 22 Jul |
|
|
Report |
| 8 |
Oran Park |
Oran Park Raceway |
Sydney, New South Wales |
17 - 19 Aug |
|
|
Report |
| 9 |
Sandown 500 |
Sandown Raceway |
Melbourne, Victoria |
14 - 16 Sept |
|
|
Report |
| 10 |
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 |
Mount Panorama |
Bathurst, New South Wales |
4 - 7 Oct |
|
|
Report |
| 11 |
V8 Supercar Challenge |
Gold Coast Street Circuit |
Surfers Paradise, Queensland |
18 - 21 Oct |
|
|
Report |
| 12 |
 Desert 400 |
Bahrain International Circuit |
Manama, Bahrain |
1 - 3 Nov |
|
|
Report |
| 13 |
Tasmania Challenge |
Symmons Plains Raceway |
Launceston, Tasmania |
16 - 18 Nov |
|
|
Report |
| 14 |
Grand Finale |
Phillip Island |
Philip Island, Victoria |
30 Nov - 2 Dec |
|
|
Report |
[edit] Changes
[edit] Driver Changes
[edit] Team Changes
- Triple Eight Race Engineering will have Vodafone as their main sponsor in 2007 replacing Betta Electrical.[11]
- Orccon will return to V8 Supercars as a sponsor for FPR.[12]
- WPS Racing has undergone a complete re-structure of the team with Team Principal Mark Larkham leaving.[13]
- At the DJR season launch on 6 February 2007, it was announced that Jim Beam would be the main naming sponsor of the team.[14]
[edit] Rule Changes
- Points will only be awarded to the top 15 finishers.[15]
- The top ten shootout will only be run at the endurance events.[15]
- A single 45 minute qualifying session will be held in a fashion similar to Formula One, were all cars compete in the first 15 minutes. The quickest 20 will then complete in the second 15 minutes and the quickest 10 will complete in the final 15 minutes.[15]
- No rounds will be dropped for the championship.[15]
- There will be a greater spread of points between the point scoring positions.[15]
[edit] Results and Standings
[edit] Drivers Championship
|
|
| Colour |
Result |
| Gold |
Winner |
| Silver |
2nd place |
| Bronze |
3rd place |
| Green |
Finished, in points |
| Blue |
Finished, no points |
| Purple |
Did not finish (Ret) |
| Red |
Did not qualify (DNQ) |
| Black |
Disqualified (DSQ) |
| White |
Did not start (DNS) |
| Blank |
Did not participate |
| Injured (INJ) |
| Excluded (EX) |
|
[edit] Team Championship
|
|
| Colour |
Result |
| Gold |
Winner |
| Silver |
2nd place |
| Bronze |
3rd place |
| Green |
Finished, in points |
| Blue |
Finished, no points |
| Purple |
Did not finish (Ret) |
| Red |
Did not qualify (DNQ) |
| Black |
Disqualified (DSQ) |
| White |
Did not start (DNS) |
| Blank |
Did not participate |
| Injured (INJ) |
| Excluded (EX) |
|
[edit] References
- ^ "Paper tiger laid down the law", www.foxsports.com.au, 20-02-2007. Retrieved on February 21, 2007.
- ^ "HRT black flagged", www.news.com.au, 20-02-2007. Retrieved on February 21, 2007.
- ^ "HSV thrown V8 lifeline", www.v8supercar.com.au, 22-02-2007. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
- ^ "HRT to start in Clipsal 500", www.v8supercar.com.au, 27-02-2007. Retrieved on February 28, 2007.
- ^ "Official: Greg Murphy joins Tasman Motorsport for 2007", www.v8supercar.com.au, 14-12-2006. Retrieved on January 20, 2007.
- ^ "Official: Richards moves to Ford", www.foxsports.com.au, 01-01-2007. Retrieved on January 20, 2007.
- ^ "Team BOC seeing double in 2007", www.v8supercar.com.au, 09-12-2006. Retrieved on February 7, 2007.
- ^ "Price and Perkins Jnr step up to main V8 Supercar Series in 2007", www.v8supercar.com.au, 03-01-2007. Retrieved on January 20, 2007.
- ^ "IRWIN industrial tools to enter V8 Supercar racing", www.v8dailydump.com.au, 23-01-2007. Retrieved on January 23, 2007.
- ^ "John Bowe Announces V8 Supercar Retirement", www.v8supercar.com.au, 08-02-2007. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.
- ^ "Vodafone to title sponsor V8 team", www.autosport.com, 09-11-2006. Retrieved on January 20, 2007.
- ^ "Orrcon jumps out of the blocks first", www.v8supercar.com.au, 01-01-2007. Retrieved on January 20, 2007.
- ^ "Larkham and WPS Racing part ways", www.v8supercar.com.au, 19-01-2007. Retrieved on January 20, 2007.
- ^ "Johnson secures Jim Beam deal", www.foxsports.com.au, 06-02-2007. Retrieved on February 7, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e "V8 Supercar rules makeover", www.smh.com.au, 03-09-2006. Retrieved on January 20, 2007.
[edit] External links
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