2016 International V8 Supercars Championship

2016 International V8 Supercars Championship season
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Support series:
Dunlop V8 Supercar

The 2016 International V8 Supercars Championship will be a FIA-sanctioned international motor racing series for V8 Supercars. It will be the 18th running of the V8 Supercar Championship Series and the 20th series in which V8 Supercars have contested the premier Australian touring car title.

It will be the final season contested exclusively by the current generation V8 powered, four-door cars, with a new set of regulations to be introduced in 2017 that will allow cars cars of different body and engine configurations to compete.[1]

Signed teams and drivers

Holden, Nissan and Volvo will all represented by factory-backed teams.[2][3][4] Ford, having scaled back its involvement in 2015, will provide no financial or technical assistance,[5] but may still be represented by DJR Team Penske and Prodrive Racing Australia if they are unsuccessful in their attempts to form partnerships with other manufacturers.[6][7]

The following drivers are currently under contract for 2016.

Season entries
Team Vehicle No. Driver
Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF 2 Australia Garth Tander[8]
22 Australia James Courtney[9]
Charlie Schwerkolt Racing (HRT) 18 Australia Lee Holdsworth[10]
Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG 4 Australia Ashley Walsh[11]
Prodrive Racing Australia Ford Falcon FG X 5 Australia Mark Winterbottom[12]
Nissan Motorsport Nissan Altima L33 23 Australia Michael Caruso[13]
Garry Rogers Motorsport Volvo S60 33 New Zealand Scott McLaughlin[14]
Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodore VF 88 Australia Jamie Whincup[15]
888 Australia Craig Lowndes[16]
TBA New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen[16]
Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Holden Commodore VF 222 Australia Nick Percat[17]

Team changes

Triple Eight Race Engineering will expand to field three cars. This will require a third Racing Entitlement Contract to be sourced.[16]

Driver changes

Shane van Gisbergen will move from Tekno Autosports to Triple Eight Race Engineering.[16]

Other changes

V8 Supercars is proposing to expand the field to 26 cars, with the Racing Entitlement Contract returned by James Rosenberg Racing at the end of 2014 being put up for tender in April 2015.[18]

References

  1. ↑ "V8 Supercars blueprint for 2017 and beyond". V8 Supercars. 3 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "Holden announces multi-year extension with HRT". V8X Magazine. 14 August 2014.
  3. ↑ "Single-year extension for Nissan V8 program". Speedcafe. 12 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "Hopes for Volvo Polestar racing". Go Auto. 19 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "Ford announces 2016 V8 Supercars withdrawal". Speedcafe. 1 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "DJR manufacturer switch possible in 2016". Speedcafe. 14 September 2014.
  7. ↑ Prodrive Racing Australia statement on Ford announcement Prodrive Racing Australia 1 December 2014
  8. ↑ "New two-year deal for Tander at HRT". Speedcafe. 14 May 2014.
  9. ↑ "HRT confirms new three-year Courtney deal". Speedcafe. 28 July 2013.
  10. ↑ "Walkinshaw move career defining for Holdsworth". Speedcafe. 20 January 2015.
  11. ↑ "Two-year deal pivotal to Walsh's V8 graduation". Speedcafe. 29 December 2014.
  12. ↑ "Bathurst champ Mark Winterbottom signs deal extension at Ford through to 2016". Herald Sun. 24 October 2013.
  13. ↑ "Caruso set to stay at Nissan Motorsport". Speedcafe. 23 September 2014.
  14. ↑ "McLaughlin confirms future with Volvo/GRM". Speedcafe. 22 July 2013.
  15. ↑ "Jamie Whincup extends Triple Eight contract". Speedcafe. 5 February 2015.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 "Van Gisbergen to join three car Triple Eight in 2016". Speedcafe. 6 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "Christmas comes one day early for rookie Bathurst winner Nick Percat". Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport. 24 December 2014.
  18. ↑ "V8 Supercars launches tender for 26th REC". Speedcafe. 10 April 2015.