The 2014 V8SuperTourer season was a motor racing championship for

touring cars Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not mo ...

held in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

over four events between January and April 2014. All cars used a chassis built by Paul Ceprnich of Pace Innovations in Australia, and were powered by a

Chevrolet LS7 "LS engine" is the colloquial name given to the third and fourth generation small-block V8 gasoline engine used in General Motors' vehicles. The name evolved from the need to differentiate the Gen 3/Gen 4 small blocks from the original Gen 1 ...

7-litre engine. The championship consisted of only four rounds, having been reduced from the originally planned seven, as a result of a calendar realignment which will see the series run from September to April from the 2014–15 season onward. The 'sprint' component of the series was kept intact, with the 'endurance' component, which was scheduled to include events at Taupo, Pukekohe and an unconfirmed venue in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

, being removed from the 2014 championship and becoming the opening half of the 2014–15 championship. The opening round of the championship saw the series visit Highlands Motorsport Park for the first time. Greg Murphy entered the season as the defending drivers' champion and claimed victory again, winning 11 of the 13 races in the championship, and scoring 1155 points. Simon Evans claimed second place with 836 points and Richard Moore achieved third place overall with 821 points.

Calendar

The 2014 V8SuperTourer season consisted of four rounds.

Teams and drivers

Event summaries

Fuchs Highlands 250

Greg Murphy dominated the opening round of the 2014 V8SuperTourer season collecting both pole positions, all three race wins and two of the three fastest laps available. One thing which was highlighted in the opening round was the lack of cars on the grid with a record low twelve cars; only ten started the final two races of the weekend. It was also the first ever SuperTourer round held at Highlands Motorsport Park, with the series running as a support category to the

Toyota Racing Series The Formula Regional Oceania Championship is New Zealand's premier formula racing category. The series includes races for every major trophy in New Zealand circuit racing including the New Zealand Motor Cup and the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy. ...

. A few young drivers starred over the weekend with teenager

Andre Heimgartner Andre Heimgartner (born 8 June 1995) is a New Zealand motor-racing driver who currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship driving the No. 8 Holden Commodore ZB for Brad Jones Racing. Career Formula racing At 12 years of age commenc ...

finishing second overall, while rookies Mark Gibson and Morgan Haber both showed great speed with Gibson eventually finishing 3rd in the final race.

The Sound Manfeild 250

Round 2 of the series was held at

Manfeild Autocourse Manfeild: Circuit Chris Amon (formerly Manfeild Autocourse) is a motor sport circuit located in Feilding, New Zealand. It was built by thManawatu Car Clubin 1973 as a purpose-built course. In 1990 extra land was acquired and the circuit extensio ...

where the SuperTourers were once again running support to the

for the

New Zealand Grand Prix The New Zealand Grand Prix, sometimes known as the New Zealand International Grand Prix, is an annual motor racing event held in New Zealand. First held in 1950, it is best known for hosting rounds of the Tasman Series in the 1960s and 1970s. It ...

. Greg Murphy once again took all three races for the weekend with young Simon Evans starring over the weekend keeping Murphy on his heels the whole way.

Ant Pedersen Anthony Pedersen (born 5 May 1988) is a racing driver from New Zealand. Career V8 SuperTourers In 2012, Pedersen was given the opportunity to run in the brand-new V8SuperTourer category in New Zealand and on the first ever race weekend, he was a ...

returned to his 2013 pace after a disappointing round 1 but it was short lived. After claiming pole position for the opening two races, Pedersen spun at the first corner of the opening race, ruining any chance of winning.

again was very consistent leaving the meeting in second place in the championship standings, behind Murphy.

Results

The season starts in the South Island at the new Highlands Motorsport Park Track and finishes at Pukekohe Park Raceway supporting the

Auckland 400 The Auckland SuperSprint was an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at Pukekohe Park Raceway in Pukekohe, New Zealand. The event was a regular part of the Supercars Championship—and its previous incarnations, the Shell Championship ...

for V8 Supercars. The season was supposed to run over seven rounds but was reduced to four, after a calendar realignment which will have the next season run from September 2014 to April 2015.

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

References

External links

V8SuperTourers New Zealand

V8SuperTourer News on Speedstuff
{{V8supertourers V8 Super Tourer