The 2007 V8 Supercar season featured the ninth

V8 Supercar The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

Championship Series which began on 1 March and concluded on 2 December. This championship consisted of 14 rounds covering all states and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

of Australia as well as rounds 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 ...

and

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

. The series also carried the

Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the trophy ...

title, which was awarded by CAMS for the 48th time in 2007. The 2007 season was significant in that two new cars were being used by the teams. The

Holden VE Commodore The Holden Commodore (VE) is an executive car that was produced by Holden from 2006 to 2013. It was the first iteration of the fourth generation of the Holden Commodore, Commodore. Its range included the luxury variants, Holden Berlina (VE) and ...

was a completely new car and the

Ford BF Falcon The Ford Falcon (BF) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia from 2005 to 2008. It was the third and final iteration of the sixth generation of the Falcon. The station wagon body design continued until 2010, alongside the new se ...

consisted of several changes from the previous model. These cars debuted at the first round of the season at the

Clipsal 500 The Adelaide 500 (also known as the VALO Adelaide 500 for sponsorship reasons) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars held on the streets of the east end of Adelaide, South Australia between 1999 to 2020 and again from 2022. It is someti ...

. This season was also significant in that

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

broadcast the series for the first time since 1996, after Channel Ten and

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

had rights to the series for the past ten years, and then revived in 2015.

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 Tasman Motorsport was a V8 Supercar racing team. It was formed in 2004 out of what was Lansvale Racing Team V8 Supercar team and was associated with Greg Murphy Racing as a satellite operation. Tasman Motorsport entered the series in 2004 ...

from

Paul Weel Racing Paul Weel Racing was an Australian motor racing team which competed in the V8 Supercars Championship Series between 1998 and 2008. Ford Years After some brief appearances in 1997 in minor events, Paul Weel Racing debuted in the 1998 Australi ...

and Steven Richards changing not only teams, but also manufacturers by moving from the Holden-based

Perkins Engineering Perkins Engineering was a team contesting the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series, operating as an active racing team between 1986 and 2008. From 2009 onwards, the involvement of Perkins Engineering in the championship wounded back into ...

to the

Ford Performance Racing Tickford Racing (formerly known as Prodrive Racing Australia and Ford Performance Racing) is an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Supercars Championship. The team currently campaigns three Ford Mustangs, with their current drive ...

team. A number of team changes also occurred during the off-season with

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

being the naming sponsor for

Triple Eight Race Engineering Triple Eight Race Engineering, (branded as Red Bull Ampol Racing) is an Australian motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. The team has been the only Brisbane based V8 Supercar team since its formation, originally operating ...

and

Jim Beam Jim Beam is an American brand of bourbon whiskey produced in Clermont, Kentucky, by Beam Suntory. It is one of the best-selling brands of bourbon in the world. Since 1795 (interrupted by Prohibition in the United States, Prohibition), seven gene ...

joining forces with the

Dick Johnson Racing Dick Johnson Racing (formerly DJR Team Penske), is Australia's oldest motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. The team currently fields the #11 and #17 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GTs for Anton de Pasqu ...

team. Most of the team launches occurred during late January and early February with a few exceptions, including the launch of

Mark Winterbottom Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom (born 20 May 1981) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving the No. 18 Holden ZB Commodore for Team 18. His career highlights include winning the ...

's FPR car in early January. As well as the individual team launches, an official season launch was held in Sydney's

Martin Place Martin Place is a pedestrian mall in the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. Martin Place has been described as the "civic heart" of Sydney.

on 15 February. A number of testing days were also held during the pre-season. These tests were conducted at the two race circuits used as test tracks,

Queensland Raceway Queensland Raceway nicknamed "the paperclip" is a motor racing circuit located at Willowbank in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. The circuit did host Supercars Championship until 2019, drifting as well as club level racing and ride days. Qu ...

(

and

WPS Racing WPS Racing was an Australian motor racing team that competed in Australian V8 Supercar racing between 2004 and 2007. It was owned by Queensland businessman Craig Gore and sponsored by his Wright Patton Shakespeare company. History In 2003 ...

) and

Winton Raceway Winton Motor Raceway is a motor racing track in Winton, near Benalla, Victoria, Australia. History The Benalla Auto Club began planning for a permanent racing track around 1958, as a replacement for their existing track at Barjarg. In 1960 i ...

(most Victorian based teams including

Holden Racing Team Walkinshaw Andretti United is an Australian motor racing team based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton. The team currently fields two Holden ZB Commodores in the Supercars Championship for Nick Percat and Chaz Mostert, along with a Porsche 91 ...

HSV Dealer Team The HSV Dealer Team, previously known as the K-Mart Racing Team, was an Australian V8 Supercar team. The team ceased operations at the end of 2008, with Walkinshaw Racing and Kelly Racing being formed by owners and staff of the former team. The ...

and

). Both of these major tests were conducted on 19 February 2007. One of the other major stories of the 2007 pre-season involved both of Holden's most supported teams, being the

and the

. 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, where under

regulations, one person can only own one team. Officially,

Mark Skaife Mark Skaife (born 3 April 1967) is a retired Australian motor racing driver. Skaife is a five-time champion of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, including its predecessor, the Australian Touring Car Championship, as well as a six-time Bath ...

owned HRT and John Kelly (father of Todd and Rick) owned

, however the close relationship between the two teams and the presence of

Tom Walkinshaw Thomas Dobbie Thomson Walkinshaw (14 August 1946 – 12 December 2010) was a British racing car driver from Scotland and the founder of the racing team Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR). He was also involved in professional rugby union, as owner of ...

in both teams clouded the ownership of both teams. The teams had their licenses reinstated temporarily pending the presentation of documents proving the ownership of each team to TEGA. On 22 February 2007, the

produced the required documents and has been fully reinstated to the championship, and HRT was cleared to race on 27 February 2007 after satisfying TEGA that Mark Skaife was the true owner of the team.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers contested the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series. Drivers are numbered as per the official 2007 entry list listed on th
V8 Supercar website

Race calendar

Changes

Driver changes

* Greg Murphy drove for

in 2007, with Paul Dumbrell replacing Murphy at

. * On 1 January 2007, FPR announced Steven Richards as the team's second driver. * Andrew Jones joined his father's and uncle's team and raced in the second

Brad Jones Racing Brad Jones Racing is an Australian motor racing team owned by Brad Jones based in Albury. The team competes in the Supercars Championship and the Super2 Series. Recently they have also returned to Australian Formula Ford where Brad and Kim be ...

car. *

ran two V8 Supercar rookies, Shane Price and Jack Perkins in the 2007 season. * Alan Gurr drove for

Britek Motorsport Britek Motorsport was an Australian Supercars motor racing team owned by Bathurst 1000 winning driver Jason Bright. Established in 2005, the team originally ran as an independent team, however since 2010, its only remaining asset has been one ...

as the teammate to Jason Bright. * John Bowe drove for the

Paul Cruikshank Racing Paul Cruickshank Racing was an Australian motor racing team that competed in several Sports Car and Touring Car categories. History While new to the championship in 2006, Cruickshank has run several cars in the Development V8 Supercar series ...

team in his final year of

racing before retirement. * Simon Wills took over the No. 14

car from Brad Jones who retired from full-time driving following Round 3. *After Bathurst

Fabian Coulthard Fabian "Fabs" Coulthard (born 28 July 1982) is a British-born New Zealand professional race car driver, currently competing in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving as an endurance co-driver for Chaz Mostert with Walkinshaw Andretti United. ...

was dropped from

Paul Morris Motorsport Paul Morris Motorsport, also known as its business name of Nemo Racing, is an Australian motor racing team that competed in V8 Supercars between 2000 and 2012. The team also won the 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 and four Australian Super Touring Cha ...

older VZ Commodore and replaced with

's endurance co-driver,

Owen Kelly Owen Kelly (born 12 March 1977) is an Australian professional racing driver. Son of Chas Kelly, he has competed over the course of his career in V8 Supercars and NASCAR among other series. Racing career Kelly started his circuit racing career ...

. *Between the Bahrain and Symmons Plains rounds Jack Perkins stood aside from his

VE Commodore because of diabetes. Recent Carrera Cup star and former

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...

racer,

Marcus Marshall Marcus Marshall (born 25 November 1978) is a former Champ Car driver from Australia. Biography He began racing in British Formula Three, where he was generally a running outside the top ten, but took a hard-fought win in a wet race. He contest ...

returned to the team after racing in the No. 11 car at Sandown and Bathurst to complete the season. *Reigning Fujitsu Series champion Adam Macrow signed for Team Kiwi Racing for Adelaide, but was dropped after just one round for

Paul Radisich Paul Radisich (born 9 October 1962, in Auckland) is a retired New Zealand racing driver and businessman of Croat origin. He has competed in saloon cars for many years — both European-style tourers and the V8 Supercars of Australia and New ...

who was back to full fitness after his crash at Bathurst. He competed in three rounds before leaving the team, and after not fielding a car for another three rounds the team replaced him with 17-year-old rookie

Shane van Gisbergen Shane Robert van Gisbergen (born 9 May 1989) is a New Zealand racing driver in the Supercars Championship racing in the Number 97 Holden ZB Commodore car for Triple Eight Race Engineering. With three Supercars Championship wins ( 2016, 2021, ...

at Oran Park.

Team changes

had

as their main sponsor in 2007 replacing Betta Electrical. * Orrcon returned to

V8 Supercars The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

as a sponsor for FPR. *

has undergone a complete re-structure of the team with Team Principal Mark Larkham leaving. * At the DJR season launch on 6 February 2007, it was announced that

would be the main naming sponsor of the team. * Team Kiwi Racing swapped from running Holdens to Fords for 2007.

Rule Changes

* Points would only be awarded to the top 15 finishers. * The top ten shootout would only be run at the endurance events. * A single 45-minute qualifying session would be held in a fashion similar to

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

, where all cars compete in the first 15 minutes. The quickest 20 would then complete in the second 15 minutes and the quickest 10 would complete in the final 15 minutes. * No rounds would be dropped for the championship. * There would be a greater spread of points between the point scoring positions.

Results and standings

Drivers Championship

Holden Commodore VE of Todd Kelly (HRT 2007)

Team Championship

* (s) denotes a single-car team.

References

External links

Official V8 Supercar website

2007 Racing Results Archive

2007 V8 Supercar images
Retrieved from motorsport.com on 16 August 2008 {{Australian Touring Car Racing Supercars Championship seasons V8 Supercar Championship Series