Paul Stokell (born 8 March 1968 in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

) is an Australian racing driver. Highly decorated in every category he has competed, Stokell has been a race and multiple championship winning driver in open wheel, sportscar racing and tarmac rallying, consistently since the early 1990s and remains so today having won back to back

Australian Targa Championship Australian Targa Championship is a tarmac-based rally Championship held in Australia, annually. The inaugural event was 2012. The Championship uses closed public roads in a variety of different sports cars in competitive events over three states ...

in 2018/2019. While Tasmanian born, today Stokell is Queensland based where he has operated a performance driving school since 2008, and has been involved with the Sherrin Motor Sport Porsche Carrera Cup team taking their maiden victory in 2007.

Open wheelers

Stokell first emerged into the national spotlight racing in the national

Australian Formula Ford series The Australian Formula Ford Championship is an Australian motor racing competition for drivers of Formula Ford racing cars, held annually since 1970. From 1970 until 1992 it was a national series and from 1993 until 2013 the series was sanctione ...

, taking a Reynard to runner up in the 1990 title behind

Russell Ingall Russell Ingall (born 24 February 1964 in London, England) is a former full-time Australian V8 Supercar driver. He won his V8 Supercars title in 2005, and finished second in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2004. Ingall has also won the Bathurst 1000, in 1 ...

. Stokell tried to push his career in England in the next couple of years however a lack of support forced his return to Australian racing in 1993 driving for Malcolm Ramsay's South Australian Birrana Racing team in

Formula Brabham In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwe ...

(which reverted to its original name of Formula Holden in 1996). With Stokell leading, Birrana came to dominate the category and Stokell took a trifecta of

Australian Drivers' Championship The Australian Drivers' Championship was a motor racing championship contested annually from 1957 to 2014 by drivers of cars complying with Australia's premier open-wheeler racing category as determined by the Confederation of Australian Motor ...

s in the mid-90s. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, he represented Australia in the EFDA Nations Cup but the highlight of the era was his first international victory, winning the 1994 New Zealand International Series and 1995 Pan Pacific title including the

Malaysian Grand Prix The Malaysian Grand Prix (officially the Malaysia Grand Prix from 1963–1965 and 2011–2017 and Malayan Grand Prix in 1962) was an annual auto race held in Malaysia. It was part of the Formula One World Championship from 1999 to 2017 and it ...

Sports cars

In 1998, Stokell led an importer supported team driving

Lotus Elise The Lotus Elise is a two-seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars. The Elise has a fibreglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminium chas ...

in the Australian GT Production Car Championship and against larger and more powerful cars Stokell became a giant-killer in the Lotus, finishing sixth in the championship. Out of this effort came an invitation to join the newly formed Team Lamborghini Australia, to race Lamborghini Diablos in the

Australian Nations Cup Championship The Australian Nations Cup Championship was a motor racing title sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) from 2000 to 2004. History In the absence of the Australian GT Championship (which had not been run since 1985), Nat ...

. Starting in 2000, Stokell was a constant front runner in the black Diablo and again became a championship winner in 2003 and 2004. In 2005, he drove in one round of the

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

in a Lotus placing second in the G2 class. Since then Stokell has made sporadic appearances in a variety of categories and became a competitor and entrant in the new Mini Challenge series in 2008 and became series champion in 2009. He followed that by representing Australia for the second time in the Spanish Mini Challenge in 2010 as well as finishing second in the Australian Mini Challenge in 2010.

Career results

Some results sources from: PaulStokel.com Career Highlights * † Team result

Complete V8 Supercar results

Complete Bathurst 24 Hour results

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

References

External links

* *
Speedsport ProfileV8 Supercar Results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stokell, Paul 1968 births EFDA Nations Cup drivers Formula Ford drivers Formula Holden drivers Living people Racing drivers from Tasmania Supercars Championship drivers Australian Endurance Championship drivers Dick Johnson Racing drivers