The Dunlop Super2 Series (formerly known as Dunlop Series, Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series, HPDC V8 Supercars Series, Konica Minolta V8 Supercars Series and Konica V8 Supercars/Lites Series) is an Australian touring car racing competition, specifically the second tier series for Supercars competitors. Competing vehicles are older than those utilised in the Supercars Championship series and are usually run by smaller teams with lower budgets.
The vast majority of drivers in the Supercars Championship have raced at least one season in the Super2 Series Championship. For parts of its history, competing in the Super2 Series was required for most drivers to qualify for a Motorsport Australia Superlicence, which is required to compete in the Supercars Championship, or was enforced as a separate requirement by the Supercars Championship organisers.
History
The series was first held in 2000 as the 2000 Konica V8 Lites Series and this inaugural contest was won by Dean Canto. Towards the end of the season Stone Brothers Racing entered a car for David Besnard as preparation for the long distance races, in the main V8 Supercar series, the Queensland 500 and the Bathurst 1000, which unlike the other races require two drivers for each competing vehicle. Since then main series teams have used the series to help get their endurance co-drivers up-to-speed, or have employed drivers competing for other Fujitsu Series teams. While originally Fujitsu Series teams were allowed to enter main series events, this has since been discontinued as all main series events are limited to those teams carrying valid franchise slots for the main series, although in limited circumstances Fujitsu series teams have been able to lease entries from main series teams.
The 2007 champion, Tony D'Alberto, drove for the Tony D'Alberto Racing team, and like many of his predecessors, graduated to the V8 Supercar series in 2008, again with the family team.
From the 2009 Season and onward all Super2 Series rounds have run on the Main Supercars Championship calendar as a support category.
This series carries the colloquial title of 'Development Series' which was the name given to the series by V8 Supercar Australia between the 2004 and 2005 seasons. The colloquial title is referred to in many conversations, even though there has never been a Development Series race because a naming rights sponsor was found before the start of the 2005 season.
Started during the 2016 year season of the Dunlop Super2 Series (Named as Supercars Dunlop Series) Car of The Future later known as New Generation V8 Supercar specification cars were eligible in the series.
In the 2021 season of the series, The Kumho Tyre V8 Touring Car Series (Later named as Kumho Tyre Super3 Series in 2019 before being named as Dunlop Super3 Series) joined alongside the Dunlop Super2 Series category for the first time as a class racing on track at the same time.
Started in the year 2023 season of the Dunlop Super2 & Super3 Series only the Gen2 Specification built cars (Holden Commodore ZB & Ford Mustang GT (S550)) were to become eligible in the Super2 Series class. Car of The Future also known as New Generation V8 Supercar specification built cars were sold & sent down to teams in the Super3 Series class of the Dunlop Super2 & Super3 Series.
Starting in the 2025 year season the Dunlop Series will revert down to a single class of the Super2 Series removing the Super3 Series due to low grid numbers with as much as two or three cars in the Super3 Series class during round weekends of the 2024 Dunlop Super2 & Super3 Series season. Cars that were built under Car of The Future (Also Known as New Generation V8 Supercar) Regulations such as the Holden Commodore VF, Ford Falcon FG-X and Nissan Altima are set to be re-eligible back in the Super2 Series in the 2025 Year season.
Championship format
The Super2 series runs at a subset of Supercars Championship rounds (for instance in 2025, there will be six Super2 rounds).
During each round, there are two races of 40 minutes duration, one on the Saturday and one on the Sunday of the race weekend. There is a separate qualifying session for each race.
Championship points for each race result are awarded on a sliding scale, with each race result given equal weighting (unlike in the Supercars Championship, where longer races are awarded more points).
Costs
One 2023 estimate puts the cost of competing in the Super2 series for a season at "up to ...for a top team car". While much lower than the Supercars Championship, it is much higher than many other Australian racing series such as the Trico Trans-Am Series, TCR Australia Touring Car Series, and the now-defunct S5000 Australian Drivers Championship.
Series winners
Season Series Name Series Winner Car Team 2000 Konica V8 Lites Series Dean Canto Ford EL Falcon Dean Canto Racing 2001 Konica V8 Supercar Series Simon Wills Holden VT Commodore Team Dynamik 2002 Konica V8 Supercar Series Paul Dumbrell Holden VX Commodore Independent Race Cars Australia 2003 Konica V8 Supercar Series Mark Winterbottom Ford AU Falcon Stone Brothers Racing 2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Series Andrew Jones Ford AU Falcon Brad Jones Racing 2005 HPDC V8 Supercar Series Dean Canto Ford BA Falcon Dick Johnson Racing 2006 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Adam Macrow Ford BA Falcon Howard Racing 2007 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Tony D'Alberto Holden VZ Commodore Tony D'Alberto Racing 2008 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Steve Owen Holden VZ Commodore Scott Loadsman Racing 2009 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Jonathon Webb Ford BF Falcon MW Motorsport 2010 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Steve Owen Holden VE Commodore Greg Murphy Racing 2011 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Andrew Thompson Holden VE Commodore Triple Eight Race Engineering 2012 Dunlop V8 Supercar Series Scott McLaughlin Ford FG Falcon Stone Brothers RacingMatt Stone Racing 2013 Dunlop V8 Supercar Series Dale Wood Ford FG Falcon MW Motorsport 2014 Dunlop V8 Supercar Series Paul Dumbrell Holden VE Commodore Eggleston Motorsport 2015 V8 Supercars Dunlop Series Cam Waters Ford FG Falcon Prodrive Racing Australia 2016 Supercars Dunlop Series Garry Jacobson Ford FG X Falcon Prodrive Racing Australia 2017 Dunlop Super2 Series Todd Hazelwood Holden VF Commodore Matt Stone Racing 2018 Dunlop Super2 Series Chris Pither Holden VF Commodore Garry Rogers Motorsport 2019 Dunlop Super2 Series Bryce Fullwood Nissan Altima L33 MW Motorsport 2020 Dunlop Super2 Series Thomas Randle Nissan Altima L33 MW Motorsport 2021 Dunlop Super2 Series Broc Feeney Holden VF Commodore Triple Eight Race Engineering 2022 Dunlop Super2 Series Declan Fraser Holden VF Commodore Triple Eight Race Engineering 2023 Dunlop Super2 Series Kai Allen Holden ZB Commodore Eggleston Motorsport 2024 Dunlop Super2 Series Zach Bates Holden ZB Commodore Walkinshaw Andretti United 2025 Dunlop Super2 Series Rylan Gray Ford Mustang GT Tickford Racing
Rookie of the Year Winners Season Winner Car Team 2021 Matt McLean Holden Commodore VF Eggleston Motorsport 2022 Matthew Payne Nissan Altima L33 Grove Racing 2023 Kai Allen Holden Commodore ZB Eggleston Motorsport 2024 Jarrod Hughes Holden Commodore ZB Image Racing 2025 Ben Gomersall Holden Commodore ZB Triple Eight Race Engineering
Driver Records
+Series Wins Driver Titles 1 Dean Canto (2000, 2005) 2 Paul Dumbrell (2002, 2014) Steve Owen (2008, 2010) 4 Simon Wills (2001) 1 Mark Winterbottom (2003) Andrew Jones (2004) Adam Macrow (2006) Tony D'Alberto (2007) Jonathon Webb (2009) Andrew Thompson (2011) Scott McLaughlin (2012) Dale Wood (2013) Cam Waters (2015) Garry Jacobson (2016) Todd Hazelwood (2017) Chris Pither (2018) Bryce Fullwood (2019) Thomas Randle (2020) Broc Feeney (2021) Declan Fraser (2022) Kai Allen (2023) Zach Bates (2024) Rylan Gray (2025) +Driver Race Starts (Top-20) Driver Starts 1 Aaron McGill 170 2 Geoff Emery 140 Marcus Zukanovic Andrew Jones 5 Jack Perkins 123 6 Matt Chahda 121 7 Drew Russell 112 8 Paul Dumbrell 111 9 Taz Douglas 104 10 Aaren Russell 100 11 Garry Jacobson 99 12 Luke Youlden 98 13 Matthew White 90 14 Chris Pither 89 15 Jay Verdnik 88 16 Rodney Jane 84 17 Adam Wallis 83 18 Tony D'Alberto 82 19 Steve Owen 81 20 Terry Wyhoon 80 +Driver Race Wins (Top-20) Driver Wins 1 Paul Dumbrell 41 2 Dean Canto 21 3 Steve Owen 20 4 Andrew Thompson 16 5 Owen Kelly 13 6 Cam Waters 12 Adam Macrow 8 Jack Le Brocq 11 9 Simon Wills 10 10 David Russell 9 Jack Perkins 12 Mark Winterbottom 8 Jonathon Webb 14 Garry Jacobson 7 Ashley Walsh 16 Bryce Fullwood 6 Michael Caruso Todd Hazelwood Brodie Kostecki Nick Percat +Driver Round Wins Driver Round Wins 1 Paul Dumbrell 16 2 Steve Owen 10 3 Dean Canto 9 4 Andrew Thompson 8 5 Adam Macrow 7 6 Cam Waters 5 Zak Best 8 Mark Winterbottom 4 Jonathon Webb Bryce Fullwood Owen Kelly 12 Kai Allen 3 Broc Feeney Garry Jacobson Andrew Jones Thomas Randle Zach Bates 18 Simon Wills 2 Scott McLaughlin Todd Hazelwood Declan Fraser Chris Pither Tony D'Alberto 24 Dale Wood 1 Matthew White Note: bold text indicates active drivers.
Team Records +Teams Championships Team Titles 1 MW Motorsport 4 2 Triple Eight Race Engineering 3 Tickford Racing 4 Stone Brothers Racing 2 Eggleston Motorsport 6 Dean Canto Racing 1 Team Dynamik Independent Race Cars Australia Brad Jones Racing Dick Johnson Racing Howard Racing Tony D'Alberto Racing Scott Loadsman Racing Greg Murphy Racing Matt Stone Racing Garry Rogers Motorsport Walkinshaw Andretti United +Team Round Wins (Top-5) Team Round Wins 1 MW Motorsport 21 Tickford Racing 3 Eggleston Motorsport 18 4 Triple Eight Race Engineering 13 5 Howard Racing 11 +Team Race Wins (Top-5) Team Race Wins 1 MW Motorsport 51 2 Tickford Racing 43 3 Eggleston Motorsport 42 4 Howard Racing 24 5 Triple Eight Race Engineering 23 Note: bold text indicates active teams.
References
External links Dunlop Super2 Series website