The 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series featured the ninth V8 Supercar 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 of Australia as well as rounds in New Zealand and Bahrain. The series also carried the Australian Touring Car Championship title, which was awarded by CAMS for the 48th time in 2007.Australian Titles, 2013 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, cams.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
The 2007 season was significant in that two new cars were being used by the teams. The Holden VE Commodore was a completely new car and the Ford BF Falcon consisted of several changes from the previous model. These cars debuted at the first round of the season at the Clipsal 500.
This season was also significant in that Seven Network broadcast the series for the first time since 1996, after Channel Ten and Fox Sports had rights to the series for the past ten years, and then revived in 2015.
Teams and drivers The following teams and drivers competed in the 2007 championship.
ManufacturerModelTeamDriver nameRoundsCo-driver name Ford Falcon BF Stone Brothers Racing 4 James Courtney All David Besnard 9 Russell Ingall All Luke Youlden Ford Performance Racing 5 Mark Winterbottom All Owen Kelly Matt Halliday 6 Steven Richards All WPS Racing 8 Max Wilson All Michael Caruso Grant Denyer 10 Jason Bargwanna All Brad Jones Racing 12 Andrew Jones All Damien White Christian Murchison 14 Brad Jones 1–3 Simon Wills 4–14 Dick Johnson Racing 17 Steven Johnson All Alex Davison Andrew Thompson 18 Will Davison All Team Kiwi Racing 021 Adam Macrow 1 Paul Radisich 2–4 Shane van Gisbergen 8–14 John McIntyre Britek Motorsport 25 Jason Bright All Adam Macrow 26 Alan Gurr All Warren Luff Triple Eight Race Engineering 88 Jamie Whincup All Allan Simonsen Richard Lyons 888 Craig Lowndes All Paul Cruickshank Racing 111 John Bowe All Jonathon Webb Holden Commodore VZ Perkins Engineering 11 Jack Perkins 1-3 Paul Weel Racing Cameron McConville 1–6 Garry Rogers Motorsport 33 Lee Holdsworth 1–6 Paul Morris Motorsport 39 Fabian Coulthard 1–6, 8–10 Chris Pither Steven Ellery 7 Owen Kelly 11–14 Rod Nash Racing 55 Steve Owen All Tony D'Alberto Commodore VE HSV Dealer Team () 1 Rick Kelly All Craig Baird Paul Radisich 16 Garth Tander All Holden Racing Team Mark Skaife 1–8, 10–14 Glenn Seton Nathan Pretty Tony Longhurst 9 22 Todd Kelly All Tasman Motorsport 3 Jason Richards All Mark Noske Jay Verdnik 51 Greg Murphy All Perkins Engineering 7 Shane Price All Kayne Scott Marcus Marshall 11 Jack Perkins 4–12 Marcus Marshall 13–14 Paul Weel Racing 20 Paul Dumbrell 1–6, 8–14 Paul Weel Paul Weel 7 50 Cameron McConville 7–14 David Reynolds Garry Rogers Motorsport 33 Lee Holdsworth 7–14 Greg Ritter Cameron McLean 34 Dean Canto All Paul Morris Motorsport 67 Paul Morris All Steven Ellery
Team changes The Holden Racing Team and HSV Dealer Team temporarily had their TEGA licences revoked due to issues relating to the ownership of both teams, where under V8 Supercar regulations one person can only own one team. Officially, Mark Skaife owned HRT and John Kelly (father of drivers Todd and Rick) owned HSV Dealer Team, however the close relationship between the two and the presence of Tom Walkinshaw in both teams clouded the ownership. Both teams had their licenses reinstated temporarily pending the presentation of documents proving the ownership of each team to TEGA. On 22 February 2007, the HSV Dealer Team produced the required documents and were fully reinstated to the championship, followed by HRT who were reinstated on 27 February 2007 after they satisfied TEGA that Mark Skaife was the true owner of the team.
WPS Racing underwent a complete re-structure of the team with Team Principal Mark Larkham departing.
Team Kiwi Racing swapped from running Paul Morris Motorsport-prepared Holdens to Ford Performance Racing-prepared Fords for 2007. The deal with FPR was terminated after four rounds, leaving TKR on the sidelines for three events before returning at Oran Park with a Stone Brothers Racing-prepared Ford.
Driver changes Greg Murphy moved to Tasman Motorsport, with Paul Dumbrell replacing Murphy at Paul Weel Racing.
Steven Richards was announced as the second driver for Ford Performance Racing, replacing Jason Bright. Bright moved to his own Britek Motorsport, replacing Warren Luff.
Perkins Engineering ran two V8 Supercar rookies, Shane Price and Jack Perkins. Perkins was replaced with Marcus Marshall for Bahrain and Launceston after he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
Andrew Jones joined his father's and uncle's team and raced in the second Brad Jones Racing car.
Alan Gurr drove for Britek Motorsport as the teammate to Jason Bright.
John Bowe replaced Marcus Marshall at Paul Cruikshank Racing in his final year of V8 Supercar racing before retirement.
Fabian Coulthard was dropped from Paul Morris Motorsport's older VZ Commodore after the Bathurst 1000 and replaced with Ford Performance Racing's endurance co-driver, Owen Kelly.
Paul Radisich was retained by Team Kiwi Racing, but was unavailable for the first round as he was recovering from his 2006 season-ending crash at Bathurst. Reigning Fujitsu Series champion Adam Macrow substituted for him. Radisich later left the team entirely after their deal with FPR fell over, and was replaced with rookie Shane van Gisbergen for the duration of the season when the team returned with Stone Brothers machinery.
Mid-season changes Simon Wills replaced Brad Jones at Brad Jones Racing after round 3. Jones announced his retirement from full-time driving.
Race calendar Rd.Race titleCircuitLocationDate 1 Clipsal 500 Adelaide Street Circuit Adelaide, South Australia 1–4 March 2 BigPond 400 Barbagallo Raceway Wanneroo, Western Australia 23–25 March 3 PlaceMakers V8 Supercars Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe, New Zealand 20–22 April 4 Winton Winton Motor Raceway Benalla, Victoria 18–20 May 5 Eastern Creek Raceway Eastern Creek Raceway Eastern Creek, New South Wales 9–11 June 6 Skycity Triple Crown Hidden Valley Raceway Darwin, Northern Territory 22–24 June 7 Queensland 300 Queensland Raceway Ipswich, Queensland 20–22 July 8 Jim Beam 400 Oran Park Raceway Oran Park, New South Wales 17–19 August 9 Just Car Insurance 500 Sandown Raceway Springvale, Victoria 14–16 September 10 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst, New South Wales 4–7 October 11 V8 Supercar Challenge Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Queensland 18–21 October 12 Desert 400 Bahrain International Circuit Sakhir, Bahrain 1–3 November 13 Falken Tasmania Challenge Symmons Plains Raceway Launceston, Tasmania 16–18 November 14 Dunlop Grand Finale Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Phillip Island, Victoria 30 November – 2 December
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, 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 Season summary Race Event Pole position Race winners Round winner 1 R1 Adelaide James Courtney Todd Kelly Todd Kelly report R2 Rick Kelly 2 R1 Perth Garth Tander Garth Tander Garth Tander report R2 Garth Tander R3 Garth Tander 3 R1 Pukekohe Mark Winterbottom Garth Tander Rick Kelly report R2 Garth Tander R3 Rick Kelly 4 R1 Winton Todd Kelly Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup report R2 Garth Tander R3 Garth Tander 5 R1 Todd Kelly Mark Skaife Mark Skaife report R2 Mark Skaife R3 Todd Kelly 6 R1 Darwin Rick Kelly Mark Skaife Craig Lowndes report R2 Craig Lowndes R3 Craig Lowndes 7 R1 Ipswich Jamie Whincup Garth Tander Garth Tander report R2 Garth Tander R3 Garth Tander 8 R1 Oran Park Todd Kelly Mark Skaife Lee Holdsworth report R2 Craig Lowndes R3 Lee Holdsworth 9 Sandown Mark Winterbottom Craig Lowndes Jamie Whincup report 10 Bathurst Mark Winterbottom Craig Lowndes Jamie Whincup report 11 R1 Gold Coast Garth Tander Garth Tander Garth Tander report R2 Garth Tander R3 Steven Richards 12 R1 Bahrain Mark Winterbottom Mark Winterbottom Mark Winterbottom report R2 Mark Winterbottom R3 Craig Lowndes 13 R1 Launceston Garth Tander Garth Tander Jamie Whincup report R2 Jamie Whincup R3 Jamie Whincup 14 R1 Phillip Island Rick Kelly Garth Tander Garth Tander report R2 Garth Tander R3 Todd Kelly
Points system Eventformat Position, points per race 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th One Race 72 60 51 45 39 36 33 30 27 24 18 15 12 9 6 Two Race 36 30 25 22 20 18 16 15 13 12 9 8 6 5 3 Three Race 24 20 17 15 13 12 11 10 9 8 6 5 4 3 2
Drivers championship