The 2013 International V8 Supercars Championship (often simplified to the 2013 V8 Supercars Championship) was a FIA-sanctioned international motor racing series for V8 Supercars. It was the fifteenth running of the V8 Supercars Championship and the seventeenth series in which V8 Supercars contested the premier Australian touring car title.
The 2013 season saw the introduction of the "New Generation V8 Supercar", a revision to the regulations which were designed to cut costs and to make the series more attractive to new manufacturers. Nissan and Mercedes-Benz also entered the series.
Holden teams competed with the new VF Commodore, which replaced the VE model, whilst Ford continued to use the FG Falcon.
Jamie Whincup successfully defended his drivers' championship title and Triple Eight Race Engineering won their fourth consecutive teams' championship.
Teams and drivers The following teams and drivers competed in the 2013 championship.
Championship entries Endurance entries Manufacturer Model Team Driver name Rounds Co-driver name Rounds Ford Falcon FG Ford Performance Racing 5 Mark Winterbottom All Steven Richards 10–12 6 Will Davison All Steve Owen 10–12 Dick Johnson Racing Jonny Reid 1–3colspan=2 Chaz Mostert 4–14 Dale Wood 10–12 Tim Blanchard All Ashley Walsh 10–12 Charlie Schwerkolt Racing () 18 Alex Davison All John McIntyre 10–12 Rod Nash Racing () 55 David Reynolds All Dean Canto 10–12 Holden Commodore VF Triple Eight Race Engineering 1 Jamie Whincup All Paul Dumbrell 10–12 888 Craig Lowndes All Warren Luff 10–12 Holden Racing Team 2 Garth Tander All Nick Percat 10–12 22 James Courtney 1–13 Greg Murphy 10–12 Nick Percat 14colspan=2 Tony D'Alberto Racing 3 Tony D'Alberto All Jonny Reid 10–12 Brad Jones Racing 8 Jason Bright All Andrew Jones 10–12 14 Fabian Coulthard All Luke Youlden 10–12 Tekno Autosports 19 Jonathon Webb All Marc Lieb 10–12 97 Shane van Gisbergen All Jeroen Bleekemolen 10–12 Britek Motorsport () 21 David Wall All Chris Pither 10–12 Garry Rogers Motorsport 33 Scott McLaughlin All Jack Perkins 10–12 34 Alexandre Prémat All Greg Ritter 10–12 Walkinshaw Racing () Russell Ingall All Ryan Briscoe 10–12 Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport 80 Scott Pye 1–2, 4–14 Paul Morris 10–12 88 Dean Fiore All Matthew Halliday 10–12 E63 AMG Erebus Motorsport 4 Lee Holdsworth All Craig Baird 10–12 9 Maro Engel All Steven Johnson 10–12 James Rosenberg Racing () 47 Tim Slade All Andrew Thompson 10–11 David Brabham 12 Nissan Altima L33 Nissan Motorsport 7 Todd Kelly All David Russell 10–12 15 Rick Kelly All Karl Reindler 10–12 Michael Caruso All Daniel Gaunt 10–12 360 James Moffat All Taz Douglas 10–12 Wildcard entries Holden 10 colspan=2 Mattias Ekström Andy Priaulx 11
Team changes All teams competing with the Holden Commodore upgraded to the new VF model.
After switching from Holden to Ford after the first event of the 2011 season, Tony D'Alberto Racing moved back to Holden in 2013, where the team received technical assistance from Walkinshaw Performance.
Ford Performance Racing expanded to a four-car operation with the acquisition of the #18 Racing Entitlement Contract held by Charlie Schwerkolt, which was used by Dick Johnson Racing to run James Moffat's car in 2012. The fourth car was run as a satellite of the team, in the same fashion as the #55 Rod Nash Racing entry.
In January 2013, British motorsport group Prodrive announced that it had sold its stake in Ford Performance Racing to Rod Nash and former Australian GT Champion Rusty French.
Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport expanded to a two-car operation after purchasing the #49 Racing Entitlement Contract from Paul Morris Motorsport. The team also acquired two VF Commodores constructed by Triple Eight Race Engineering.
As a result of the deals between Schwerkolt and Ford Performance Racing and Paul Morris and Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, Dick Johnson Racing lost the use of the #18 and #49 Racing Entitlement Contracts and was reduced to a two-car operation with its existing #17 REC and by leasing Triple F Racing's #12 REC.
Kelly Racing switched from competing with Holden Commodores to Nissan Altimas, running a re-sleeved version of Nissan's quad-cam aluminium 5.6-litre VK56DE V8 reconfigured to a 5.0-litre capacity. The team was renamed to Nissan Motorsport, a name last used by Gibson Motorsport in 1991.
In January 2013, Larry Perkins confirmed that he had sold his two Racing Entitlement Contracts to Kelly Racing. Perkins had previously leased the #11 and #16 RECs to the Kelly operation, and by purchasing them, Kelly Racing acquired full control over the licences. To satisfy sponsor requirements, the 2 former Perkins RECs used numbers 36 and 360.
Stone Brothers Racing was purchased by Australian GT Championship team Erebus Motorsport, and the organisation, along with satellite team James Rosenberg Racing, ended their association with Ford. Instead, the combined team entered three cars based on the Mercedes-Benz E63 W212, powered by a M159 engine. The combined Erebus—James Rosenberg outfit did not receive any factory support from Mercedes-Benz.
Driver changes
Steven Johnson was forced out of his seat at Dick Johnson Racing as a result of the team's on-going financial troubles. He took on the position of general manager in the team's organisational structure, whilst contesting the Australian Carrera Cup Championship. He would later drive in the endurance events for Erebus Motorsport.
Johnson's departure led to Tim Blanchard joining the series full-time with DJR. Blanchard had previously contested the endurance races in 2011 and 2012 with Kelly Racing before replacing the injured Todd Kelly for the final four events of the 2012 season. 2012 V8SuperTourer runner-up Jonny Reid also joined DJR in the second seat, replacing Dean Fiore.
James Moffat would lose his seat at DJR as the #18 REC was returned to Charlie Schwerkolt Racing. Moffat would join the factory-backed Nissan Motorsport as the replacement for Greg Murphy. Murphy had left Kelly Racing at the end of 2012 and was unable to find a full-time seat. He would later join the Holden Racing Team for the endurance races.
Alex Davison returned to the series after a one-year absence spent competing in the Australian Carrera Cup Championship to join the new Schwerkolt team, which ran as a satellite team of FPR.
As a result of the REC changes surrounding Dick Johnson Racing, Dean Fiore moved from DJR to Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, and leased the Triple F Racing REC back to DJR so they could continue to run two cars. Taz Douglas would leave the category after one year racing for LDM, and returned to the Dunlop V8 Supercar Series. Steve Owen lost his seat as the #49 REC was sold to LDM. Owen would join Ford Performance Racing for the endurance events. Scott Pye, who placed second in the 2012 Dunlop V8 Supercar Series, joined LDM in the second seat.
Karl Reindler left Kelly Racing at the end of 2012, and moved to the Australian Carrera Cup Championship. Michael Caruso left Garry Rogers Motorsport after five seasons to take Reindler's seat at the renamed Nissan Motorsport team. Reigning second-tier V8 Supercar champion and New Zealand V8SuperTourer champion Scott McLaughlin then joined GRM full-time, having raced for the team as an emergency replacement in the final race of the 2012 season.
At the end of the 2012 season, Shane van Gisbergen announced plans to leave the category in order to rejuvenate himself and consider his future. This announcement came after Stone Brothers Racing had been purchased by Erebus Motorsport. He later announced in January 2013 that he would return to the championship, replacing Michael Patrizi at Tekno Autosports. Patrizi would return to the Australian Carrera Cup Championship.
As a result of Van Gisbergen's departure, former Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters driver Maro Engel would make his series debut with Erebus Motorsport, continuing his long association with Mercedes-Benz.
Mid-season changes Jonny Reid was replaced by Dunlop Series driver Chaz Mostert at Dick Johnson Racing prior to the Perth 360.
Following a major accident at the Phillip Island event, James Courtney was forced to miss the Sydney 500. He was replaced by the Holden Racing Team's endurance co-driver, Nick Percat.
Wildcard entries
There was one wildcard entry for the Bathurst 1000 as Triple Eight Race Engineering entered international stars Mattias Ekström and Andy Priaulx in a third car for the Great Race.
Calendar The 2013 calendar was released on 15 October 2012. The season consisted of thirty-six races to be held at fourteen venues in Australia, New Zealand and the United States, plus an additional non-championship event that was held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in support of the 2013 Australian Grand Prix. Event name Circuit Location Format Date 1 Adelaide 500 Adelaide Street Circuit Adelaide, South Australia 2 2–3 March 2 Tasmania 365 Symmons Plains Raceway Launceston, Tasmania S 6–7 April 3 Auckland 400 Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe, New Zealand 4 13–14 April 4 Perth 360 Barbagallo Raceway Perth, Western Australia S 4–5 May 5 Austin 400 Circuit of the Americas Austin, Texas, USA 4 18–19 May 6 Darwin Triple Crown Hidden Valley Raceway Darwin, Northern Territory S 15–16 June 7 Townsville 400 Reid Park Street Circuit Townsville, Queensland 2 6–7 July 8 Ipswich 360 Queensland Raceway Ipswich, Queensland S 27–28 July 9 Winton 360 Winton Motor Raceway Benalla, Victoria S 24–25 August 10 Sandown 500 Sandown Raceway Melbourne, Victoria E 15 September 11 Bathurst 1000 Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst, New South Wales E 13 October 12 Gold Coast 600 Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Queensland E 26–27 October 13 Phillip Island 360 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Phillip Island, Victoria S 23–24 November 14 Sydney 500 Homebush Street Circuit Sydney, New South Wales 2 7–8 December Sources: Icon Meaning 2 Two races 4 Four races E Endurance Cup S 60/60 Sprint race
Calendar changes
The Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas hosted an event of the championship on 17–19 May. The series used the shorter "national" circuit, instead of the full layout.
The Hamilton 400 was held for the final time in 2012. It was replaced by an event at Pukekohe Park Raceway, which last hosted a championship event in 2007. The Pukekohe Park circuit was reconfigured to accommodate the category after it was awarded "International" status by the FIA in 2011. This act required the circuit to meet the criteria for an FIA Grade-2 certification, necessitating the changes.
After returning to the calendar in 2012, Sydney Motorsport Park did not host an event in 2013.
The Yas Marina Circuit was initially scheduled to host the Yas V8 400 in support of the 2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but with the Grand Prix support bill expanding to include rounds of the GP2 and GP3 Series championships, the event was removed from the V8 Supercars calendar.
Format changes The events at Symmons Plains, Barbagallo, Hidden Valley, Queensland Raceway, Winton and Phillip Island all featured a new three-race format, dubbed the "60/60 Sprint" format. The Saturday race was 120-kilometres in length but split into two 60-kilometre halves with a fifteen-minute break in between to allow teams the opportunity to service their cars. The starting grid for the second half of the race was determined by the finishing order of the first half of the race. The remaining two races were then held on Sunday at 100-kilometres in length each. Originally, a driver who finished one lap down in the first half would remain one lap down at the start of the second half of the race. This was changed following the Symmons Plains event, with drivers who were a lap down at the end of the first half gaining the lap back for the second half.