The 2016 International V8 Supercars Championship (often simplified to the 2016 V8 Supercars Championship and known from 1 July as the 2016 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship) was an FIA-sanctioned international motor racing series for Supercars. It was the eighteenth running of the Supercars Championship and the twentieth series in which Supercars have contested the premier Australian touring car title.
Mark Winterbottom started the season as the defending drivers' champion, while Triple Eight Race Engineering were the defending teams' champions.
Shane van Gisbergen, driving for Triple Eight Race Engineering, secured his first championship title with one race remaining, winning eight races during the season. Triple Eight Race Engineering won the Teams' Championship for the seventh consecutive season.2016 V8 Supercars Championship Points, www.v8supercars.com.au Van Gisbergen, along with Alexandre Prémat, also won the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
Teams and drivers Twenty-six cars contested the 2016 season. Holden, Nissan and Volvo were all represented by factory-backed teams. Ford, having scaled back its involvement in 2015, were providing no financial or technical assistance, but were still represented by Prodrive Racing Australia and DJR Team Penske.
The following teams and drivers competed in the 2016 championship.
Championship entries ManufacturerModelTeamDriver nameRoundsCo-driver nameRounds Ford Falcon FG X Prodrive Racing Australia 1 Mark Winterbottom All Dean Canto 10–12 6 Cam Waters All Jack Le Brocq 10–12 DJR Team Penske Fabian Coulthard All Luke Youlden 10–12 17 Scott Pye All Tony D'Alberto 10–12 Rod Nash Racing () 55 Chaz Mostert All Steve Owen 10–12 Super Black Racing () 111 Chris Pither All Richie Stanaway 10–12 Holden Holden Racing Team 2 Garth Tander All Warren Luff 10–12 22 James Courtney All Jack Perkins 10–12 Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport 3 Andre Heimgartner All Aaren Russell 10–12 222 Nick Percat All Cameron McConville 10–12 Erebus Motorsport 4 Aaren Russell 1–7colspan=2 rowspan=2 Craig Baird 8 Shae Davies 9–14 Chris van der Drift 10–12 David Reynolds All Craig Baird 10–12 Brad Jones Racing 8 Jason Bright All Andrew Jones 10–12 14 Tim Slade All Ashley Walsh 10–12 18 Lee Holdsworth 1–6, 10–14 Karl Reindler 10–12 Kurt Kostecki 7–8colspan=2 rowspan=2 Karl Reindler 9 Tekno Autosports Will Davison All Jonathon Webb 10–12Britek Motorsport () 21 Tim Blanchard All Macauley Jones 10–12 88 Jamie Whincup All Paul Dumbrell 10–12 97 All 10–12 888 Craig Lowndes All Steven Richards 10–12 Nissan Altima L33 Nissan Motorsport 7 Todd Kelly All Matt Campbell 10–12 15 Rick Kelly All Russell Ingall 10–12 23 Michael Caruso All Dean Fiore 10–12 96 Dale Wood All David Russell 10–12 Volvo S60 Garry Rogers Motorsport 33 Scott McLaughlin All David Wall 10–12 34 James Moffat All James Golding 10–12 Wildcard entries Nissan Altima L33 Nissan Motorsport 360 colspan="2" Renee Gracie Simona de Silvestro 11
Team changes
Charlie Schwerkolt Racing terminated its customer arrangement with the Holden Racing Team, to field an in-house entry under the new Team 18 name.
DJR Team Penske expanded to run two cars, having run a single car in 2015. The team took back the Racing Entitlement Contract (REC) it had leased to Super Black Racing in 2015.
Erebus Motorsport switched from running Mercedes-Benz E63 AMGs to Holden Commodore VFs.
Triple Eight Race Engineering expanded to field three cars, purchasing a REC last used in 2014 by James Rosenberg Racing.
Walkinshaw Racing ceased at the end of 2015, with its REC sold to Super Black Racing.
Driver changes Chaz Mostert moved from Prodrive Racing Australia to Rod Nash Racing, replacing David Reynolds. The team cited commercial reasons and not having to share a pit boom with Mark Winterbottom as the reason for the change. Reynolds moved to Erebus Motorsport, replacing Will Davison.
2015 V8 Supercars Dunlop Series champion Cam Waters replaced Mostert at Prodrive Racing Australia. Waters had substituted for Mostert in 2015 while the latter recovered from an injury.
Will Davison joined Tekno Autosports, replacing the outgoing Shane Van Gisbergen, who joined an expanded Triple Eight Race Engineering in their third car.
Aaren Russell, having raced a wildcard entry at the 2015 Bathurst 1000, joined Erebus Motorsport for his first full-time season, replacing Ashley Walsh.
Tim Blanchard moved from Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport to Britek Motorsport. Blanchard was replaced at Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport by Andre Heimgartner. Dale Wood then moved to Nissan Motorsport, replacing James Moffat.
James Moffat joined Garry Rogers Motorsport to replace David Wall. Wall was left without a full-time drive, and competed for the team at the endurance events.
Fabian Coulthard moved from Brad Jones Racing to join the expanded DJR Team Penske. He was replaced by Tim Slade, who moved from Walkinshaw Racing, which had shut down at the end of 2015.
Mid-season changes Lee Holdsworth was injured in a heavy crash at the start of Race 13 at the Darwin Triple Crown. His team, Team 18, originally planned to use its endurance co-driver, Karl Reindler, to replace Holdsworth at the Townsville event. However, as the team's car could not be fixed in time for the event, a deal was made with Dunlop Series driver Kurt Kostecki, with Kostecki to race for the team at the Townsville and Ipswich events using his own chassis. The team completed the build of a new car ahead of the Sydney SuperSprint and Reindler drove the car at the event, with Holdsworth making his racing return at the Sandown 500.
Aaren Russell and his sponsor Plus Fitness split with Erebus Motorsport prior to the Ipswich SuperSprint. He was replaced by Craig Baird, one of the team's endurance co-drivers, for the event. Dunlop Series racer Shae Davies, who was scheduled to contest the Enduro Cup events with the team, was announced as the full-time replacement for Russell.
Wildcard entries
There would be only one wildcard entry for the Bathurst 1000 with Nissan Motorsport entering the "SuperGirls" wildcard for Renee Gracie and Simona De Silvestro.
Calendar The 2016 calendar was released on 8 September 2015. On 1 October 2015 the calendar was revised, with Tasmania and the non-championship Australian Grand Prix races switching dates due to an updated 2016 Formula One calendar. A further revision was made on 22 March 2016, with the Sydney 500 being moved back one week to avoid clashing with other events at Sydney Olympic Park. Event name Circuit Location Format Date 1 Adelaide 500 Adelaide Street Circuit Adelaide, South Australia ST 5–6 March 2 Tasmania SuperSprint Symmons Plains Raceway Launceston, Tasmania SP 2–3 April 3 Phillip Island SuperSprint Phillip Island, Victoria SP 16–17 April 4 Perth SuperSprint Barbagallo Raceway Perth, Western Australia SP 7–8 May 5 Winton SuperSprint Winton Motor Raceway Benalla, Victoria SP 21–22 May 6 Darwin Triple Crown Hidden Valley Raceway Darwin, Northern Territory SP 18–19 June 7 Townsville 400 Reid Park Street Circuit Townsville, Queensland ST 9–10 July 8 Ipswich SuperSprint Queensland Raceway Ipswich, Queensland SP 23–24 July 9 Sydney Motorsport Park SP 27–28 August 10 Sandown 500 Sandown Raceway Melbourne, Victoria EC 18 September 11 Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst, New South Wales EC 9 October 12 Gold Coast 600 Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Queensland EC 13 Auckland SuperSprint Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe, New Zealand IN 5–6 November 14 Sydney 500 Homebush Street Circuit Sydney, New South Wales ST Icon Meaning ST SuperStreet SP SuperSprint IN EC Endurance Cup
Calendar changes The Phillip Island SuperSprint moved from November to April.
The series was scheduled to visit Malaysia for the first time, with a round of the championship to be held as part of the Kuala Lumpur City Grand Prix. However, the event was cancelled following a legal dispute involving the event promoters.
Format changes The two 60 kilometre races held on the Saturday of SuperSprint events were replaced by a single 120 km race, with a compulsory pit stop to change tyres.
The Auckland event used the International SuperSprint format that was also used at the non-championship V8 Supercars Challenge event at the Australian Grand Prix, with four 100 km races held across the weekend.
The Sydney 500 reverted to its original two race format, with a single 250 km race held on each of Saturday and Sunday, after a pair of 125 km races were held on Saturday in 2014 and 2015.
Soft tyres were used at all events except for the Bathurst 1000 and Phillip Island SuperSprint, with the season allocation increasing from 324 to 400 soft tyres per car.
Practice sessions for endurance co-drivers were held at the Winton and Queensland Raceway rounds.
Testing changes The compulsory pre-season test was scrapped. Teams were allowed three test days, one of which had to be used before the season commences. Rookie drivers and drivers who had not competed in the series for over three years were allowed an additional three days of testing.
Results and standings Season summary
Round Race Event Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Report 1 1 Adelaide 500 Scott Pye Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Report 2 Chaz Mostert Shane van Gisbergen James Courtney Holden Racing Team 3 Fabian Coulthard Shane van Gisbergen Nick Percat Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport 2 4 Tasmania SuperSprint Mark Winterbottom Will Davison Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering Report 5 Mark Winterbottom Fabian Coulthard Will Davison Tekno Autosports 3 6 Phillip Island SuperSprint Scott McLaughlin Scott McLaughlin Scott McLaughlin Garry Rogers Motorsport Report 7 Scott McLaughlin Scott McLaughlin Scott McLaughlin Garry Rogers Motorsport 4 8 Perth SuperSprint Cam Waters James Moffat Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Report 9 Chaz Mostert Chaz Mostert Mark Winterbottom Prodrive Racing Australia 5 10 Winton SuperSprint Tim Slade Fabian Coulthard Tim Slade Brad Jones Racing Report 11 Chaz Mostert David Reynolds Tim Slade Brad Jones Racing 6 12 Darwin Triple Crown Shane van Gisbergen Michael Caruso Michael Caruso Nissan Motorsport Report 13 Shane van Gisbergen Jason Bright Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering 7 14 Townsville 400 Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Report 15 Mark Winterbottom Shane van Gisbergen Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering 8 16 Ipswich SuperSprint Chris Pither Chaz Mostert Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering Report 17 Jamie Whincup James Courtney Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering 9 18 Sydney SuperSprint Chaz Mostert Michael Caruso Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering Report 19 Chaz Mostert Craig Lowndes Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering 10 20 Sandown 500 Jamie Whincup Paul Dumbrell Nick Percat Garth Tander Warren Luff Holden Racing Team Report 11 21 Bathurst 1000 Jamie Whincup David Reynolds Will Davison Jonathon Webb Tekno Autosports Report 12 22 Gold Coast 600 Shane van Gisbergen Shane van Gisbergen Shane van Gisbergen Alexandre Prémat Triple Eight Race Engineering Report 23 Jamie Whincup Shane van Gisbergen Jamie Whincup Paul Dumbrell Triple Eight Race Engineering 13 24 Auckland SuperSprint Shane van Gisbergen Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Report 25 Shane van Gisbergen Shane van Gisbergen Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering 26 Shane van Gisbergen Jamie Whincup Mark Winterbottom Prodrive Racing Australia 27 Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering 14 28 Sydney 500 Shane van Gisbergen Shane van Gisbergen Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Report 29 Garth Tander James Courtney Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering
Points system