The 2001 Canberra 400 (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2001 GMC 400) was the fifth round of the 2001 Shell Championship Series and the second running of the Canberra 400 event. It was held on the weekend of 9 to 10 June on the Canberra Street Circuit in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.

The Dick Johnson Racing outfit set the pace throughout the weekend. Paul Radisich dominated the early part of the weekend, claiming provisional pole position by nearly half a second over teammate and nearest competitor, Steven Johnson. After Radisich spun in the shootout, Johnson capitilised to cease his first V8 Supercar pole position. He would then go on to claim his first race victory in the first heat, and his accumulated points tally gave him his first round victory to boot.

Despite experiencing a difficult second race, Mark Skaife's third place finish for the round enabled him to retake the championship lead from teammate, Jason Bright. A lead that he would not relinquish en route to his fourth Australian Touring Car Championship title.

Background The event was held on the weekend of 9 to 10 June 2001. It was the second V8 Supercar event to be held on the streets of Canberra, and consisted of two 100 km races followed by a 200 km final which would reward double points. Pitstops were compulsory for all races. Race two would feature the sole reverse grid race of the season.

Following the inaugural event in 2000, the Canberra Street Circuit had been modified to allow for more overtaking opportunities. This included the widening of the front straight by 1.6 meters, an extension of the turn one runoff by 12 meters, the bus stop was resurfaced, the entry and exit to Flynn Drive was widened, with an extension of runoff, and the approach to turn 13 was widened by roughly a car width to encourage overtaking. In contrast the heat of Darwin, the Canberra event is typically marked by comparatively cold temperatures. This year however, conditions were noticeably more tolerable than 2000 was, and what 2002 would be.

Jason Bright entered the round as the championship leader over Holden Racing Team teammate, Mark Skaife. Unlike many of the drivers, Bright had no prior experience of the Canberra Street Circuit after having spent the 2000 season racing in Indy Lights in the United States.

Electronic pit speed limiters would be introduced across all cars for the first time at this event. The pit speed limit would also be reduced from 60 kph to 40 kph. Changes were also made to allow only one steel gantry per team in the pitlane as a result of numerous safety issues throughout the year.

Entry list

There were 32 drivers entered into the event with no changes from the entry list in the previous round in Darwin.

Paul Romano reverted from the VT Commodore to the VX Commodore.

Race results Qualifying Paul Radisich obliterated the field by posting a time nearly half a second faster than teammate and nearest competitor, Steven Johnson. Only four drivers posted a time within the 1 minute 43 second bracket. Two drivers failed to complete lap times - Mark Larkham and Steve Reed owing to session-ending crashes. Pos No Name Team Vehicle Time 1 18 Paul Radisich Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:43.2704 2 17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:43.8316 3 5 Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:43.8426 4 1 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:43.8919 5 4 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:44.0667 6 29 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:44.1644 7 00 Craig Lowndes Gibson Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:44.2608 8 15 Todd Kelly Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 1:44.2612 9 8 Russell Ingall Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 1:44.3244 10 34 Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:44.3245 11 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:44.3483 12 51 Greg Murphy Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 1:44.3921 13 40 Cameron McLean Paragon Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:44.4722 14 3 Cameron McConville Lansvale Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:44.4879 15 6 Steven Richards Glenn Seton Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:44.7029 16 11 Larry Perkins Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 1:44.7970 17 2 Jason Bright Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:44.8174 18 600 John Bowe Briggs Motor Sport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:44.9314 19 9 David Besnard Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:45.0368 20 35 Jason Bargwanna Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:45.1110 21 75 Anthony Tratt Paul Little Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:45.4122 22 43 Paul Weel Paul Weel Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:45.5478 23 21 Brad Jones Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:45.6045 24 46 John Faulkner John Faulkner Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 1:45.8385 25 7 Rodney Forbes Gibson Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:46.0242 26 54 Tony Longhurst Rod Nash Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:46.1705 27 021 Jason Richards Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 1:46.4526 28 16 Dugal McDougall McDougall Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:46.5909 29 50 Tyler Mecklem Clive Wiseman Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 1:47.9741 30 24 Paul Romano Romano Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:48.8214 - 10 Mark Larkham Larkham Motor Sport Ford Falcon (AU) no time - 23 Steve Reed Lansvale Racing Team Holden Commodore (VS) no time Source:

Top fifteen shootout Multiple drivers struggled with car setup throughout the shootout and expressed dissatisfaction with their lap times. Cameron McLean sustained damage to the steering after collecting a tyre bundle on the apex of turn one. Todd Kelly also made contact with the wall exiting the bus stop.

Radisich entered the shootout as the favourite to take pole position. However, after spinning on the exit of the bus stop, pole position would be claimed by teammate, Steven Johnson. It would be Johnson's first V8 Supercar pole position and Dick Johnson Racing's first pole position of the season.

Pos No Name Team Vehicle Time Points 1 17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:43.8378 18 2 4 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:43.9260 16 3 5 Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:44.0948 14 4 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:44.2596 13 5 1 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:44.3167 12 6 15 Todd Kelly Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 1:44.3904 11 7 00 Craig Lowndes Gibson Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:44.4893 10 8 6 Steven Richards Glenn Seton Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:44.5839 9 9 34 Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:44.6413 8 10 51 Greg Murphy Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 1:44.7216 7 11 3 Cameron McConville Lansvale Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:45.1435 12 8 Russell Ingall Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 1:45.4871 13 29 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:45.5590 14 40 Cameron McLean Paragon Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:48.0227 15 18 Paul Radisich Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 2:48.9116 Source:

Race 1 John Faulkner would not take the start for this, nor the second race, after a flat tyre lead to a high speed crash in the morning warm-up.

Steven Johnson led from the pole position off the line while Todd Kelly bogged it down and lost a half dozen positions. The pit window opened on lap three and most of the front-runners elected to take their compulsory pitstops, with the exception of Glenn Seton, Craig Lowndes and Russell Ingall. The Holden Racing Team managed to turn Skaife around quickly enough to jump Marcos Ambrose in the queue. Seton would make his pitstop and emerged just ahead of Skaife. Lowndes was amongst the last of the drivers to pit, opting for a couple laps of clear air to complete an overcut and jump up a few positions. This paid dividends and he emerged just behind effective race leader, Johnson.

On lap ten, Ambrose retired from the race after his gearbox failed. With his car stranded on the outside of the final corner, the safety car was deployed. When racing resumed, Skaife pounced on Seton on the outside of turn one and moved up to third. Garth Tander followed suit later on into the lap to move into fourth. Steven Richards was relegated to the pitlane to repair damage to the front-left suspension, losing a lap in the process. On lap 19, Todd Kelly made contact with Steven Ellery after attempting an overtake at the top end of the circuit. Both drivers spun around and had to wait whilst the rest of the pack funneled through. Kelly's teammate Greg Murphy also found himself caught out in the melee.

Lowndes appeared to exhibit more pace than Johnson. For the last half dozen laps, he continued to apply pressure, looking for a way past wherever he could. The battle began to plateau and the challengers ran out of laps. Johnson held off the challenge to take his first win in the V8 Supercar category. This was also Dick Johnson Racing's first win of the season. Radisich had also completed a miraculous recovery drive from 15th to finish in sixth.

Pos No Driver Team Car Laps Time Grid Points 1 17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 25 48min 35.6895sec 1 90 2 00 Craig Lowndes Gibson Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 25 + 0.25 7 80 3 1 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 25 + 1.14 5 72 4 34 Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 25 + 1.93 9 66 5 5 Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 25 + 5.16 3 62 6 18 Paul Radisich Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 25 + 5.47 15 58 7 29 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 25 + 21.79 13 54 8 8 Russell Ingall Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 25 + 22.12 12 50 9 35 Jason Bargwanna Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 25 + 22.78 20 48 10 600 John Bowe Briggs Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 25 + 24.05 18 46 11 2 Jason Bright Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 25 + 24.53 17 44 12 51 Greg Murphy Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 25 + 24.72 10 42 13 11 Larry Perkins Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 25 + 28.02 s 16 40 14 21 Brad Jones Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 25 + 28.14 23 38 15 9 David Besnard Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 25 + 29.08 19 36 16 43 Paul Weel Paul Weel Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 25 + 31.22 22 34 17 75 Anthony Tratt Paul Little Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 25 + 31.74 21 32 18 10 Mark Larkham Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 25 + 32.38 31 30 19 3 Cameron McConville Lansvale Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 25 + 32.60 11 28 20 021 Jason Richards Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 25 + 36.70 27 26 21 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 25 + 41.69 4 24 22 50 Tyler Mecklem Clive Wiseman Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 25 + 42.89 29 22 23 7 Rodney Forbes Gibson Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 25 + 52.46 25 20 24 24 Paul Romano Romano Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 25 + 1:01.21 30 18 25 16 Dugal McDougall McDougall Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 25 + 1:11.61 28 16 26 6 Steven Richards Glenn Seton Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 24 + 1 lap 8 14 27 23 Steve Reed Lansvale Racing Team Holden Commodore (VS) 22 + 3 laps 32 12 Ret 15 Todd Kelly Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 23 Retired 6 Ret 40 Cameron McLean Paragon Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 16 Suspension 14 Ret 4 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 9 Gearbox 2 Ret 54 Tony Longhurst Rod Nash Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 2 Retired 26 DNS 46 John Faulkner John Faulkner Racing Holden Commodore (VT) Did Not Start Fastest Lap: Craig Lowndes (Gibson Motorsport) - 1:44.7826 on lap 7 Source:

Race 2 (Reverse grid)