The 2001 Winton V8 Supercar round was the tenth round of the 2001 Shell Championship Series. It was the 15th ATCC/V8 Supercar event to be held at Winton Motor Raceway and was held on the weekend of 8 to 9 September at the Winton Motor Raceway in Benalla, Victoria.

The first race was won by Greg Murphy after tumultuous proceedings saw the 100 km race red flagged at the 85 km mark. Russell Ingall secured his second race win of the year and cemented round honours to boot. The success of this weekend helped bolster Ingall's standing in the championship and quickly became a prime candidate to challenge championship leader Mark Skaife for the title.

Background The event was held on the weekend of 8 to 9 September 2001. It was the 15th ATCC/V8 Supercar event to be held at Winton Motor Raceway, and consisted of two 100 km races with compulsory pitstops in both instances.

Mark Skaife entered the round at the championship leader by 104 points over teammate and nearest competitor, Jason Bright.

Entry list

There was a grid capacity of 32 drivers entered for this round with no pre-qualifying required to filter entrants.

From the last sprint race weekend in Oran Park, new entrants for this round included Eddie Abelnica in the Melbournes Cheapest Cars VT Commodore, and James Brock replacing Tomas Mezera at Imrie Motorsport. Cameron McLean would return with Paragon Motorsport for this round. It would also turn out to be McLean's last solo appearance of the year.

Race results

Qualifying Qualifying was disrupted by the intervention of a hailstorm. Multiple cars spun off the road as they struggle to find traction. Garth Tander broke through to take his first provisional pole position of the year with Cameron McLean proving a surprise package, setting a laptime only two hundredths of a second slower than Tander to take second place.

Skaife was a notable absentee from the top ten after a strategic error left him to start from 15th for race one.

Pos No Name Team Vehicle Time 1 34 Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:26.8443 2 40 Cameron McLean Paragon Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:26.8614 3 8 Russell Ingall Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 1:27.0949 4 29 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VT) 1:27.6587 5 17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:27.9589 6 54 Tony Longhurst Rod Nash Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:28.2574 7 18 Paul Radisich Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:28.4970 8 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:28.7429 9 2 Jason Bright Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:29.8535 10 51 Greg Murphy Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 1:29.9967 11 21 Brad Jones Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:30.0137 12 10 Mark Larkham Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:30.1214 13 600 John Bowe Briggs Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:30.3932 14 3 Cameron McConville Lansvale Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:30.4694 15 1 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:30.7395 16 15 Todd Kelly Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 1:30.8651 17 16 Dugal McDougall McDougall Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:31.0697 18 4 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:31.3546 19 35 Jason Bargwanna Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:31.5494 20 43 Paul Weel Paul Weel Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:31.6844 21 5 Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:31.8532 22 11 Larry Perkins Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 1:31.9287 23 021 Jason Richards Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 1:32.0458 24 9 David Besnard Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:32.1047 25 6 Steven Richards Glenn Seton Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:32.1956 26 24 Paul Romano Romano Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:32.3247 27 00 Craig Lowndes Gibson Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:32.4058 28 7 Rodney Forbes Gibson Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:33.3639 29 46 John Faulkner John Faulkner Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 1:33.5859 30 75 Anthony Tratt Paul Little Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:33.9583 31 48 Eddie Abelnica Melbournes Cheapest Cars Holden Commodore (VT) 1:34.3870 32 14 James Brock Imrie Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:35.1691 Source:

Top Ten Shootout Conditions were tricky for the shootout as the track was still majorly damp with the exception of the drying racing line. All competitors went out on dry weather tyres. Russell Ingall took his first V8 Supercar pole position by way of setting a laptime over half a second faster than nearest competitor, Paul Morris. Cameron McLean and Tony Longhurst provided their respective teams - Paragon Motorsport and Rod Nash Racing - with their best qualifying positions in the V8 Supercar championship to date.

Pos No Name Team Vehicle Time 1 8 Russell Ingall Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 1:24.3328 2 29 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VT) 1:24.9150 3 18 Paul Radisich Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:24.9154 4 34 Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:25.0289 5 40 Cameron McLean Paragon Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:25.4027 6 54 Tony Longhurst Rod Nash Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:25.5214 7 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:25.6025 8 51 Greg Murphy Tom Walkinshaw Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:26.0698 9 17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:27.1293 10 2 Jason Bright Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:31.8195 Source:

Race 1 The start was marred by chaos as Tony Longhurst and Steven Ellery collided on the approach to turn one. Out of control, the former made contact with the rear of Cameron McLean, sending the Paragon Motorsport car into a spin, and left multiple drivers, including Jason Bright and Marcos Ambrose, to take to the outfield. Brad Jones and Larry Perkins were also spun off the road at the same point of the circuit. Jones, as well as Glenn Seton, retired from the race owing to damage sustained in the turn one melee.

After the pitstop cycle was complete, Greg Murphy found himself in the lead over Russell Ingall thanks to a rapid pitstop. Craig Lowndes spun off at the sweeper, was unable to restart his engine in the muddy outfield and could not drive out again. A few laps later, his Gibson Motorsport teammate Rodney Forbes encountered the same fate. Paul Weel and Paul Radisich also found themselves trapped in the runoff but were eventually able to get back onto the racetrack. Stone Brothers Racing elected to keep Marcos Ambrose out on circuit and complete his compulsory pitstop at a later time in an alternate strategy. He was finally brought into the pitlane on lap 12.

Despite suffering damage to the exhaust manifold, Ambrose began to rapidly ascend through the pack, setting lap times over a second faster than race leader, Murphy. Mark Skaife had almost made good headway, being placed in third after the pitstop cycle. The safety car was called on lap 20 to retrieve several grief-stricken cars around the circuit. When the race resumed with eight laps remaining, Ambrose immediately passed the lapped car of Paul Romano and set off after the Holden Racing Team duo ahead.

Later on in the lap, Garth Tander made contact with John Bowe, sending the Caterpillar Ford into a spin. Stranded in the path of other cars, a concertina effect saw David Besnard spun off the circuit and Cameron McConville's car launched skyward before breaking its suspension. Todd Kelly also sustained heavy damage to the front end of the car as a consequence of hitting McConville. Two laps later, Tony Longhurst made heavy side-on contact with the turn four wall after being pushed into a spin by Paul Radisich. Steven Richards was spun by Anthony Tratt and James Brock lost a wheel as the race was brought under safety car conditions. The officials would then display the red flag six laps short of the 100 km distance. Murphy would be declared the race winner with Ingall in second and Skaife third.

Pos No Driver Team Car Laps Time Grid 1 51 Greg Murphy Tom Walkinshaw Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 28 45min 02.1401sec 8 2 8 Russell Ingall Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 28 + 0.92 1 3 1 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 28 + 1.75 15 4 2 Jason Bright Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 28 + 2.65 10 5 4 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 28 + 3.20 18 6 29 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VT) 28 + 3.79 2 7 35 Jason Bargwanna Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 28 + 6.22 19 8 17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 28 + 8.20 9 9 10 Mark Larkham Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 28 + 9.25 12 10 34 Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 28 + 11.06 4 11 15 Todd Kelly Tom Walkinshaw Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 28 + 11.82 16 12 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 28 + 13.12 7 13 75 Anthony Tratt Paul Little Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 28 + 13.66 30 14 40 Cameron McLean Paragon Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 28 + 14.56 5 15 18 Paul Radisich Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 28 + 15.73 3 16 46 John Faulkner John Faulkner Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 28 + 17.74 29 17 16 Dugal McDougall McDougall Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 28 + 19.44 17 18 14 James Brock Imrie Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 28 + 22.19 32 19 600 John Bowe Briggs Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 28 + 23.26 13 20 6 Steven Richards Glenn Seton Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 28 + 23.91 25 21 11 Larry Perkins Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 27 + 1 lap 22 22 24 Paul Romano Romano Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 27 + 1 lap 26 23 43 Paul Weel Paul Weel Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 27 + 1 lap 20 24 9 David Besnard Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 27 + 1 lap 24 25 48 Eddie Abelnica Melbournes Cheapest Cars Holden Commodore (VT) 27 + 1 lap 31 26 021 Jason Richards Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 26 + 2 laps 23 Ret 54 Tony Longhurst Rod Nash Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 26 Accident 6 Ret 3 Cameron McConville Lansvale Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 24 Accident 14 Ret 7 Rodney Forbes Gibson Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 10 Spun off 28 Ret 00 Craig Lowndes Gibson Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 4 Spun off 27 Ret 5 Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1 Steering arm 21 Ret 21 Brad Jones Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 0 Collision damage 11 Fastest Lap: Paul Radisich (Dick Johnson Racing) - 1:24.3335 on lap 6 Source:

Race 2 Steven Richards would start the race from the pitlane owing to technical troubles in the warm-up session. Tony Longhurst was declared a non-starter owing to the damage sustained in race one.

Murphy bogged down off the line and allowed Ingall to take the lead on the approach to turn one. In the second part of the esses, John Faulkner made contact with Dugal McDougall, sending him into a spin. In avoiding action, John Bowe threw his Falcon into a spin and fell to the back of the pack. David Besnard and Jason Richards also spun in the process of avoiding Bowe's stranded car. Ingall and Skaife were the first of the front runners to complete their compulsory pitstops. Murphy suffered a slow pitstop that threw him out of the top ten.