2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series
The 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series was a motor racing series for V8 Supercars. The series, which was the fifth V8 Supercar Championship Series, began on 22 March 2003 in Adelaide and ended on 30 November at Eastern Creek Raceway after 13 rounds. It ended with the awarding of the 44th Australian Touring Car Championship title by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport to Tasmanian driver Marcos Ambrose. It was the first time a Stone Brothers Racing driver had won the championship and marked the first title win by a Ford driver since Glenn Seton in 1997, ending a five-year run by Holden Racing Team.
Calendar
The 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series consisted of 13 rounds which included eleven sprint rounds of one, two or three races and two longer distance endurance races requiring two drivers per car.
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New Zealand rounds
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Teams and drivers
The following drivers and teams competed in the 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series. The series consisted of eleven rounds of sprint racing and two rounds (the Sandown 500 and the Bathurst 1000) of endurance racing with each car piloted by two drivers.
* = Drove in Sandown 500 only
** = Drove in Bathurst 1000 only
Driver changes
- Jason Bright left the Holden Racing Team to join Paul Weel Racing.
- Todd Kelly left K-Mart Racing Team to join the Holden Racing Team replacing Jason Bright.
- Rick Kelly left Holden Young Lions to join K-Mart Racing Team replacing his brother Todd.
- Russell Ingall left Perkins Engineering to join Stone Brothers Racing replacing David Besnard.
- David Besnard left Stone Brothers Racing to join Ford Performance Racing.
- Craig Lowndes left 00 Motorsport to join Ford Performance Racing.
- Greg Ritter returned to the Supercars Championship joining 00 Motorsport replacing Craig Lowndes.
- Larry Perkins stepped down from full-time competition. He joined Steven Richards for the endurance rounds.
- Mark Noske returned to the Supercars Championship joining ICS Team Ford. He later joined Mark Winterbottom for the endurance rounds. Neal Bates substituted for him at ICS Team Ford.
- Jason Bargwanna left Garry Rogers Motorsport to join Larkham Motorsport.
- Paul Radisich and Max Wilson effectively swapped seats, with Radisich moving to Briggs Motor Sport and Wilson to Dick Johnson Racing.
- Jason Richards left Team Kiwi Racing to join Team Dynamik.
- Craig Baird left Rod Nash Racing and replaced Jason Richards at Team Kiwi Racing.
Team changes
- Ford Performance Racing expanded to a three car team.
- Perkins Engineering scaled down to a two car team.
- Following the collapse of the global Tom Walkinshaw Racing empire in February, Holden representatives flew to the United Kingdom to purchase TWR Australia from the receivers. Because the rules stated a manufacturer couldn't own any teams, Holden kept the engineering side of the business (rebranding it to Holden Motor Sport) and sold the Holden Racing Team and K-Mart Racing Team entries to Skaife Sports Pty Ltd and John Kelly Racing respectively. Paul Weel Racing's customer deal with TWR Australia was naturally transferred to the newly rebranded Holden Motor Sport[1][2]
Results and standings
Results summary
Drivers championship
Drivers were required to drop the points earned at their worst round from their total, regardless of how many rounds were entered. Drivers who only entered one round lost all their points.
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Bold - Pole position | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
See also
References
- ^ "Skaife named owner of Holden Racing Team". ABC News. 2 June 2003. Retrieved 9 April 2023 – via www.abc.net.au.
- ^ "Holden completes V8 racing team sale". The Age. 6 June 2003. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
External links
- Official V8 Supercar site
- 2003 Racing Results Archive Archived 14 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- Images from the 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series Retrieved from www.motorsport.com on 27 September 2009