Driver changes

• After racing for the Holden Racing Team since 1994, Craig Lowndes moved to the newly created Ford team formed from the formerly Holden aligned Gibson Motorsport and acquired privateers front runner Rodney Forbes as a teammate. In between his Channel Ten commentary commitments, Neil Crompton joined the team for the enduros.
• Jason Bright replaced Lowndes in the number 2 Holden Racing Team car.
• Rookie Marcos Ambrose and V8 Lites series driver David Besnard joined the series with Stone Brothers Racing. Tony Longhurst found a drive with Rod Nash Racing and joined HRT for the long distance races, while Craig Baird sat idle until the enduros.
• Sacked Gibson Motorsport driver Greg Murphy joined the former Holden Young Lions squad with new sponsor Kmart, he joined Todd Kelly at the team.
• Fellow superseded GMS driver Steven Richards, joined Ford Tickford Racing.
• As part of a franchise deal arrangement the Holden Young Lions identity passed to privateer outfit Romano Racing who ran Paul Romano.
• Cameron McConville joined the re-launched Lansvale Racing Team as a lead driver while owners Steve Reed and Trevor Ashby shared an older VS Commodore.

Team changes

• After running Holden Since 1993 .Gibson Motorsport switched to Ford
• Romano Racing became Holden Young Lions and ran an ex-HRT VT Commodore

Cars

Ford continued with the AU Falcon that the majority of Ford teams ran while some ran the older EL Model. Holden released the new VX Commodore after the VT Commodore. Some Holden teams still ran the VT and some ran the old VS Commodore.

Race formats

• 2 45-minute races (around 100 km) will replace the 3 20-minute sprint races. There will also be a compulsory pit stop that has to be taken within a certain time of the race
• There will be a Top 10 or Top 15 Shootout for all rounds during the season that will alternate from round to round. This involves a single lap around the circuit for the Top 10/15 qualifiers in qualifying. The winner of the shootout wins 18 bonus points
• 2 events will involve the 3 20-minute sprint races. This will happen at Round 6 and 7 at Barbagello Raceway and Calder Park Raceway. There will be no compulsory pit stops
• At 3 events, there will be 3 races over the weekend, this will happen at Hidden Valley, Pukekoke Park Raceway and Sandown

Television coverage

Channel 10 and Fox Sports broadcast the coverage for the 5th year since 1997 when they took over from Channel 7. Neil Crompton hosted the coverage for regular rounds with Barry Sheene. Bill Woods hosted the coverage at special events while Leigh Diffey hosted the coverage at the last 2 rounds. Matthew White hosted the coverage at Winton for the only time in the 2001 season. Neil Crompton, Barry Sheene and Mark Oastler commentated for most of the season with Leigh Diffey coming in from Queensland 500 onwards. Greg Rust and Grant Denyer were the pit lane reporters after Greg was commentator for the 2000 championship.

Race calendar

The 2001 Shell Championship Series consisted of 13 rounds which included 7 pit-stop rounds of two or three races, two sprint races, two 2-driver races and 2 1-driver endurance races.

Rd.	Race Title Circuit	City / State	Date	Winner	Team and Car	Report
1	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit	Phillip Island, Victoria	24–25 Mar	Mark Skaife	Holden Racing Team Holden VX Commodore	report
2	Clipsal 500, Adelaide Street Circuit	Adelaide, South Australia	6–8 Apr	Jason Bright	Holden Racing Team Holden VX Commodore	report
3	Eastern Creek Raceway	Sydney, New South Wales	28–29 Apr	Mark Skaife	Holden Racing Team Holden VX Commodore	report
4	Hidden Valley Raceway	Darwin, Northern Territory	12–13 May	Marcos Ambrose	Stone Brothers Racing Ford AU Falcon	report
5	GMC 400, Canberra Street Circuit	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory	9–10 June	Steven Johnson	Dick Johnson Racing Ford AU Falcon	report
6	Barbagallo Raceway	Perth, Western Australia	22–24 June	Paul Radisich	Dick Johnson Racing Ford AU Falcon	report
7	Calder Park Raceway	Melbourne, Victoria	14–15 July	Paul Morris	Paul Morris Motorsport Holden VX Commodore	report
8	Oran Park Raceway	Sydney, New South Wales	28–29 July	Mark Skaife	Holden Racing Team Holden VX Commodore	report
9	VIP Petfoods Queensland 500, Queensland Raceway	Willowbank, Queensland	24–26 Aug	Paul Radisich Steven Johnson	Dick Johnson Racing Ford AU Falcon	report
10	Winton Motor Raceway	Benalla, Victoria	8–9 Sep	Russell Ingall	Perkins Engineering Holden VX Commodore	report
11	V8 Supercar 1000, Mount Panorama Circuit	Bathurst, New South Wales	4–7 Oct	Mark Skaife Tony Longhurst	Holden Racing Team Holden VX Commodore	report
12	Boost Mobile V8 International, Pukekohe Park Raceway	Pukekohe, New Zealand	9–11 Nov	Greg Murphy	K-mart Racing Team Holden VX Commodore	report
13	Australian V8 Ultimate, Sandown International Raceway	Melbourne, Victoria	1–2 Dec	Todd Kelly	K-mart Racing Team Holden VX Commodore	report

Phillip Island Adelaide Eastern Creek Darwin Canberra Perth Calder Park Oran Park Ipswich Winton Bathurst Sandown Australian rounds

Pukekohe New Zealand rounds

Drivers championship

Pos Driver Penalty PHI ADE ECK DAR CAN PER CAL OPK IPS WIN BAT PUK SAN Pts 1 Mark Skaife 30 288 340 262 218 282 252 108 286 264 228 552 240 188 3478 2 Russell Ingall 156 464 93 176 190 189 228 179 333 273 314 125 155 2875 3 Jason Bright 80 235 468 237 222 214 157 200 199 264 205 133 181 184 2819 4 Greg Murphy 201 210 213 211 77 209 127 75 288 231 432 288 162 2724 5 Steven Johnson 153 455 108 72 294 176 230 204 370 161 59 164 92 2532 6 Todd Kelly 163 334 136 106 119 174 47 187 288 90 432 155 248 2479 7 Paul Radisich 133 65 201 58 232 288 208 120 370 161 59 110 104 2109 8 Marcos Ambrose 200 243 165 232 146 82 194 66 82 201 30 232 213 2086 9 Steven Ellery 132 220 54 118 187 104 156 126 232 148 333 126 137 2073 10 Garth Tander 104 238 108 84 288 108 150 146 144 109 356 142 70 2047 11 Craig Lowndes 238 213 172 32 180 188 123 219 16 51 192 125 242 1991 12 Steven Richards 191 284 77 172 205 134 148 105 33 105 304 50 104 1912 13 Tony Longhurst 57 256 108 62 36 102 80 102 262 29 552 168 80 1894 14 Larry Perkins 93 264 72 156 134 49 86 54 333 66 314 132 103 1856 15 Jason Bargwanna 105 248 62 134 136 88 64 90 144 126 356 124 144 1821 16 Glenn Seton 150 304 142 132 172 94 78 120 33 75 304 94 102 1800 17 Paul Morris 66 76 141 72 166 68 274 99 195 184 252 22 86 1701 18 Brad Jones 81 84 144 104 94 64 70 123 40 54 480 72 132 1542 19 Mark Larkham 54 160 69 165 178 50 127 51 143 87 84 96 62 1326 20 Paul Weel 78 32 105 102 112 102 76 81 216 93 132 100 78 1307 21 Cameron McConville 54 Ret 75 96 122 134 134 163 112 21 276 48 40 1275 22 John Bowe 54 108 209 59 232 120 76 84 108 102 118 1270 23 David Besnard 57 4 45 177 64 58 102 242 96 84 60 52 112 1153 24 Jason Richards DNQ 136 DNQ 68 110 64 42 75 160 69 204 108 110 1146 25 Cameron McLean 108 Ret 144 132 20 114 52 57 Ret 105 396 1128 26 Anthony Tratt 9 180 60 44 96 52 50 DNPQ 128 114 216 72 44 1065 27 Paul Romano 30 104 27 68 100 30 36 192 72 240 60 10 969 28 Tomas Mezera 48 176 DNQ 50 57 262 133 94 78 898 29 Rodney Forbes 66 Ret DNS 68 142 70 78 69 Ret 30 144 116 70 853 30 John Faulkner 51 252 42 34 52 48 DNQ 48 56 63 Ret 70 94 810 31 Dugal McDougall 54 88 108 42 22 32 DNPQ 176 57 156 46 781 32 Dean Canto DNQ 92 42 DNQ 30 DNPQ 200 379 743 33 Trevor Ashby 51 208 33 74 264 630 34 Greg Ritter DNQ 128 72 396 596 35 Jim Richards 200 379 579 36 Geoff Brabham 232 333 565 37 John Cleland 40 480 520 38 Angus Fogg 52 160 204 48 464 39 Owen Kelly 192 240 432 40 Steve Reed 50 116 264 430 41 Simon Wills 108 118 76 114 416 42 Rick Bates 112 276 388 43 Tim Leahey 216 132 348 44 Alan Jones 128 216 344 45 Tyler Mecklem DNQ 180 12 32 112 DNQ 336 46 Andrew Miedecke 176 156 332 47 Rick Kelly Ret 228 80 308 48 Matthew White 51 24 DNQ 38 96 60 16 285 49 Ashley Stichbury 252 252 50 Alan Heath 56 180 236 51 Dale Brede 48 180 228 Nathan Pretty 228 53 Wayne Gardner 143 84 227 54 Neil Crompton 16 192 208 55 Phillip Scifleet 32 168 200 56 Matt Neal DNS 195 195 57 Tony Ricciardello 24 120 32 180 58 James Brock 104 66 Ret 170 59 Christian D'Agostin DNQ 168 168 Paul Dumbrell 168 Ret Leanne Ferrier 168 Ret 62 Michael Donaher 15 152 Ret 167 63 Adam Macrow 88 72 160 Luke Youlden 88 72 65 Rod Nash 120 36 156 66 Layton Crambrook 152 Ret DNQ 152 67 Craig Harris 48 96 144 David Parsons Ret 144 69 Ross Halliday 116 Ret 116 70 Steve Owen 104 Ret 104 71 Michael Simpson 96 96 72 Gary Holt 48 45 Ret 93 73 Greg Crick 82 Ret 82 74 Paul Stokell 72 72 75 Eddie Abelnica 57 57 76 Craig Baird 56 Ret 56 77 Peter Doulman 48 DNPQ Ret 48 78 Daniel Miller 42 42 79 Rod Salmon 16 24 40 Terry Wyhoon 16 24 81 Aaron McGill 32 32 82 Wayne Wakefield 30 30 Pos Driver Penalty PHI ADE ECK DAR CAN PER CAL OPK IPS WIN BAT PUK SAN Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX)

Phillip Island, Victoria

Mark Skaife get off to the best start possible as he collects the maximum number of points at Phillip Island with Craig Lowndes second on his debut for Ford thanks to the fastest pit stops over the weekend by his pit crew. Jason Bright comes third on his comeback to the sport.

Adelaide, South Australia

At the next round at Adelaide, Bright wins the round and the double points race after coming from the back of the field after an accident on lap 1, leaving him at the top of the championship. Mark Skaife has a shocker as he came fourth after being spun by Paul Radisich in Race 1 and has another spin in Race 2 leaving him ninth. Craig Lowndes won the Saturday race but tangled with Skaife in Race 2 leaving his car disabled and left him falling behind in the championship. Paul Radisich had the fastest car on the weekend but an axle broke in race 1 and steering damage left him wounded in the championship. Russell Ingall has a good weekend with a third and a second place. There was big controversy over the race officials as rule breaking went unpunished. They were being watched at Eastern Creek.

Eastern Creek, New South Wales

Craig Lowndes and Marcos Ambrose came first and second in the first race but got penalised because of incidents. Craig passed under a Yellow Flag that he could not see and Marcos made an illegal pass on Greg Murphy. This left Greg Murphy 1st on the grid for Race 2 and Mark Skaife second who started tenth in race 1 after he spun in the shootout. Greg Murphy lost his lead to Skaife after he was given a stop-go penalty for jumping the start, but there was more controversy after he didn't come to a complete stop. He got away with it but the rules were changed for the next round. Mark Skaife duly took out the race and round with teammate Jason Bright second but still leading the championship. Greg Murphy came third for the round even with the penalty.

Hidden Valley, Northern Territory

The next round at Hidden Valley turned out to be the car breaker of the year, with Greg Murphy and Russell Ingall having mechanical problems while leading within sight of the flag in Race 3 and 2 respectively. Mark Skaife had a stop-go penalty for jumping the start in Race 1 which left him 12th but still recovered to win Race 3 and come third in the round. Jason Bright had another solid weekend coming second and extending his championship lead over his teammate. But it was Marcos Ambrose who kept his nose clean over the weekend to take the round win in only his fourth championship round.

Canberra, ACT

The GMC 400 was the turning point of the season for Mark Skaife as he came third on the weekend and overtook teammate Jason Bright, who had a difficult weekend. The DJR cars were the cars to have earlier in the weekend as Paul Radisich and Steven Johnson finished 1–2 in qualifying but Radisich spun out in his shootout lap, leaving him 15th and Steven Johnson claiming his first pole position in the series. New for the championship were the pit lane speed limiters restricted to 40 km/h and only one pit bay per team. Steven Johnson wins the first race from Craig Lowndes who was advantaged bt a clear pit lane. Mark Skaife finished 3rd after starting 5th. Marcos Ambrose retires from the race with a broken driveshaft and will start from the back of the grid. The 2nd race is a reverse grid with Steve Reed and Steven Richards starting on the front row. Steven Richards wins from Marcos Ambrose who has a brilliant race which he started from the back but in race 3 he will have to start from the back again. Mark Skaife has a difficult race when he ran into the back of Rodney Forbes in a concertina effect and finished 24th and will start 10th in race 3. The race 3 grid is decided by an aggregate of points accumulated in race 1 and 2 which means that the front row is Craig Lowndes and Paul Radisich. Mark Skaife wins the race with Garth Tander second and Steve Johnson 3rd. Craig Lowndes was leading until a safety car came out with a pit stop still to go. He eventually retired with fuel pressure problems. Steve Johnson won the round with Garth Tander second and Mark Skaife 3rd.

Barbagallo, Western Australia

Paul Radisich dominates the weekend as he wins the shootout and Race 1,2 and 3. Mark Skaife consolidates his championship lead with 2nd in all 3 races with Greg Murphy 3rd on the weekend. Russell Ingall saw his chance of a podium dashed when he jumped the start in Race 3 and finished 4th overall.

Calder Park, Victoria

Paul Morris won his first ever V8 Supercar event as the Big Kev Racer was on the pace from the start of the weekend. Mark Skaife started on Pole but a poor start left him vulnerable to Steven Johnson, who he tapped to give him the lead, but he was issued with a stop-go penalty giving Johnson the lead he never relinquished. Paul Morris came 2nd and Marcos Ambrose 3rd. Paul Morris reverted to blocking in the final 2 races to win both, Russell Ingall finished 2nd in race 2 with Jason Bright 3rd and in race 3, Paul Radisich finished 2nd with Russell Ingall 3rd. Overall for the weekend, Steven Johnson finished 2nd with Russell Ingall 3rd. Mark Skaife finished 14th overall after a spin in race 3.

Oran Park, New South Wales

Mark Skaife comes back from a difficult Calder with a win in both races after starting 2nd. Craig Lowndes claims the pole, but finished 2nd in race 1 and 8th in race 2 after a spin by Garth Tander but still finishes 3rd overall. David Besnard has a fantastic round as he finishes 3rd and 2nd for a 2nd overall as teammate Marcos Ambrose struggles to get to grips with the track.

Queensland 500, Queensland

The 1st 2 driver Enduro threw up plenty of thrills and spills and a dramatic ending. The heavens opened causing a huge thunderstorm as Steven Johnson and Paul Radisich won the race in the gravel trap but was lucky as the red flag came out, putting the result to the previous lap. Russell Ingall and Larry Perkins finish 2nd and Todd Kelly and Greg Murphy 3rd. Mark Skaife and Jason Bright finish 4th even though they had oil on the screen for some of the race.

Winton, Victoria

Russell Ingall put his championship fight another step further as he takes his first round win of the season and also claims his first pole position of his career. Greg Murphy wins Race 1 but a slow pit-stop in Race 2 puts him 6th but still finished 2nd overall for the weekend. Mark Skaife finished 3rd overall for the weekend after starting 15th after a horror qualifying. Marcos Ambrose was the fastest ford over the weekend as he passed car after car after he ran off-road on the first corner.

V8 Supercar 1000, Bathurst, New South Wales

Mark Skaife put one hand on the championship after his win at Bathurst with Tony Longhurst. the drive of the day went to Brad Jones and John Cleland who started 21st and finished 2nd even despite radio dramas that meant that Cleland didn't come in under safety car. They lost out by a couple of seconds. Todd Kelly and Greg Murphy finished 3rd after running in the top 3 all day. They could have won if Todd didn't spin on a slippy track coming into the last pitstop at the chase. Russell Ingall overtook Jason Bright into 2nd place of the championship when Jason didn't finish with Tomas Mezera. Russell and Larry Perkins led coming into the final pitstop but Larry crashed when coming into the pit lane; damaging the front spoiler. They eventually finished 8th. Pole position man Marcos Ambrose went back though the field until he over cooked it coming into pit land at the first pit stop and got stuck in the gravel. He eventually retired. Greg Ritter and Cameron McLean finished 4th after a great race with a fast car. Paul Radisich and Steven Johnson retired with an engine failure during a safety car.

Boost Mobile V8 International, Pukekohe, New Zealand

In the first ever overseas event for the series, Greg Murphy collected maximum points on home turf. Mark Skaife collects the championship in the first race when he finished ahead of Russell Ingall who had a number of problems with the gearbox. Marcos Ambrose finished 3rd but didn't have the pace of the leading Holdens.

Sandown, Victoria

Todd Kelly wins his first ever championship round after a win in race 2 and other consistent race results. Mark Skaife wins the first race in dry conditions, but struggled in the wet conditions and eventually retired from race 3 after contact with Steven Richards. Craig Lowndes won the 3rd race from Marcos Ambrose.

Overall

Mark Skaife wins the series for the 4th time ahead of Russell Ingall. Jason Bright comes 3rd ahead of Greg Murphy. The first Ford driver is Steven Johnson. Todd Kelly comes 6th after his strong final round ahead of Paul Radisich who had some strong rounds. Marcos Ambrose collected the rookie of the year award after coming 8th but would regret the endurance races where he only collected 112 pts. Steve Ellery is the first driver from a single car team, placing 9th and Garth Tander eventually finishes 10th after a tough year. Craig Lowndes is 11th in his first year for Ford.