2015 Australian Carrera Cup Championship
The 2015 Australian Carrera Cup Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. It was sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) as a national championship with Porsche Cars Australia Pty Ltd appointed as the Category Manager by CAMS.[1] The title, which was the eleventh Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship, was won by Nick Foster.
Sonic Motor Racing Services driver Foster won eight races during the season, with two runs of four consecutive victories including weekend sweeps at Townsville and Sandown. Foster finished sixty-four points ahead of Finance EZI Racing's David Russell, who took eleven podium finishes during the season but only one win, at Bathurst. Third place in the championship went to Matt Campbell (McElrea Racing), who won six races, including a weekend sweep at Surfers Paradise as part of a four-race win streak to close the season. Defending champion Steven Richards won five of the first six races, but only returned to the podium four times over the remaining sixteen races to finish fourth in the championship. Foster's teammate Nick McBride and Hamilton Autohaus driver Shane Smollen were the other race-winners, winning at Albert Park and Phillip Island respectively. Foster also won the Professional sub-classification by 46 points, while Smollen won the Elite sub-classification by 60 points ahead of Stephen Grove.
Teams and drivers[edit]
The following teams and drivers contested the championship.
| Team | No. | Driver | Rd 3 co-driver[2] | Class | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Richards Motorsport | 1 |  Steven Richards
|
 Dean Grant
|
Professional | All |
| Grove Group | 4 | Stephen Grove
|
Scott McLaughlin
|
Elite | All |
| McElrea Racing | 5 | Spike Goddard
|
Professional | 1–2 | |
| Tony Walls
|
Elite | 7 | |||
| 7 | Matt Campbell
|
Tim Miles
|
Professional | All | |
| 56 | Shane Smollen
|
Nick Percat
|
Elite | All | |
| Garth Walden Racing | 6 | Ash Samadi
|
Dean Fiore
|
Elite | All |
| Porsche Centre Melbourne | 8 | Craig Baird
|
Max Twigg
|
Professional | All |
| Hallmarc | 9 | Marc Cini
|
 Christopher Mies
|
Elite | All |
| Finance EZI Racing | 10 | David Russell
|
James Koundouris
|
Professional | All |
| Team BRM | 11 | Simon Hodge
|
Ray Angus
|
Professional | 1–5 |
| John Magro
|
Professional | 6 | |||
| 22 | Richard Muscat
|
Sam Walter
|
Professional | All | |
| 45 | Duvashen Padayachee
|
Indiran Padayachee
|
Professional | All | |
| Porsche Centre Brighton | 13 | James Bergmuller
|
Alex Davison
|
Elite | All |
| Buik Motorsport | 14 | Cameron McConville
|
John Goodacre
|
Professional | 1–3 |
| 25 | John Martin[3]
|
Professional | 4–8 | ||
| 26 | Michael Almond
|
John Karytinos
|
Professional | All | |
| AVCS | 18 | Max Twigg
|
Elite | 2 | |
| Lago Racing | 23 | Roger Lago
|
Steve Owen
|
Elite | 1–4 |
| Tony Bates Racing | 24 | Tony Bates
|
Daniel Gaunt
|
Elite | All |
| Sonic Motor Racing Services | 39 | Adrian Mastronardo
|
Tim Slade
|
Elite | All |
| 77 | Nick McBride
|
Neale Muston
|
Professional | All | |
| 777 | Nick Foster
|
Dylan Thomas
|
Professional | All | |
| DNA Racing | 65 | Fraser Ross
|
David Ryan
|
Professional | All |
| Koala Motorsport | 69 | Brenton Griguol
|
Elite | 7 | |
| Scott Taylor Motorsport | 88 | Shae Davies
|
Geoff Emery
|
Professional | 2–3, 5-6, 8 |
| 222 | Scott Taylor
|
Dean Canto
|
Elite | 1–5, 7–8 | |
| Aaron Seton
|
Professional | 6 |
All vehicles were Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Type 991 cars, as mandated by the championship regulations.[1]
Race calendar[edit]
The championship was contested over eight rounds.[4]
Championship standings[edit]
- Points system
Championship points were awarded at each race as per the table below:[1]
| Points format | Position | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 15th | 16th | 17th | 18th | 19th | 20th | 21st | 22nd | 23rd | 24th | 25th | |
| Three races | 60 | 54 | 48 | 42 | 36 | 32 | 29 | 26 | 23 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Two races | 90 | 81 | 72 | 63 | 54 | 48 | 43.5 | 39 | 34.5 | 30 | 27 | 24 | 21 | 18 | 16.5 | 15 | 13.5 | 12 | 10.5 | 9 | 7.5 | 6 | 4.5 | 3 | 1.5 |
Each driver was deemed by the Category Manager to be in either the Professional Class or the Elite Class for the purpose of awarding class points.[1] For class awards, each driver in each class who was classified as a finisher received points in accordance with the above pointscore table relative to each other driver in their class.[1]
Overall[edit]
|
Bold - Pole position | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Professional[edit]
| Pos. | Driver[6] | Pts.[6] |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Foster
|
971 |
| 2 | David Russell
|
925 |
| 3 | Matt Campbell
|
883.5 |
| 4 | Steven Richards
|
881 |
| 5 | Craig Baird
|
839 |
| 6 | Richard Muscat
|
778 |
| 7 | Nick McBride
|
748 |
| 8 | Michael Almond
|
557.5 |
| 9 | Shae Davies
|
478 |
| 10 | Duvashen Padayachee
|
423.5 |
| 11 | Fraser Ross
|
416.5 |
| 12 | Cameron McConville
|
340 |
| 13 | John Martin
|
292 |
| 14 | Simon Hodge
|
277 |
| 15 | Aaron Seton
|
68 |
| 16 | John Magro
|
62 |
| 17 | Spike Goddard
|
50 |
Elite[edit]
| Pos. | Driver[6] | Pts.[6] |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shane Smollen
|
1178 |
| 2 | Stephen Grove
|
1118 |
| 3 | Tony Bates
|
972.5 |
| 4 | Ash Samadi
|
784 |
| 5 | James Bergmuller
|
684 |
| 6 | Marc Cini
|
675 |
| 7 | Adrian Mastronardo
|
637 |
| 8 | Scott Taylor
|
459 |
| 9 | Roger Lago
|
393 |
| 10 | Max Twigg
|
180 |
| 11 | Tony Walls
|
84 |
| 12 | Brenton Griguol
|
26 |
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e "Sporting and Technical Regulations – 2015 CAMS Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship – Version 2" (PDF). Confederation of Australian Motor Sport. Confederation of Australian Motor Sport Ltd. 26 March 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-26. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
- ^ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (12 May 2015). "Full Carrera Cup Pro-Am line-up revealed". Speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ "John Martin secures Porsche Carrera Cup drive". Speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
- ^ "Results". Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship. Confederation of Australian Motor Sport. Archived from the original on 26 December 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
- ^ "Second Carrera Cup race abandoned". Speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. 10 October 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f "Standings – Season 2015". Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship. Confederation of Australian Motor Sport. Archived from the original on 26 December 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
External links[edit]
Media related to 2015 in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia at Wikimedia Commons