2017 Supercars Championship
| 2017 Supercars Championship | |||
| Previous: | 2016 | Next: | 2018 |
| Support series: Supercars Dunlop Series | |||
The 2017 Supercars Championship (formally known as the 2017 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship)[1] will be an FIA-sanctioned international motor racing series for Supercars, which prior to 1 July 2016 had been known as V8 Supercars. It will be the nineteenth running of the Supercars Championship and the twenty-first series in which Supercars have contested the premier Australian touring car title.
The 2017 season will see the category undergo a substantial revision of its technical regulations, with the introduction of "Gen2 Supercar" rules which will open the championship up to a wider range of body shapes and engine configurations.[2]
Teams and drivers
The following drivers are currently under contract for 2017:
| Season entries | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Vehicle | No. | Driver |
| Walkinshaw Racing[3] | Holden VF Commodore | 2 |  Scott Pye[4] |
| 22 | James Courtney[4] | ||
| Erebus Motorsport | Holden VF Commodore | 4 | Dale Wood[5] |
| 9 | David Reynolds[6] | ||
| Prodrive Racing Australia | Ford FG X Falcon | 5 | Mark Winterbottom[7] |
| 6 | Cameron Waters[8] | ||
| Rod Nash Racing (PRA) | 55 | Chaz Mostert[7] | |
| Nissan Motorsport | Nissan Altima L33 | 7 | Todd Kelly[9] |
| 15 | Rick Kelly[9] | ||
| 23 | Michael Caruso[10] | ||
| TBA |  Simona de Silvestro[9] | ||
| Brad Jones Racing | Holden VF Commodore | 8 | Nick Percat[11] |
| 14 | Tim Slade[11] | ||
| TBA (BJR) | TBA | Tim Blanchard[12] | |
| DJR Team Penske | Ford FG X Falcon | 12 |  Fabian Coulthard[13] |
| 17 | Scott McLaughlin[14] | ||
| Charlie Schwerkolt Racing[15] | Holden VF Commodore | 18 | Lee Holdsworth[16] |
| Tekno Autosports | Holden VF Commodore | 19 | Will Davison[17] |
| Garry Rogers Motorsport | TBA[18] | 33 | James Moffat[19] |
| Triple Eight Race Engineering | Holden VF Commodore | 88 | Jamie Whincup[20] |
| 1 | Shane van Gisbergen[21] | ||
| 888 | Craig Lowndes[21] | ||
Team changes
Volvo will withdraw from the series at the end of the 2016 season.
- Britek Motorsport's entry will no longer be prepared by Brad Jones Racing.[22]
- Super Black Racing will not compete in the series, with its Racing Entitlement Contract (REC) sold to Prodrive Racing Australia co-owner, Rusty French, who on-sold it to Tim Blanchard.[23][12]
- Triple Eight Race Engineering will become the official Holden factory team. Walkinshaw Racing, which competed as the factory Holden Racing Team from 1990 to 2016, will become a customer Holden team instead under the Walkinshaw Racing brand.[3]
- Volvo will withdraw from the series and terminate its association with Garry Rogers Motorsport at the end of the 2016 season.[18]
Driver changes
- Jason Bright will leave Brad Jones Racing.[24] Bright will be replaced by Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport's Nick Percat.[11]
- Scott McLaughlin will move from Garry Rogers Motorsport to DJR Team Penske,[14] replacing Scott Pye. Pye will leave DJR Team Penske to replace Garth Tander at Walkinshaw Racing.[4]
- Former IndyCar Series and Formula E driver Simona de Silvestro will join the championship, replacing Dale Wood at Nissan Motorsport.[9] Having contested the 2015 and 2016 Bathurst 1000 events, De Silvestro will be the first female driver to contest the championship since Melinda Price and Kerryn Brewer in 1998.
- Dale Wood will leave Nissan to join Erebus Motorsport, replacing Shae Davies.[5]
Scheduled events
The following fourteen events are scheduled to take place in 2017:
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Notes:
- ^1 — The date for the Coates Hire Newcastle 500 will be confirmed after the publication of the final version 2017 World Rally Championship calendar to avoid a clash with Rally Australia.[25]
Calendar changes
- The Sydney 500—which was held at the Homebush Street Circuit from 2009 to 2016—will be replaced by a new event, the Newcastle 500.[26][27] The round will be held on a street circuit in the East End of Newcastle,[27] and will be run to the SuperStreet format, featuring two races of 250 kilometres.
- The KL City 400 at the Kuala Lumpur Street Circuit in Malaysia is contracted to host an event on the calendar from 2017 to 2019. The running of the event is pending the resolution of legal issues which cancelled the 2016 event,[28] and it was omitted from the provisional 2017 calendar.[25]
- Two international rounds to be held at the Sentul Circuit in Indonesia and a street circuit near Bangkok in Thailand were initially included on a draft of the season calendar, but were later deferred until the 2018 season,[29][30] with a demonstration event planned for Thailand in the interim.[31]
Format changes
- The Adelaide 500 will return to its original format of two races of 250 kilometres, which was last used in 2013. Event organisers cited the unpopularity of the format used between 2014 and 2016—two races of 125 kilometres followed by one 250 kilometre race—as the reason for the change.[32]
Rule changes
Technical regulations
The 2017 season will see the introduction of "Gen2 Supercar" regulations. Two-door coupé body styles will be permitted alongside four-door sedans, while the engine regulations will be opened up to include turbocharged four or six-cylinder engines. However, cars will still be required to be based on front-engined, rear wheel drive, four-seater production cars that are sold in Australia. The chassis and control components will be carried over from the New Generation V8 Supercar regulations used between 2013 and 2016.[2]
Sporting regulations
- Starting in 2017, drivers must earn a racing licence sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motorsport in order to be eligible to compete in the category. The licence system will be structured similarly to the Superlicence used in Formula One, with drivers earning points towards their licence by placing in feeder series accredited by CAMS.[33]
- In a bid to attract more wildcard entries for the Bathurst 1000, the Dunlop Series race run in support of the event will be a non-championship round.[34]
References
- ↑ "V8 Supercars confirm Virgin as primary backer". Speedcafe. 27 April 2016.
- 1 2 "V8 Supercars blueprint for 2017 and beyond". V8Supercars.com.au. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- 1 2 Walkinshaw continuing with two Holdens in 2017 Speedcafe 16 August 2016
- 1 2 3 Howard, Tom (23 September 2016). "Walkinshaw confirms Courtney, Pye for 2017". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
- 1 2 http://www.speedcafe.com/2016/11/25/dale-wood-secures-two-year-erebus-deal/
- ↑ "Reynolds will stay with Erebus in 2017". v8superfans.co.nz. 27 July 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
- 1 2 "Mostert signs new deal after contract tear up". Speedcafe. 1 August 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
- ↑ "Busy Supercars silly season shapes up". Speedcafe. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 Gadeke, Kassie (17 November 2016). "Nissan wins race for Simona". Supercars. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- ↑ "Nissan commits to Supercars". supercars.com.au. Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. 15 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- 1 2 3 "Percat joins BJR". supercars.com. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- 1 2 "Super Black sells REC to Tim Blanchard Racing". supercars.com. 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ↑ "Penske focussed on form, not driver decision". Motorsport.com. 22 April 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
- 1 2 "McLaughlin to join Penske in 2017". Motorsport.com. 27 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- ↑ http://www.speedcafe.com/2016/11/22/team-18-secures-new-facility-considers-expansion/
- ↑ "Holdsworth signs new two-year Team 18 deal". Speedcafe. 29 September 2016.
- ↑ "Tekno announces multi year Davison deal". Speedcafe. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
- 1 2 "Volvo confirms V8 Supercars exit after 2016". Touring Car Times. 4 May 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
- ↑ "Allan Moffat confirms James will stay at GRM in 2017". V8 Superfans NZ. 21 September 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
- ↑ "Jamie Whincup extends Triple Eight contract". Speedcafe. 5 February 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
- 1 2 "Van Gisbergen to join three car Triple Eight in 2016". Speedcafe. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
- ↑ "Jones confident of third REC". supercars.com. 22 November 2016.
- ↑ http://www.speedcafe.com/2016/09/30/super-black-racing-sold/
- ↑ Gadeke, Kassie (25 October 2016). "End of an era for Bright". Supercars.
- 1 2 3 "Supercars releases 2017 calendar". supercars.com. Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. 27 September 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
- ↑ Howard, Tom (27 April 2016). "Gosford V8 Supercars race plans edge closer". Speedcafe. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- 1 2 Bartholomaeus, Stefan (27 September 2016). "Supercars confirms five-year Newcastle deal". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
- ↑ "KL City 400 Supercar Extravaganza cancelled". Supercars. 1 June 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
- ↑ "Indonesia, Thailand to join Supercars calendar". speedcafe.com. 29 August 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
- ↑ "Asian races fall from 2017 Supercar calendar". speedcafe.com. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
- ↑ "Supercars plans Thailand demo for 2017". speedcafe.com. 21 September 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
- ↑ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (8 October 2016). "Format change for Clipsal 500 Adelaide". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
- ↑ http://www.speedcafe.com/2016/10/12/cams-introduces-supercars-superlicense/
- ↑ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (27 September 2016). "Supercars releases 2017 calendar". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
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