La Shell Championship Series de 2001 fue una serie de carreras de autos para superdeportivos V8 . El campeonato, que fue la tercera Serie de Campeonatos Shell, comenzó el 25 de marzo de 2001 en Phillip Island y finalizó el 2 de diciembre en Sandown después de 13 rondas. Los mismos acontecimientos también determinaron el ganador del Campeonato Australiano de Turismos de 2001 otorgado por la Confederación Australiana de Deportes de Motor . [1]
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Ford continuó con el AU Falcon que utilizaban la mayoría de los equipos Ford, mientras que algunos utilizaban el modelo EL más antiguo. Holden lanzó el nuevo VX Commodore después del VT Commodore . Algunos equipos de Holden todavía ejecutaban el VT y otros ejecutaban el antiguo VS Commodore.
Ronda 2-Clipsal 500 en Adelaida. Se trata de 2.250 km de carreras repartidas en 78 vueltas al circuito de Adelaide Street. El ganador del evento es el piloto que gana la segunda carrera y no el piloto que acumula más puntos. La segunda carrera implica el doble de puntos que la primera carrera. Hay 2 paradas en boxes obligatorias en cada carrera, 1 parada para neumáticos y 1 parada para combustible.
Ronda 5-GMC 400 en Canberra. Se trata de 2 carreras de 100 km y 1 de 200 km en 25 y 50 vueltas al circuito urbano de Canberra. El ganador del evento es el piloto que acumula más puntos durante el fin de semana. La segunda carrera del fin de semana incluirá una parrilla invertida para todo el pelotón. La tercera parrilla de carrera será la culminación de los puntos de la carrera 1 y la carrera 2 juntas. En las 2 primeras carreras sólo habrá 1 parada obligatoria para neumáticos. En la 3ª carrera, habrá 1 parada para neumáticos y 1 parada para combustible.
Ronda 9: VIP Petfoods Queensland 500 en Queensland Raceway. Esta es la primera de las pruebas de resistencia con dos pilotos. Esta carrera se disputa a lo largo de 161 vueltas a lo largo de 500 km. La carrera implicará cambios de piloto y paradas de combustible y neumáticos deberán realizarse al mismo tiempo.
Ronda 11-V8 Supercar 1000 en Bathurst. Conocida como "La Gran Carrera", Bathurst es el evento que todos los pilotos quieren ganar. Se trata nuevamente de un evento de doble piloto e implicará cambios de piloto en las paradas en boxes. La carrera se disputa a lo largo de 161 vueltas y 1.000 km. Esta temporada es la primera vez que el evento no es la última ronda del campeonato.
Channel 10 y Fox Sports transmitieron la cobertura por quinto año desde 1997, cuando reemplazaron a Channel 7. Neil Crompton presentó la cobertura de rondas regulares con Barry Sheene . Bill Woods fue el anfitrión de la cobertura en eventos especiales, mientras que Leigh Diffey fue la anfitriona de la cobertura en las últimas 2 rondas. Matthew White fue el anfitrión de la cobertura en Winton por única vez en la temporada 2001. Neil Crompton, Barry Sheene y Mark Oastler comentaron durante la mayor parte de la temporada con Leigh Diffey desde Queensland 500 en adelante. Greg Rust y Grant Denyer fueron los reporteros del pit lane después de que Greg fuera comentarista del campeonato de 2000.
Los siguientes pilotos y equipos compitieron en la Serie de Campeonato Shell 2001. La serie constaba de 11 rondas de carreras de un solo piloto y dos rondas (Queensland 500 y Bathurst 1000) de carreras de resistencia con cada automóvil conducido por dos conductores.
La Serie de Campeonato Shell de 2001 consistió en 13 rondas que incluyeron 7 rondas con paradas en boxes de dos o tres carreras, dos carreras de velocidad, dos carreras de 2 pilotos y 2 carreras de resistencia de 1 piloto.
Championship points were awarded on the following basis:
Qualifying points were issued for the first race of each weekend only. Drivers did not need to finish races to score points, provided they took the start.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.