2000 Australian Drivers' Championship

The 2000 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of cars conforming to Formula Holden regulations. The title was contested over an 8-round, 16 race series with the winner awarded the 2000 CAMS Gold Star. The championship, which was promoted as the 2000 Holden Australian Drivers' Championship, was the 44th Australian Drivers' Championship and the 12th to be contested with Formula Holden or Formula Brabham cars.

Teams and drivers

Team	Chassis	No	Driver	Rounds
Birrana Racing	Reynard 94D	1	New Zealand Simon Wills	All
8	New Zealand LeRoy Stevenson	All
9	Australia Brenton Ramsay	1, 3
D Samimi	Ralt RT21	2	Australia Neville Wills	3
Stan Keen	Shrike NB89H	5	Australia Stan Keen	8
Kmart Racing	Reynard 93D	7	Australia Paul Dumbrell	All
Ralt Australia	Reynard 92D	11	Australia Chris Staff	1–5, 7
Reynard 94D	12	New Zealand Matt Halliday	All
Chas Talbot	March 87B	14	Australia Chas Talbot	1
3M Australia Racing Team	Reynard 91D	15	Australia Les Crampton	1, 3, 8
Mantis Racing	Reynard 92D	17	Australia Mark Ellis	3–6, 8
NRC Racing	Reynard 94D	20	Australia Dale Brede	All
Reynard 95D	25	Singapore Christian Murchison	All
Greg Murphy Racing	Reynard 92D	22	Australia Tim Leahey	2–7
Camtech Racing	Reynard 91D	24	Australia Ian Peters	All
Garry Haywood	Reynard 91D	26	Australia Garry Haywood	1–2
Terry Clearihan	Ralt RT23	27	Australia Terry Clearihan	4–8
Hocking Motorsport	Reynard 97D	28	Australia Roger Oakeshott	All
Reynard 97D	74	Australia Craig Bastian	1–2
Reynard 98D	Japan Akihiro Asai	3
Reynard 97D	Australia Steve Owen	4–8
Reynard 94D	75	New Zealand Andy Booth	1–5
Reynard 97D	Australia Stuart Kostera Jr.	8
Laurentius Consultants	Reynard 94D	36	Sweden Lars Johansson	1, 3
Bob Power	Ralt RT23	48	Australia Bob Power	2, 4–5
Rohan Carrig	Reynard 89D	49	Australia Rohan Carrig	3, 6, 8
Peter Hill	Reynard 94D	66	Australia Peter Hill	All
Damien Digby	Reynard 92D	69	Australia Damien Digby	3

Schedule

The championship was contested over an eight-round series with two races per round.

Round	Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team
1	R1	Victoria (state) Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit (Phillip Island, Victoria)	13 February	New Zealand Simon Wills	New Zealand Simon Wills	New Zealand Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
R2		New Zealand Simon Wills	New Zealand Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
2	R1	New South Wales Eastern Creek International Raceway (Eastern Creek, New South Wales)	26 March	Australia Tim Leahey	Australia Tim Leahey	New Zealand Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
R2		Australia Tim Leahey	Singapore Christian Murchison	NRC Racing
3	R1	South Australia Adelaide Street Circuit (Adelaide, South Australia)	8–9 April	New Zealand Simon Wills	New Zealand Simon Wills	Singapore Christian Murchison	NRC Racing
R2		New Zealand Simon Wills	New Zealand Matt Halliday	Ralt Australia
4	R1	Australian Capital Territory Canberra Street Circuit (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory)	10–11 June	Australia Tim Leahey	New Zealand Simon Wills	New Zealand Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
R2		New Zealand Simon Wills	Australia Chris Staff	Ralt Australia
5	R1	Queensland Queensland Raceway (Ipswich, Queensland)	2 July	New Zealand Simon Wills	New Zealand Matt Halliday	New Zealand Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
R2		New Zealand Simon Wills	Singapore Christian Murchison	NRC Racing
6	R1	Victoria (state) Winton Motor Raceway (Benalla, Victoria)	16 July	Australia Tim Leahey	New Zealand Simon Wills	Australia Tim Leahey	Greg Murphy Racing
R2		Singapore Christian Murchison	Australia Tim Leahey	Greg Murphy Racing
7	R1	New South Wales Oran Park Raceway (Sydney, New South Wales)	30 July	New Zealand Simon Wills	Australia Tim Leahey	New Zealand Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
R2		New Zealand Simon Wills	New Zealand Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
8	R1	South Australia Mallala Motor Sport Park (Mallala, South Australia)	27 August	New Zealand Simon Wills	New Zealand Simon Wills	Singapore Christian Murchison	NRC Racing
R2		Singapore Christian Murchison	New Zealand Simon Wills	Birrana Racing

Points System

Championship points were awarded on a 20–15–12–10–8–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the first ten finishers in each race.

Review

New Zealand racer Simon Wills won his second Australian Drivers' Championship driving a Birrana Racing Reynard 94D Holden. Wills won eight of the 16 races to finish 33 points ahead of Singaporean born West Australian Christian Murchison (Reynard 95D & 97D). Another New Zealander, Matt Halliday (Reynard 94D Holden) finished third in the points, 58 points behind Wills. It was the sixth Australian Drivers' Championship victory in seven years for a Birrana Racing driver.

In addition to Wills' eight wins, Murchison took four race victories and Tim Leahey (Reynard 92D Holden) took two with single victories recorded by Halliday and Chris Staff (Reynard 92D Holden)

Championship results

Pos.	Driver	Victoria (state) PHI	New South Wales EAS	South Australia ADE	Australian Capital Territory CAN	Queensland QUE	Victoria (state) WIN	New South Wales ORA	South Australia MAL	Pts
R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
1	New Zealand Simon Wills	1	1	1	Ret	8	2	1	7	1	2	2	2	1	1	3	1	244
2	Singapore Christian Murchison	3	4	2	1	1	5	3	2	2	1	Ret	6	3	2	1	6	208
3	New Zealand Matt Halliday	2	2	3	3	2	1	4	Ret	5	Ret	3	3	4	3	2	2	163
4	Australia Tim Leahey	DNS	3	Ret	Ret	3	3	2	Ret	Ret	Ret	1	1	2	Ret			109
5	New Zealand LeRoy Stevenson	5	12	Ret	4	7	6	7	4	6	3	12	4	8	6	5	5	97
6	Australia Paul Dumbrell	4	Ret	5	5	4	4	12	5	7	Ret	4	5	5	4	14	Ret	96
7	Australia Dale Brede	7	5	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	5	3	4	12	6	Ret	7	7	4	3	80
8	Australia Chris Staff	Ret	DNS	7	2	5	7	6	1	11	4							63
9	New Zealand Andy Booth	6	13	4	6	6	8	9	Ret	10	6			6	5			57
10	Australia Steve Owen							10	6	3	5	5	Ret	9	8	6	4	56
11	Australia Peter Hill	9	7	6	DNS	9	9	8	Ret	13	11	7	7	10	10	9	7	37
12	Australia Ian Peters	Ret	8	Ret	8	Ret	14	14	8	9	10	9	8	11	9	7	14	25
13	Australia Mark Ellis					10	16	15	9	12	7	10	9			11	9	12
14	Australia Garry Haywood	Ret	6	8	Ret													9
15	Australia Les Crampton	8	9			11	10									12	15	8
16	Australia Roger Oakeshott	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	15	11	11	DNS	15	9	8	DNS	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	7
17	Australia Terry Clearihan							16	10	14	8	Ret	10	12	12	10	10	6
18	Australia Craig Bastian	Ret	11	Ret	7													4
19	Australia Stan Keen															8	12	3
=	Australia Brenton Ramsay					Ret	Ret											3
=	Australia Robert Power			Ret	DNS			13	DNS	8	Ret							3
22	Sweden Lars Johansson	10	Ret			Ret	12											2
23	Australia Chris Talbot	11	10															1
-	Australia Rohan Carrig					16	DNS					11	Ret			13	13	0
-	Japan Akihiro Asai					Ret	Ret											0
-	Australia Stuart Kostera Jr															Ret	11	0
-	Australia Damien Digby					14	13											0
-	Australia Neville Wills					13	15											0
Pos.	Driver	Victoria (state) PHI	New South Wales EAS	South Australia ADE	Australian Capital Territory CAN	Queensland QUE	Victoria (state) WIN	New South Wales ORA	South Australia MAL	Pts
R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2

External links

9 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine