2004 Australian Nations Cup Championship

The 2004 Australian Nations Cup Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for modified production-based coupes [1] complying with "Nations Cup" regulations.[2] Contested as part of the 2004 Procar Championship Series, it was sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as a National Championship with PROCAR Australia Pty Ltd appointed as the Category Manager.[2]

The championship, which was the fifth Australian Nations Cup Championship, was won by defending champion Paul Stokell driving a Lamborghini Diablo GTR. Finishing second was the Holden Monaro 427C of Nathan Pretty with David Stevens finishing third in his turbocharged Porsche 911 GT2.[3]

The 2004 championship was eagerly awaited by fans of the category. Although it had lost John Bowe and his Ferrari 360 N-GT, popular young Danish driver Allan Simonsen would drive an ex-ALMS Ferrari 550 GT2 in selected rounds (as well as racing a Ferrari 360 Challenge in the Trophy Class) for Mark Coffey Racing while David Stevens introduced the 911 GT2. 59 year old Australian racing legend Peter Brock, after racing a Monaro for Garry Rogers Motorsport in 2003, left to form his own team (with Monaro's supplied by GRM) with himself and oldest son James Brock doing the driving. GRM themselves would continue with Pretty driving the #427 Monaro as well as servicing the Team Brock cars between rounds. Ian Palmer, the brother of series founder Ross Palmer, also raced in 2004 with his Honda NSX Brabham and also raced Peter Brock's Monaro for a number of races. Team Lamborghini Australia also returned to defend their crown with Stokell driving the V12 Lambirghini Diablo and he was joined by Formula 3 driver Peter Hackett in a second Diablo GTR.

Following the 2004 championship, PROCAR shut down the Nations Cup championship citing financial difficulties (this also saw the cancellation of the 2004 Bathurst 24 Hour). From 2005 CAMS would revive the Australian GT Championship with the Nations Cup cars (with the exception of the Monaro's) eligible to race in that series.[4]

Schedule

The championship was contested over a seven round series [1] with three races per round.[5]

Round [5] Circuit [5] [6] State Date [5] Race Winners [6] Round winner [6] Car [6] Report
1 Adelaide Street Circuit South Australia 20-21 March R1 - Paul Stokell
R2 - Paul Stokell
R3 - Allan Simonsen		 Paul Stokell Lamborghini Diablo GTR
2 Oran Park Raceway New South Wales 17-18 April R1 - Paul Stokell
R2 - Nathan Pretty
R3 - Nathan Pretty		 Nathan Pretty Holden Monaro 427C
3 Sandown Raceway Victoria 15-16 May R1 - Paul Stokell
R2 - Paul Stokell
R3 - Nathan Pretty		 Paul Stokell Lamborghini Diablo GTR
4 Winton Motor Raceway Victoria 20 June R1 - Paul Stokell
R2 - Nathan Pretty
R3 - Nathan Pretty		 Nathan Pretty Holden Monaro 427C
5 Eastern Creek Raceway New South Wales 18 July R1 - Paul Stokell
R2 - Paul Stokell
R3 - Paul Stokell		 Paul Stokell Lamborghini Diablo GTR
6 Wakefield Park New South Wales 8 August R1 - Paul Stokell
R2 - Nathan Pretty
R3 - Paul Stokell		 Paul Stokell Lamborghini Diablo GTR
7 Mallala Motor Sport Park South Australia 19 September R1 - Paul Stokell
R2 - Paul Stokell
R3 - James Brock		 James Brock Holden Monaro 427C

Classes

Cars competing in two classes, GT Cars and Trophy Cars,[2] classified according to potential vehicle performance.[1]

Points system

Championship points were awarded in each class on a 30-24-20-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis to the top twenty one class placegetters in each race.[2] 3 bonus points were awarded to the driver achieving pole position in each class during qualifying at each round.[2]

Cars from a separate series, the Porsche Drivers Challenge, were invited to compete with the Nations Cup cars at selected rounds however the drivers were not eligible for championship points.

Championship results
Paul Stokell won the title driving a Lamborghini Diablo GTR (pictured above in 2001 in a Lamborghini Diablo SVR)
Position [7] Driver [7] No. [5] [6] Car [5] [6] Entrant [5] [6] Points [7]
GT Cars
1 Paul Stokell 1 Lamborghini Diablo GTR Team Lamborghini Australia 572
2 Nathan Pretty 427 Holden Monaro 427C Garry Rogers Motorsport 415
3 David Stevens 9 Porsche 911 GT2 Brennan IT / Securetel 309
4 James Brock 22 Holden Monaro 427C Poolrite 238
5 Ian Palmer 50 Holden Monaro 427C
Honda NSX Brabham		 Ian Palmer 178.5
6 Peter Brock 05 Holden Monaro 427C Poolrite 156
7 Allan Simonsen 888 Ferrari 550 Millenio Coopers 119
8 D'arcy Russell 7 Chrysler Viper GTR ACR DRR 79.5
9 Mark Eddy 30 Porsche 911 GT3 R Mark Eddy 66
10 Peter Hackett 2 Lamborghini Diablo GTR Clarion / Penrite 38
Trophy Cars
1 John Teulan 54 Ferrari 360 Challenge Industry Central 312
2 Theo Koundouris 33 Porsche 911 GT3 Clubsport
Porsche 911 GT3 Carrera
Porsche 911 GT3 Carrera Cup		 Supabarn Emporium 291
3 Allan Simonsen 888 Ferrari 360 Challenge Consolidated Chemical Co 279
4 James Koundouris 88 Ferrari 360 Challenge
Porsche 911 GT3 Carrera Cup		 Mark Coffey Racing 266
5 Marc Cini 12 Porsche 911 GT3 Carrera Marc Cini 106
6 Paul Blackie 24 Porsche 911 GT3 Clubsport Pro-Floor 97
7 Stephen Borness 24 Porsche 911 GT3 Carrera Ross Palmer Motorsport 93
8 Rod Wilson 11 Ferrari 360 Challenge Pirelli 81
Matthew Turnbull 13 Porsche 911 GT3 Clubsport Fire Rating Solution / Promat 81
10 Anthony Skinner 126 Porsche 911 GT3 Clubsport Team Mongrel 64
11 Ted Huglin 110 Ferrari 360 Challenge Consolidated Chemical Co 60
Perry Spiridis 28 Porsche 911 GT3 Carrera ADAMCO 60
13 Dean Koutsoumidis 71 Porsche 911 GT3 Clubsport Equity-One Finance 48
14 Geoff Munday 10 Ford Mustang Cobra R NMR Motorsport 46
15 Murray Carter 18 Chevrolet Corvette C5 Murray Carter 36
16 Carol Jackson 28 Maserati Team Mongrel 30

References
  1. Official Program, PROCAR Champ Series, Mallala Motor Sport Park, 17, 18 & 19 September 2004, page 4
  2. 2004 Procar Championship Series regulations, www.cams.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
  3. 2016 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport – Australian Titles, docs.cams.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
  4. "PROCAR Australia ceases operations". Archived from the original on 2011-06-08. Retrieved 2016-09-10.
  5. Season 2004 Events, www.procar.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
  6. Natsoft Race Results, racing.natsoft.com.au
  7. Drivers Points For Season 2004, www.procar.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
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