2014 V8SuperTourer season

The 2014 V8SuperTourer season was a motor racing championship for touring cars held in New Zealand over four events between January and April 2014. All cars used a chassis built by Paul Ceprnich of Pace Innovations in Australia, and were powered by a Chevrolet LS7 7-litre engine.

2014 V8SuperTourer
Previous: 2013 Next: 2014–15
Defending drivers' champion Greg Murphy retained his championship title, finishing over 300 points clear of his nearest rival.

The championship consisted of only four rounds, having been reduced from the originally planned seven, as a result of a calendar realignment which will see the series run from September to April from the 2014–15 season onward. The 'sprint' component of the series was kept intact, with the 'endurance' component, which was scheduled to include events at Taupo, Pukekohe and an unconfirmed venue in the South Island, being removed from the 2014 championship and becoming the opening half of the 2014–15 championship. The opening round of the championship saw the series visit Highlands Motorsport Park for the first time.

Greg Murphy entered the season as the defending drivers' champion and claimed victory again, winning 11 of the 13 races in the championship, and scoring 1155 points. Simon Evans claimed second place with 836 points and Richard Moore achieved third place overall with 821 points.

Calendar

The 2014 V8SuperTourer season consisted of four rounds.[1]

Details
Rnd. Event Circuit City / State Date
1 Fuchs Highlands 250 Highlands Motorsport Park Cromwell, New Zealand 25–26 January
2 Manfeild 350 Manfeild Autocourse Feilding, New Zealand 8–9 February
3 Pukekohe 250 Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe, New Zealand 22–23 March
4 ITM 500 Auckland Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe, New Zealand 25–27 April

Teams and drivers
Greg Murphy's championship-winning Mike Pero Commodore.
Simon McLennan finished 10th in the 2014 season.
Season entries
Team Vehicle No. Driver Rounds
M3 Racing Holden VE Commodore 1 Greg Murphy[2] All
10 Richard Moore[2] All
15 Morgan Haber[2] All
Angus Fogg Racing Holden VE Commodore 3 Angus Fogg[2] 1, 3–4
Team 4 Holden VE Commodore 4 Simon Evans[2] All
AV8 Motorsport Holden VE Commodore 7 Steve Owen 4
Edgell Performance Racing Holden VE Commodore 8 Tim Edgell[2] All
iSport Racing Ford FG Falcon 9 Dominic Storey 2–4
MPC Motorsport Holden VE Commodore 22 Andre Heimgartner[2] All
M2 Motorsport Holden VE Commodore 26 Simon McLennan[2] All
PSR Racing Ford FG Falcon 27 Chris Hanley[3] All
Tasman Motorsports Group Ford FG Falcon 31 Andrew Waite 3–4
Cunningham Racing Ford FG Falcon 32 Mitch Cunningham[2] All
John McIntyre Racing Ford FG Falcon 47 Mark Gibson[4] All
Eddie Bell Racing Ford FG Falcon 69 Eddie Bell[2] 1–2
International Motorsport Ford FG Falcon 96 Ant Pedersen[2] All

Event summaries

Fuchs Highlands 250

Greg Murphy dominated the opening round of the 2014 V8SuperTourer season collecting both pole positions, all three race wins and two of the three fastest laps available. One thing which was highlighted in the opening round was the lack of cars on the grid with a record low twelve cars; only ten started the final two races of the weekend. It was also the first ever SuperTourer round held at Highlands Motorsport Park, with the series running as a support category to the Toyota Racing Series. A few young drivers starred over the weekend with teenager Andre Heimgartner finishing second overall, while rookies Mark Gibson and Morgan Haber both showed great speed with Gibson eventually finishing 3rd in the final race.

The Sound Manfeild 250

Round 2 of the series was held at Manfeild Autocourse where the SuperTourers were once again running support to the Toyota Racing Series for the New Zealand Grand Prix. Greg Murphy once again took all three races for the weekend with young Simon Evans starring over the weekend keeping Murphy on his heels the whole way. Ant Pedersen returned to his 2013 pace after a disappointing round 1 but it was short lived. After claiming pole position for the opening two races, Pedersen spun at the first corner of the opening race, ruining any chance of winning. Andre Heimgartner again was very consistent leaving the meeting in second place in the championship standings, behind Murphy.

Championship leader table
Round Championship leader Lead
Fuchs Highlands 250 Greg Murphy 63
The Sound Manfeild 250 128
TR Group Pukekohe 250 170
ITM Auckland 500 319

Results
Greg Murphy won eleven of the season's thirteen races, taking podium finishes in every race.

The season starts in the South Island at the new Highlands Motorsport Park Track and finishes at Pukekohe Park Raceway supporting the Auckland 400 for V8 Supercars. The season was supposed to run over seven rounds but was reduced to four, after a calendar realignment which will have the next season run from September 2014 to April 2015.[5]

Round Date Circuit Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Round winner(s)
1 R1 25 January Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell Greg Murphy Greg Murphy Greg Murphy M3 Racing Greg Murphy
R2 26 January Greg Murphy Greg Murphy Greg Murphy M3 Racing
R3 Ant Pedersen Greg Murphy M3 Racing
2 R1 9 February Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding Ant Pedersen Simon Evans Greg Murphy M3 Racing Greg Murphy
R2 Ant Pedersen Simon Evans Greg Murphy M3 Racing
R3 Simon Evans Greg Murphy M3 Racing
3 R1 23 March Pukekohe Park Raceway, Pukekohe Ant Pedersen Greg Murphy Greg Murphy M3 Racing Greg Murphy
R2 Ant Pedersen Angus Fogg Angus Fogg Angus Fogg Racing
R3 Andre Heimgartner Greg Murphy M3 Racing
4 R1 26 April Pukekohe Park Raceway, Pukekohe Greg Murphy Greg Murphy Greg Murphy M3 Racing Greg Murphy
R2 Greg Murphy Greg Murphy M3 Racing
R3 Greg Murphy Greg Murphy M3 Racing
R4 Richard Moore Richard Moore M3 Racing

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship
Andre Heimgartner finished 5th in 2014 in his Commodore
Steve Owen finished 15th in 2014 for AV8 Motorsport
Pos Driver No. HIG MAN PUK PUK Pts.
R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R4
1 Greg Murphy 1 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 3rd 1st 1st 1st 1st 2nd 1155
2 Simon Evans 4 Ret 3rd 9th 2nd 3rd 2nd 3rd 4th 4th 6th 5th 2nd 3rd 836
3 Richard Moore 10 4th 5th 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 10th 8th 3rd 2nd 3rd 13th 1st 821
4 Ant Pedersen 96 3rd 4th 10th 5th 2nd 3rd 2nd 2nd 6th 14th 13th 5th 4th 817
5 Andre Heimgartner 22 2nd 2nd 4th 4th 5th 4th 4th 5th 13th 3rd 2nd Ret DNS 732
6 Tim Edgell 8 8th 9th 7th 11th 10th 11th 6th Ret 5th 7th 6th 6th 10th 564
7 Mark Gibson 47 6th 7th 3rd 10th 9th 8th 11th Ret 8th 12th 8th 7th 7th 549
8 Mitch Cunningham 32 Ret 6th 6th 7th Ret 7th 9th 6th 11th 9th 9th 12th 6th 543
9 Morgan Haber 15 5th 10th 5th 9th Ret 6th 13th 7th 2nd 10th 7th 10th Ret 537
10 Simon McLennan 26 7th 8th 8th 13th 6th Ret 8th 12th 12th Ret 13th 8th 8th 448
11 Dominic Storey 9 8th 11th 10th 12th 9th 7th 8th 14th 9th 5th 408
12 Chris Hanley 27 12th 8th 9th 14th 11th 9th 11th 11th 11th 9th 372
13 Angus Fogg 3 Ret DNS DNS 5th 1st 14th 13th 10th 4th Ret 314
14 Andrew Waite 31 7th 10th 10th 4th Ret DNS DNS 189
15 Steve Owen 7 5th 4th 3rd Ret 164
16 Eddie Bell 69 DNS DNS DNS 6th 7th 12th 148
Pos Driver No. HIG MAN PUK PUK Pts.
ColourResult
GoldWinner
Silver2nd place
Bronze3rd place
GreenPoints finish
BlueNon-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
PurpleRetired (Ret)
RedDid not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
BlackDisqualified (DSQ)
WhiteDid not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not participate (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

References
  1. "SuperTourers added Pukekohe V8 Event". SpeedCafe. 6 December 2013. Archived from the original on 9 December 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  2. "Driver entry list for the Fuchs 250". v8st.co.nz. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  3. "Hanley Steps up to V8ST in the PSR West Team Ford". v8st.co.nz. 4 February 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  4. "John McIntyre hands v8 drive to rookie Mark Gibson". JMR.co.nz. John McIntyre Racing. 13 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  5. "Murphy seals second straight BNT V8 SuperTourers championship". v8st.co.nz. 26 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
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