2011 Australian Carrera Cup Championship

The 2011 Australian Carrera Cup Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. The championship, which was contested over seven rounds across four states, began on 24 March 2011 at the Australian Grand Prix and ended on 4 December at the Sydney 500. It was the seventh Australian Carrera Cup Championship.

After the opening round of the series, reigning champion Craig Baird led the championship having scored a second and two wins over the course of the 2011 Australian Grand Prix weekend. Baird was thirty points ahead of Daniel Gaunt and Steven Richards. The winner of the opening race of the season, Jonny Reid slipped to sixth place in the points after a disappointing race when the car slowed on the final lap of the race. An all-podium performance at the second round of the championship by Richards elevated him into the points lead while Reid began a run of six consecutive races of top two race positions to take the championship lead after the third round, a round which had been dominated by Daniel Gaunt with three wins at the Townsville 400 weekend.

New Zealand driver Jonny Reid led the series after three rounds with a narrow four point gap over countryman Craig Baird. Steven Richards sat 41 points behind Reid who in turn was just two point ahead of Daniel Gaunt. Reid had won three races over the season thus far, as had Gaunt with Baird having won twice and Richards once.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers contested the championship.

Team No Driver
Dutton Insurance Racing 1 New Zealand Craig Baird
Tinkler Motorsport 5 Australia Nathan Tinkler
Australia Jeremy Gray
Skye Sands 6 Australia Rusty French
McElrea Racing 7 New Zealand Jonny Reid
29 Australia Michael Patrizi
Twigg Motorsport 8 Australia Max Twigg
Hallmarc Racing 9 Australia Marc Cini
10 Australia Michael Loccisano
Money Choice Motorsport 11 Australia Matthew Coleman
Jim Richards Racing 12 New Zealand Steven Richards
INCA Motorsports 17 Australia Ray Angus
Andrew Barlow Motorsport 18 Australia Andrew Barlow
Nexus Racing 19 Australia Damien Flack
Team BRM 20 United Kingdom Ben Barker
Triple X Motorsport
Melbourne Performance Centre[1]		 27 New Zealand Daniel Gaunt
Supabarn Motorsport 47 Australia Theo Koundouris
69 Australia James Koundouris
Jocaro Motorsport 51 Australia Ross Lilley
Smollen Motorsport 56 Australia Shane Smollen
Porsche Cars Australia 60 Australia Mark Noske
Australia Mark Skaife
Australia Nick Foster
Racing Incident 66 Australia Peter Hill
Australia Tim Leahey
01 Motorsport 88 Australia Simon Middleton
Paul Kelly Motor Group 90 New Zealand Paul Kelly

Race calendar
Round Date Circuit Location Winning driver
1 24–27 March Victoria (state) Albert Park Street Circuit[2] Melbourne, Victoria Craig Baird
2 30 April–1 May Western Australia Barbagallo Raceway[3] Perth, Western Australia Jonny Reid
3 8–10 July Queensland Townsville Street Circuit Townsville, Queensland Daniel Gaunt
4 16–18 September Victoria (state) Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Phillip Island, Victoria Daniel Gaunt
5 6–9 October New South Wales Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst, New South Wales Michael Patrizi
6 21–23 October Queensland Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Queensland Craig Baird
7 2–4 December New South Wales Homebush Street Circuit Sydney, New South Wales Jonny Reid

Each of the seven rounds was contested over three races.

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 60–54–48–42–36–32–29–26–23–20–18–16–14–12–11–10–9–8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1 basis to the first twenty-five finishers in each race.[4]

Results and standings

Drivers' championship
Pos.[5] Driver[5] ALB BAR TOW PHI BAT SUR HOM Pen. Pts.[5]
1 New Zealand Craig Baird 2 1 1 4 2 6 4 3 4 2 1 11 4 4 1 1 1 1 2 6 Ret 980
2 New Zealand Jonny Reid 1 6 16 2 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 2 13 6 2 3 Ret 5 3 2 2 15 918
3 New Zealand Daniel Gaunt 5 2 2 Ret 7 4 1 1 1 1 2 1 5 5 5 2 2 3 4 12 Ret 884
4 New Zealand Steven Richards 3 3 3 1 3 2 6 9 5 5 4 4 2 3 3 7 4 2 Ret 4 3 882
5 United Kingdom Ben Barker 6 4 8 13 5 3 5 5 6 4 5 5 3 2 8 5 3 Ret 1 1 Ret 755
6 Australia Michael Patrizi Ret 9 8 3 4 5 3 4 3 Ret 8 3 1 1 4 4 Ret Ret 5 3 1 754
7 Australia Max Twigg 7 7 6 5 8 17 7 7 10 6 7 6 8 9 10 Ret 7 6 7 7 5 581
8 Australia Matthew Coleman 9 8 7 6 6 7 8 8 8 7 11 7 6 8 6 6 8 4 Ret 17 DNS 534
9 Australia James Koundouris 10 Ret 10 7 10 9 11 14 12 9 10 12 11 11 Ret 8 13 7 9 9 13 400
10 New Zealand Paul Kelly 8 9 8 12 11 14 10 14 9 15 14 11 9 5 12 8 11 10 366
11 Australia Theo Koundouris 11 11 9 9 11 10 10 10 11 13 6 8 10 8 8 340
12 Australia Damien Flack 12 19 12 9 6 7 8 6 8 10 10 Ret 10 Ret DNS 272
13 Australia Marc Cini 14 18 Ret 14 16 13 13 13 13 15 19 Ret 16 15 14 14 11 9 11 Ret 9 255
14 Australia Simon Middleton 16 14 14 14 21 17 14 12 13 14 13 12 16 10 13 13 10 11 254
15 Australia Michael Loccisano 13 13 15 DNS 19 16 18 16 18 18 16 16 18 18 17 15 9 Ret 16 13 6 239
16 Australia Shane Smollen 15 12 13 12 13 19 Ret 15 Ret 11 18 15 12 12 9 12 15 11 232
17 Australia Ross Lilley 17 16 17 15 18 18 16 17 16 16 13 18 17 16 16 18 14 15 15 16 14 218
18 Australia Peter Hill 8 10 11 10 14 11 13 15 14 11 Ret 10 197
19 Australia Ray Angus 19 17 21 16 15 14 17 21 Ret Ret 17 15 17 12 14 14 15 12 174
20 Australia Jeremy Gray 12 9 10 9 Ret 13 12 14 7 160
21 Australia Andrew Barlow 18 15 18 11 12 12 15 Ret 15 103
22 Australia Rusty French 20 20 19 17 17 20 19 19 19 17 17 17 96
23 Australia Tim Leahey 7 7 7 87
24 Australia Nathan Tinkler 21 21 20 18 20 15 20 18 20 66
Guest drivers ineligible for points
Australia Mark Skaife 4 5 4 0
Australia Nick Foster 6 5 4 0
Australia Mark Noske Ret 12 9 0
ColourResult
GoldWinner
SilverSecond place
BronzeThird 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 practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Professional Class

The Professional Class was won by Craig Baird from Jonny Reid and Daniel Gaunt.[5]

Elite Class

The Elite Class was won by Max Twigg from Paul Kelly and James Koundouris.[5]

See also

References
  1. Gaunt switches teams for Perth Carrera Cup Retrieved from www.speedcafe.com on 29 October 2011
  2. "Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit 27/03/2011 2011 Formula 1 Qantas Australian Grand Prix". National Software. 27 March 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  3. "2011 Trading Post Perth Challenge – Races 7, 8, and 9". Natsoft. National Software. 30 April 2011. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  4. 2011 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship Sporting and Technical Regulations Retrieved on 29 October 2011
  5. Back in the Game, The Speedcafe Annual – Australian Motorsport, Number 7 / 2011, pages 96 to 102
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