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.

2011 Australian Carrera Cup Championship
Previous: 2008 Next: 2012

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 Craig Baird
Tinkler Motorsport 5 Nathan Tinkler
Jeremy Gray
Skye Sands 6 Rusty French
McElrea Racing 7 Jonny Reid
29 Michael Patrizi
Twigg Motorsport 8 Max Twigg
Hallmarc Racing 9 Marc Cini
10 Michael Loccisano
Money Choice Motorsport 11 Matthew Coleman
Jim Richards Racing 12 Steven Richards
INCA Motorsports 17 Ray Angus
Andrew Barlow Motorsport 18 Andrew Barlow
Nexus Racing 19 Damien Flack
Team BRM 20 Ben Barker
Triple X Motorsport
Melbourne Performance Centre [1]		 27 Daniel Gaunt
Supabarn Motorsport 47 Theo Koundouris
69 James Koundouris
Jocaro Motorsport 51 Ross Lilley
Smollen Motorsport 56 Shane Smollen
Porsche Cars Australia 60 Mark Noske
Mark Skaife
Nick Foster
Racing Incident 66 Peter Hill
Tim Leahey
01 Motorsport 88 Simon Middleton
Paul Kelly Motor Group 90 Paul Kelly

Race calendar
Round Date Circuit Location Winning driver
1 24–27 March Albert Park Street Circuit[2] Melbourne, Victoria Craig Baird
2 30 April–1 May Barbagallo Raceway[3] Perth, Western Australia Jonny Reid
3 8–10 July Townsville Street Circuit Townsville, Queensland Daniel Gaunt
4 16–18 September Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Phillip Island, Victoria Daniel Gaunt
5 6–9 October Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst, New South Wales Michael Patrizi
6 21–23 October Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Queensland Craig Baird
7 2–4 December 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Paul Kelly 8 9 8 12 11 14 10 14 9 15 14 11 9 5 12 8 11 10 366
11 Theo Koundouris 11 11 9 9 11 10 10 10 11 13 6 8 10 8 8 340
12 Damien Flack 12 19 12 9 6 7 8 6 8 10 10 Ret 10 Ret DNS 272
13 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 Simon Middleton 16 14 14 14 21 17 14 12 13 14 13 12 16 10 13 13 10 11 254
15 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 Shane Smollen 15 12 13 12 13 19 Ret 15 Ret 11 18 15 12 12 9 12 15 11 232
17 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 Peter Hill 8 10 11 10 14 11 13 15 14 11 Ret 10 197
19 Ray Angus 19 17 21 16 15 14 17 21 Ret Ret 17 15 17 12 14 14 15 12 174
20 Jeremy Gray 12 9 10 9 Ret 13 12 14 7 160
21 Andrew Barlow 18 15 18 11 12 12 15 Ret 15 103
22 Rusty French 20 20 19 17 17 20 19 19 19 17 17 17 96
23 Tim Leahey 7 7 7 87
24 Nathan Tinkler 21 21 20 18 20 15 20 18 20 66
Guest drivers ineligible for points
Mark Skaife 4 5 4 0
Nick Foster 6 5 4 0
Mark Noske Ret 12 9 0
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)

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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