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.
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.
The 2014 V8SuperTourer season consisted of four rounds.[1]
| Details | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | |
| Season entries | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Vehicle | Driver | Rounds | |
| M3 Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 1 |  Greg Murphy[2] | All |
| 10 | Richard Moore | All | ||
| 15 |  Morgan Haber | All | ||
| Angus Fogg Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 3 | Angus Fogg | 1, 3–4 |
| Team 4 | Holden Commodore (VE) | 4 | Simon Evans | All |
| AV8 Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 7 | Steve Owen | 4 |
| Edgell Performance Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 8 | Tim Edgell | All |
| iSport Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 9 | Dominic Storey | 2–4 |
| MPC Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 22 | Andre Heimgartner | All |
| M2 Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 26 | Simon McLennan | All |
| PSR Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 27 | Chris Hanley[3] | All |
| Tasman Motorsports Group | Ford Falcon (FG) | 31 | Andrew Waite | 3–4 |
| Cunningham Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 32 | Mitch Cunningham | All |
| John McIntyre Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 47 | Mark Gibson[4] | All |
| Eddie Bell Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 69 | Eddie Bell | 1–2 |
| International Motorsport | Ford Falcon (FG) | 96 | Ant Pedersen | All |
| Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Event 1 | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 |
| Pole position | Greg Murphy (M3 Racing) | Greg Murphy (M3 Racing) | |
| Race winner | Greg Murphy (M3 Racing) | Greg Murphy (M3 Racing) | Greg Murphy (M3 Racing) |
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.
| Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Event 2 | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 |
| Pole position | Ant Pedersen (International Motorsport) | Ant Pedersen (International Motorsport) | |
| Race winner | Greg Murphy (M3 Racing) | Greg Murphy (M3 Racing) | Greg Murphy (M3 Racing) |
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 | |
|---|---|---|
| Fuchs Highlands 250 | Greg Murphy | 63 |
| The Sound Manfeild 250 | 128 | |
| TR Group Pukekohe 250 | 170 | |
| ITM Auckland 500 | ||
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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | |||||
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