2003 Australian Drivers' Championship
{{short description|Motor racing competition}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=March 2014}}
{{Motorsport season
|title = Australian Drivers' Championship
|link = Australian Drivers' Championship
|year = 2003
}}
The 2003 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of cars conforming to Formula 4000 regulations.[https://web.archive.org/web/20050623222121/http://cams.com.au/bulletins/B03-010%202003%20Formula%204000%20Sporting%20Regulations.pdf Sporting Regulations – 2003 Holden Australian Drivers’ Championship for the CAMS Gold Star] Retrieved on 5 May 2012 The title was contested over a six-round, twelve race series which was promoted as the 2003 Holden Australian Drivers' Championship for the CAMS Gold Star. It was the 47th Australian Drivers' Championship.{{cite web |url=http://www.formula3.com.au/files/09files/series/goldstar.asp |title=Gold Star Winners - 1957 - 2009 |publisher=formula3.com.au |accessdate=10 June 2010 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234043/http://www.formula3.com.au/files/09files/series/goldstar.asp |url-status=dead }}
New Zealander Daniel Gaunt won the championship driving three different Reynards for two different teams over the course of the season. Gaunt only won two of the twelve races but achieved a race finishing consistency his rivals lacked and finished eight points ahead of his nearest rivals. Second place was tied between Jonny Reid and Paul Trengove,[https://web.archive.org/web/20031226212800/http://www.f4000.com/news/031201.htm Gold Star Glory for Dreamchaser - 01.12.03, www.f4000.com, as archived at web.archive.org] both driving Reynards.
Apart from the seven wins claimed by Gaunt and Reid, three wins were taken by another New Zealander, Nelson Hartley (Reynard 94D & Reynard 97D), and two wins by Ricky Occhipinti (Reynard 97D and 98D).
Race calendar
The 2003 Australian Drivers' Championship was contested over a six-round series with two races per round.
| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 87%;" |
| colspan="2" | Round
! Circuit ! Date ! Pole position ! Fastest lap ! Winning driver ! Winning team |
|---|
| rowspan="2" | 1
! R1 | rowspan="2" | Wakefield Park Raceway | rowspan="2" | 21–23 February | {{flagicon|JPN}} Akihiro Asai | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | {{flagicon|AUS}} Ricky Occhipinti | Hocking Motorsport |
| R2
| | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | Ralt Australia |
| rowspan="2" | 2
! R1 | rowspan="2" | Winton Motor Raceway | rowspan="2" | 23–25 May | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | {{flagicon|AUS}} Ricky Occhipinti | Hocking Motorsport |
| R2
| | {{flagicon|AUS}} Ricky Occhipinti | {{flagicon|NZL}} Nelson Hartley | Hocking Motorsport |
| rowspan="2" | 3
! R1 | rowspan="2" | Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | rowspan="2" | 4–6 July | {{flagicon|AUS}} Ricky Occhipinti | {{flagicon|NZL}} Nelson Hartley | {{flagicon|NZL}} Nelson Hartley | Hocking Motorsport |
| R2
| | {{flagicon|NZL}} Daniel Gaunt | {{flagicon|NZL}} Nelson Hartley | Hocking Motorsport |
| rowspan="2" | 4
! R1 | rowspan="2" | Winton Motor Raceway | rowspan="2" | 1–3 August | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | Ralt Australia |
| R2
| | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | Ralt Australia |
| rowspan="2" | 5
! R1 | rowspan="2" | Mallala Motor Sport Park | rowspan="2" | 29–31 August | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | {{flagicon|NZL}} Daniel Gaunt | Ralt Australia |
| R2
| | {{flagicon|AUS}} Paul Trengove | {{flagicon|NZL}} Daniel Gaunt | Ralt Australia |
| rowspan="2" | 6
! R1 | rowspan="2" | Eastern Creek International Raceway | rowspan="2" | 28–30 November | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | Ralt Australia |
| R2
| | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | {{flagicon|NZL}} Jonny Reid | Ralt Australia |
Points system
Championship points were awarded on a 20–15–12–10–8–6–4–3–2–1 basis for the first ten positions in each race.
The round winner for each round was determined by the aggregation of championship points awarded in that round. Where more than one driver had been awarded equal points, the round result was determined by the placings in Race 2.
Results
| class="wikitable" |
| style="font-weight:bold"
| height="14" align="center" | | | align="center" | | | | colspan="2" align="center" | Wakefield Park | colspan="2" align="center" | Winton | colspan="2" align="center" | Phillip Island | colspan="2" align="center" | Winton | colspan="2" align="center" | Mallala | colspan="2" align="center" | Eastern Creek | colspan="2" align="center" | |
| style="font-weight:bold"
| height="14" align="center" | Position2003 Holden Australian Drivers Championship – Points Allocation, Retrieved from www.f4000.com circa 2004. Website no longer current. |
| height="14" align="center" | 1
| align="center" | 69 & 12 | Reynard 92D, 96D & 94D Holden | Pure Power Racing & Ralt Australia | align="center" | 8 | align="center" | 8 | align="center" | 6 | align="center" | 10 | align="center" | 8 | align="center" | 15 | align="center" | 15 | align="center" | - | align="center" | 20 | align="center" | 20 | align="center" | 15 | align="center" | 15 | align="center" | 140 |
| height="14" align="center" | 2
| align="center" | 12 | Ralt Australia | align="center" | 12 | align="center" | 20 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 10 | align="center" | - | align="center" | 20 | align="center" | 20 | align="center" | 10 | align="center" | - | align="center" | 20 | align="center" | 20 | align="center" | 132 |
| height="14" align="center" | 2
| Paul Trengove | align="center" | 34 | CPA Australia | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 15 | align="center" | 15 | align="center" | 12 | align="center" | 12 | align="center" | 12 | align="center" | 15 | align="center" | 12 | align="center" | 15 | align="center" | 12 | align="center" | 12 | align="center" | 132 |
| height="14" align="center" | 4
| Ricky Occhipinti | align="center" | 32 | Formula Uno Racing | align="center" | 20 | align="center" | 12 | align="center" | 20 | align="center" | 8 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 10 | align="center" | 12 | align="center" | 15 | align="center" | 12 | align="center" | 8 | align="center" | 8 | align="center" | 125 |
| height="14" align="center" | 5
| Nelson Hartley | align="center" | 11 & 75 | Ralt Australia & Hocking Motorsport | align="center" | 15 | align="center" | 15 | align="center" | 8 | align="center" | 20 | align="center" | 20 | align="center" | 20 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 6 | align="center" | 104 |
| height="14" align="center" | 6
| Ian Peters | align="center" | 24 | EDS | align="center" | 10 | align="center" | 6 | align="center" | 4 | align="center" | 6 | align="center" | - | align="center" | 6 | align="center" | 6 | align="center" | 8 | align="center" | 3 | align="center" | 8 | align="center" | 10 | align="center" | 4 | align="center" | 71 |
| height="14" align="center" | 7
| Terry Clearihan | align="center" | 27 | National Neon Signs Canberra | align="center" | 6 | align="center" | - | align="center" | 10 | align="center" | - | align="center" | 15 | align="center" | 10 | align="center" | - | align="center" | 6 | align="center" | - | align="center" | 10 | align="center" | 6 | align="center" | - | align="center" | 63 |
| height="14" align="center" | 8
| Rohan Carrig | align="center" | 49 | Arlec / CRD Motorsport | align="center" | - | align="center" | 4 | align="center" | - | align="center" | 4 | align="center" | 6 | align="center" | 8 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 6 | align="center" | 6 | align="center" | 3 | align="center" | 2 | align="center" | 39 |
| height="14" align="center" | 9
| Mikel Miller | align="center" | 75 | Hocking Motorsport | align="center" | - | align="center" | 10 | align="center" | 12 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 22 |
| height="14" align="center" | 10
| Darren Hossack | align="center" | 74 | Hocking Motorsport | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 8 | align="center" | 10 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 18 |
| height="14" align="center" | 11
| align="center" | 11 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 12 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 12 |
| height="14" align="center" | 12
| Michael Joannou | align="center" | 17 | Mantis Racing | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 4 | align="center" | - | align="center" | 4 | align="center" | 3 | align="center" | 11 |
| height="14" align="center" | 13
| Peter Hill | align="center" | 4 | Greg Murphy Racing | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 10 | align="center" | 10 |
| height="14" align="center" | 14
| Mark Ellis | align="center" | 17 | Mantis Racing | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 3 | align="center" | 4 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 7 |
| height="14" align="center" | 15
| align="center" | 11 | Ralt Australia | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 4 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | align="center" | 4 |
Note: All cars were required to be fitted with a 3.8-litre Holden V6 engine.Grant Rowley, Fortune formula, program, Konica V8 Supercar Series, Round 6, 30–31 August 2003, Mallala, pages 30 & 31
=Silver Star=
| class="wikitable" |
| style="font-weight:bold"
| height="14" align="center" | Position[https://web.archive.org/web/20031225082718/http://www.f4000.com/ '03 Silver Star, www.f4000.com, as archived at web.archive.org] |
| height="14" align="center" | 1
| Ian Peters | align="center" | 24 | EDS | align="center" | 197 |
| height="14" align="center" | 2
| Terry Clearihan | align="center" | 27 | National Neon Signs Canberra | align="center" | 125 |
| height="14" align="center" | 3
| Rohan Carrig | align="center" | 49 | Arlec / CRD Motorsport | align="center" | 117 |
Note: Approved competitors were awarded points towards a Silver Star Trophy based on their finishing positions in each race relative to other such nominated competitors. These points had no reflection on the Australian Drivers' Championship classification.