Photo: V8SC

Capacity Grid for Supercars in 2008

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The V8 Supercar Championship Series will field a full grid of 32 cars in 2008 following the release of the first entry list of the year for the blockbuster Clipsal 500 in Adelaide next month.
There will be 31 cars on the grid at Adelaide with a 32nd expected to join them shortly into the season once a licencing arrangement has been formally agreed for the as yet un-named team

The newest team is the Sydney-based Walden Motorsport with driver Garth Walden. The team moves up from the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series.

For the first time in the sport the top three drivers from the 2007 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series join the Championship. 2007 Fujitsu Champion Tony D’Alberto steps up with Rod Nash Racing, Michael Caruso with the Valvoline Cummins Race Team and Kayne Scott with Team Kiwi Racing.

The most notable movements are 2007 V8 Supercar Champion Garth Tander to the Holden Racing Team, Russell Ingall defecting back to Holden with Supercheap Auto Racing and Todd Kelly joining Jack Daniel’s Racing team from HRT.Young Kiwi Shane Van Gisbergen assumes Ingall’s drive at Stone Brothers Racing while Cameron McConville has replaced the retired Brad Jones at Team BOC which has switched camps to Holden.

Paul Dumbrell assumes Tander’s position at the HSV Dealer Team under the Autobarn Racing Team banner and Marcus Marshall gets the second drive with Irwin Racing from the Britek stable, replacing Allan Gurr.

Youngster Andrew Thompson has also won a drive with PWR Racing which has retained one of its two licences from last year to be on the Clipsal 500 grid. Fabian Coulthard has joined Glenford’s Racing for the now retired veteran John Bowe.

A crowd in excess of 280,000 people is expected to attend the first race of the season.

The official entry list for the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide from February 21-24:

1 Toll Holden Racing Team, Garth Tander VE
2 Toll Holden Racing Team, Mark Skaife VE
3 Tasman Motorsport, Jason Richards VE
4 Jeld-Wen Motorsport, James Courtney BF
5 Ford Performance Racing, Mark Winterbottom BF
6 Ford Performance Racing, Steven Richards BF
7 Jack Daniel’s Racing, Todd Kelly VE
8 WOW Racing, Max Wilson BF
9 TBA, Shane Van Gisbergen BF
10 WPS, Jason Bargwanna BF
11 Jack Daniel’s Racing, Shane Price VE
12 Team BOC, Andrew Jones VE
14 Team BOC, Cameron McConville VE
15 HSV Dealer Team, Rick Kelly VE
16 Autobarn Racing Team, Paul Dumbrell VE
17 Jim Beam Racing, Steven Johnson BF
18 Jim Beam Racing, Will Davison BF
021 Team Kiwi Racing, Kayne Scott BF
24 Walden Motorsport, Garth Walden BF
25 Fujitsu Racing, Jason Bright BF
26 IRWIN Racing, Marcus Marshall BF
33 Valvoline Cummins Race Team, Lee Holdsworth VE
34 Valvoline Cummins Race Team, Michael Caruso VE
39 Supercheap Auto Racing, Russell Ingall VE
50 PWR Performance Products, Andrew Thompson VE
51 Tasman Motorsport, Greg Murphy VE
55 Rod Nash Racing, Tony D’Alberto VE
67 Supercheap Auto Racing, Paul Morris VE
88 TeamVodafone, Jamie Whincup BF
111 Glenfords Racing, Fabian Coulthard BF
888 TeamVodafone, Craig Lowndes BF