The 2023 Supercars Championship (known for commercial reasons as the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship) was a motor racing series for

Supercars A supercar, also known as an exotic car, is a street-legal sports car with race track-like power, speed, and handling, plus a certain subjective ''cachet'' linked to pedigree and/or exclusivity. The term 'supercar' is frequently used for th ...

. It was the twenty-fifth running of the Supercars Championship and the twenty-seventh series in which Supercars have contested the

Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the troph ...

, the premier title in Australian motorsport. It was the sixty-fourth season of

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. The ...

racing in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The 2023 season saw the introduction of Gen3, a revision to the sport's technical regulations. These regulations were designed to cut costs for competitors by introducing more standardised components to the cars and redesigning the chassis to favour

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...

body shapes. Brodie Kostecki and

Erebus Motorsport Erebus Motorsport (formerly known as Erebus Racing) is an Australian motor racing team. The team competes in the Supercars Championship with two Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s. The team's current drivers are Jack ...

secured their first Drivers' and Teams' Champions respectively.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2023 championship.

Manufacturer changes

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

returned to the series for the first time since

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, replacing

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...

and the ZB Commodore with the Camaro ZL1. All Ford teams upgraded to the Mustang GT S650.

Team changes

Walkinshaw Andretti United switched from Holden to Ford. In addition, Walkinshaw Andretti United is receiving the same treatment as Dick Johnson Racing, Tickford Racing,

Blanchard Racing Team Blanchard Racing Team is an Australian motor racing team, currently competing in the Supercars Championship under the commercial title CoolDrive Auto Parts. It fields the Blanchard Racing-built No. 3 Ford Mustang (seventh generation), Ford Musta ...

and

Grove Racing Grove Racing is an Australian motor racing team that's previously competed in various series, including the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship and Super2 Series. The team is making its debut in the Supercars Championship in 2022. They w ...

by receiving factory support from

Ford Performance Ford Performance (formerly Ford Racing) is the high-performance division of the Ford Motor Company and the multinational name used for its motorsport and racing activity. History * 1896 – Henry Ford reached a top speed of 20 mph in his ...

Driver changes

Cameron Hill graduated from the Super2 Series to race full time at Matt Stone Racing. He replaced

Todd Hazelwood Todd Matthew Hazelwood (born 25 September 1995) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship for Dick Johnson Racing as a co-driver in the Shell V-Power Racing Ford Mustang. ...

, who joined

, replacing

Tim Slade Timothy Slade (born 3 August 1985) is a retired Australian racing driver who is best known for competing in the Repco Supercars Championship. Early career Slade first appeared at a national level racing in the 2003 Australian Formula Ford C ...

, who joined PremiAir Racing replacing Chris Pither. Declan Fraser graduated from the Super2 Series to replace Jake Kostecki after Tickford Racing terminated his contract early. Kostecki was contracted to race with the team throughout 2023. Matthew Payne graduated from the Super2 Series to race full time at

. He replaced Lee Holdsworth, who announced his retirement from full-time competition at the end of the 2022 season.

Calendar

Twelve, down from thirteen in 2022, circuits are due to host a round of the 2023 championship.

Calendar changes

The Newcastle 500 returned as the season opener, after a three-year absence due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The Melbourne 400 and Perth SuperNight reverted to a SuperSprint format. The

Sandown 500 The Sandown 500 (commercially titled Penrite, Penrite Oil Sandown 500) is an annual endurance racing (motorsport), endurance Auto racing, motor race which is staged at the Sandown Raceway, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from 1964. The even ...

will return to the calendar for the first time

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, and the first as the precursor to the

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a Touring car racing, touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supe ...

since

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. Pukekohe Park Raceway closed, citing the focus on horse racing and club facilities: a new venue in New Zealand was unable to be secured for 2023. The Winton SuperSprint was omitted from the calendar.

Rule changes

Gen3

Gen3 made its debut, replacing the Car of the Future regulations that débuted in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, with regulations designed to lower costs of a standard Supercar. It was due to debut midway through 2022, but due to ongoing challenges with international supply chains and domestic disruptions caused by the

, it was delayed to 2023. The regulations introduced more controlled components into the cars to address the rising costs of maintaining a car. The pedal kit, brake kit and wheels became control components, with tenders needing the rims to be 'finger friendly' for pit crew during a pit stop. The roll cage lowered by 100mm to be suited to coupes, after the controversy surrounding the Ford Mustang GT, which required the roof to be stretched beyond the dimensions of its road-going counterpart to fit the Car of the Future chassis. Supercars manufactured the roll cage in kit form for teams that do not have the budget to build one themselves. The engines on Gen3 were overhauled, with pushrod engines replaced with fuel-injected, V8 engines, with the Camaro running a 5.7 Litre LTR V8, while the Mustang will run a 5.4 Litre Coyote V8. This is intended to modernise the engine and significantly reduce costs of building and maintaining them. Aerodynamic downforce was cut by 67% to encourage closer racing and easier overtaking after complaints from drivers about dirty air and aerowash from current Gen2 cars. Minimum weight was decreased from 1,400 kg to 1,335 kg, with a 95 kg minimum of driver and seat weight combination. Later, it was increased to 1,340 kg from the

. Triple Eight Race Engineering oversaw the development of the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as a replacement for the Holden ZB Commodore. The Camaro ZL1 was chosen after parent company

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

decided to discontinue the Holden brand and shut down production of the Commodore. Dick Johnson Racing oversaw the development of the S650 Mustang.DJR to race on, develop Gen3 Mustang
Supercars Championship 24 October 2020

Other changes

A new E75 fuel blend was introduced, down from E85 that was used from 2009, while utilising more renewable bio fuels to lower carbon emissions. Ahead of the Perth SuperSprint an LED display was added to the windscreen to show information such as a driver's position in the race, practice, or qualifying session to spectators. Ahead of the Gold Coast 500 a Full Course Yellow system was implemented, although the system saw no use during the event itself.

Results

Season summary

Points

Points system

Points were awarded for each race at an event, to the driver or drivers of a car that completed at least 75% of the race distance and was running at the completion of the race. At least 50% of the planned race distance must be completed for the result to be valid and championship points awarded. No extra points were awarded if the fastest lap time is achieved by a driver who was classified outside the top fifteen. *Endurance: Used for the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000. *Two-race: Used for the Newcastle 500, Townsville 500, Sydney SuperNight (with 5 points awarded for the fastest lap), Gold Coast 500 and Adelaide 500. *SuperSprint: Used for all SuperSprint races (exc. Melbourne) and the Darwin Triple Crown. *Melbourne: Used for the Melbourne SuperSprint.