This year marks the 23rd season of the Repco Supercars Championship’s second tier Super2 Series, which started out of necessity due to high entry numbers and has since become the feeder category it is today.
Formed in 2000 as the Konica Lites Series, it was born out of AVESCO’s goal of reducing the V8 Supercar Championship’s entry and it growing professionalism in the new millennium. Privateers and fringe competitors were still provided an opportunity to compete at many of the same events as V8 Supercars, but in a separate category in older machinery.
However, the benefits this category provided for young drivers were realised as main game V8 Supercars teams entered rising stars to progress up the ladder and also provide miles for endurance pairings.
The first series winner was Dean Canto in a self-entered Ford EL Falcon, which provided an opportunity at Ford Tickford Racing for 2001 as an endurance driver, before moving to Briggs Motorsport where a full-time drive came in 2003.
Canto became the first dual winner of the title in 2005 as he returned with Dick Johnson Racing to take the title and joined Garry Rogers Motorsport full-time getting his second chance at the V8 Supercars Championship.
The following four winners; Simon Wills, Paul Dumbrell, Mark Winterbottom and Andrew Jones all progressed into V8 Supercar racing nearly straight away. In fact, Wills won the Queensland 500 with Stone Brothers Racing the year after, before entering a full-season with the family-owned Team Dynamik in 2003.
Adam Macrow won the 2006 title, but didn’t pick up a full-time ride the next year albeit he isn’t the only one. Andrew Thompson won while driving for Triple Eight Race Engineering dovetailing his second-tier campaign with an endurance drive alongside Jamie Whincup, but failed to get another crack after being full-time in 2008.
Steve Owen was another after his 2008 triumph, but the Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series was regarded as the proving ground for young talent as Tony D’Alberto, Jonathon Webb, Scott McLaughlin, Dale Wood, Cameron Waters, Garry Jacobson, Todd Hazelwood, Chris Pither, Bryce Fullwood, Thomas Randle and finally Broc Feeney all making the step up.
Not only is advantageous for drivers, but Supercars teams have always featured within the field through support of a team such as Erebus Motorsport’s alignment with Terry Wyhoon’s Image Racing or have entered with its own team, which Grove Racing, Tickford Racing, Brad Jones Racing and Triple Eight Race Engineering currently do.
Super2 also provides main game teams to on-sell its chassis and engines.
Just as the Repco Supercars Championship enter a new era in 2023, but Gen2 Ford Mustangs and Holden ZB Commodores will enter the Super2 Series.
To this day, Super2 is an integral part in progressing to the main game grid as proven by the majority of the current driver line-up having been a race or series winner.
Plus the next generation currently in Super2 are not far away either.