1994 Australian Drivers' Championship
| Company type | Motorsport competition |
|---|---|
| Industry | Auto racing |
| Predecessor | Australian Drivers' Championship (previous seasons) |
| Founded | 1994 |
Area served | Australia |
Key people | Paul Stokell (Champion), Greg Murphy (Runner-up) |
| Products | Formula Brabham racing series |
The 1994 Australian Drivers' Championship was a competition authorized by the CAMS for drivers piloting vehicles that met the CAMS Formula Brabham specifications. The champion was awarded the 1994 CAMS Gold Star, recognizing the Australian Champion Driver. This event represented the 38th iteration of the championship and the sixth season utilizing the Formula Holden / Formula Brabham formula, which had been introduced in 1988. The championship spanned six rounds, commencing on 17 April at Eastern Creek Raceway and concluding on 28 August at Oran Park Raceway.
Paul Stokell of Birrana Racing emerged as the champion after a fiercely contested season against Greg Murphy from Triple Eight Racing. Murphy, behind the wheel of a Ralt RT23, dominated the early phase by winning the opening four races. Stokell initially competed with a Reynard 90D but switched to a Reynard 91D from round two onward, claiming his first victory at Winton Motor Raceway and subsequently winning all but one race thereafter to secure the championship.
Adam Kaplan, driving a Reynard 91D, achieved third place overall through consistent performances, including a notable second-place finish at Oran Park. Fourth place was jointly held by Kevin Weeks (Reynard 91D) and newcomer Craig Lowndes, who made a strong impression in his first season in winged open-wheel racing with an aluminium-framed Cheetah Mk.9 owned by Brian Sampson.
Teams and drivers
The following competitors participated in the 1994 Australian Drivers' Championship:
| Driver | No | Car |
|---|---|---|
| Allan Galloway | 3 | Reynard 91D |
| Ron Barnacle | 4 | Reynard 90D |
| Adam Kaplan | 7 | Reynard 91D |
| Paul Stokell | 9 | Reynard 90D / 91D |
| Graham Watson | 11 | SPA 003 |
| Peter Brennan | 17 | Ralt RT21 |
| Rick Fabri | 18 | Ralt RT21 |
| Arthur Abrahams | 19 | Reynard 92D |
| Greg Murphy | 21 | Ralt RT23 |
| Chas Jacobsen | 24 | Reynard 92D |
| Ross Hodgson | 32 | Ralt RT21 |
| Bernie Stack | 38 | Ralt RT21 |
| Craig Lowndes | 49 / 94 | Cheetah Mk.9 |
| Bob Minogue | 64 | Lola T87/50 |
| Kevin Weeks | 70 | Reynard 91D |
| Stan Keen | 73 | Shrike NB89H |
| Chris Hocking | 74 | Reynard 91D |
| Paul Collins | 88 | Liston BF3 |
| Roger Seward | 96 | Ralt RT23 |
| Albert Callagher | 99 | Ralt RT21 |
Race calendar
The six-round schedule of the 1994 Australian Drivers' Championship took place across four states, each round consisting of two heats. Notably, the final event at Oran Park in Sydney utilized the shorter South Circuit layout measuring 1.96 km instead of the longer Grand Prix Circuit which is 2.6 km.
| Round | Venue | Location / State | Date | Race Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eastern Creek Raceway | Sydney, New South Wales | 17 April | Greg Murphy |
| 2 | Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | 'Phillip Island', Victoria | '22 May' | 'Greg Murphy' |
| 3 | 'Winton Motor Raceway' | 'Benalla', Victoria | '19 June' | 'Paul Stokell' |
| 4 | 'Lakeside Raceway' | 'Brisbane', Queensland | '17 July' | 'Paul Stokell' |
| 5 | 'Mallala Motor Sport Park' | 'Mallala', South Australia | '7 August' | 'Paul Stokell' |
| 6 | 'Oran Park Raceway' | 'Sydney', New South Wales | '28 August' | 'Paul Stokell' |
Drivers Championship
Points were distributed as follows for the top ten finishers in each race: 20 for first place, 16 for second, 14 for third, 12 for fourth, 10 for fifth, 8 for sixth, 6 for seventh, 4 for eighth, 2 for ninth, and 1 for tenth.
| Pos | Driver | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Pts | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Stokell | 2nd | 4th | DNS | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 200 |
| 2 | Greg Murphy | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | Ret | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | Ret | 178 |
| 3 | Adam Kaplan | "5th" | "7th" | "5th" | "4th" | "4th" | "2nd" | "128" | ||||||
| Craig Lowndes | "6th" | "4th" | "3rd" | "3rd" | "3rd" | 116 | ||||||||
| Kevin Weeks | "2nd" | "3rd" | "4th" | "3rd" | Ret | 116 | ||||||||
| Bob Minogue | "7th" | Ret | "8th" | "5th" | "6th" | "7th" | 76 | |||||||
| Allan Galloway | "3rd" | "5th" | "7th" | "5th" | DNS | 72 | ||||||||
| Chris Hocking | "6th" | Ret | DNS | "4th" | 46 | |||||||||
| Graham Watson | "8th" | "9th" | 28 | |||||||||||
| Arthur Abrahams |
DNS | Ret | "6th"| "2nd" |
colspan=4 style="text-align:center"| 24 | ||||||||||||
| Bernie Stack | Ret | "8th" |
"10th"| colspan=2 style="text-align:center"| 21 | |||||||||||
| Ron Barnacle |
"7th"| "5th" 16 | |||||||||||||
| Peter Brennan | Ret | "9th" | "8th" |
15 | ||||||||||