The 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series was the tenth V8 Supercar Championship Series and the twelfth series in which V8 Supercars contested the premier Australian touring car title. The championship began on 21 February at the Clipsal 500 on the streets of Adelaide and concluded on 7 December at Oran Park Raceway. It consisted of 14 rounds covering all states and the Northern Territory of Australia as well as rounds in New Zealand and Bahrain. Jamie Whincup secured the Drivers championship with two races in hand with victory in race 1 of the 2008 NRMA Motoring & Services Grand Finale. Whincup was also awarded the 49th Australian Touring Car Championship title by CAMS. Triple Eight Race Engineering won the Teams Championship and Ford was awarded the Manufacturers Championship.

Race calendar

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers contested the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series.

• Phillip Island 500 only ** Bathurst 1000 only

Team and driver changes

WPS Racing announced the closure of their team with the vehicles and equipment sold off to new owners, citing business and health issues affecting team principal Craig Gore. Two new entities entered the championship in 2008. The first of these was Development Series team Ford Rising Stars Racing, who bought a licence from Paul Weel Racing – Formula 3 Euroseries driver Michael Patrizi was hired to drive, but the team skipped the first round in Adelaide to prepare properly. Walden Motorsport were committed to return to the series with Garth Walden driving, however the team failed to appear at the first two rounds and the franchise was put up for sale. Reigning series champion Garth Tander transferred from the HSV Dealer Team to the Holden Racing Team, replacing Todd Kelly. Kelly replaced Marcus Marshall at Perkins Engineering, with Marshall moving to Britek Motorsport in place of the outgoing Alan Gurr. Tander was replaced at HSVDT with Paul Dumbrell, who moved from Paul Weel Racing which had intended to cease operations at the conclusion of 2007. This decision was reversed, with Andrew Thompson racing their sole Commodore VE. Russell Ingall moved to Paul Morris Motorsport, replacing Owen Kelly. Shane van Gisbergen took over Ingall's seat at Stone Brothers Racing following his half-season at Team Kiwi Racing. Team Kiwi cut ties with Stone Brothers and settled on running a Triple Eight-built Falcon independently, signing Development Series veteran Kayne Scott. Dean Canto's contract with Garry Rogers Motorsport was terminated a year early. He was replaced with 2007 Development Series runner-up Michael Caruso. Cameron McConville signed with Brad Jones Racing, whom he had previously raced for in Super Touring. The team moved from Ford to Holden and ran with the technical assistance of Walkinshaw Performance, the organisation that runs the Holden Racing Team and HSV Dealer Teams. Paul Cruickshank Racing signed Fabian Coulthard to replace the retiring John Bowe. Second tier Fujitsu series champion team Tony D'Alberto Racing moved to the V8 Supercar series, and took over the running of the Rod Nash Racing owned franchise, replacing Independent Racing Cars who previously operated the team. Tony D'Alberto replaced Steve Owen as driver. Due to a date clash with the final round of the New Zealand V8 series, Kayne Scott was not available to compete for Team Kiwi Racing at Eastern Creek and was replaced by Chris Pither. Pither again replaced Scott for the Winton round later in the year. Following a crash at Bathurst that severely dented the teams' financial resources, Steve Owen was drafted in for the Gold Coast round, followed by Bahraini driver Fahad Al Musalam for the Desert 400 and 23-year-old Daniel Gaunt for the final two rounds of the season. Shane Price was sacked from the Perkins Engineering a week after the Bathurst 1000 and replaced with endurance co-driver Jack Perkins.

Rule changes

Technical

An option to use sequential gearboxes in lieu of H-pattern gearboxes was introduced. Initially optional, sequential gearboxes later became mandatory.

Sporting

The points system was changed for 2008. Points were awarded to the top 30 drivers, with 300 points being the most available to a driver in each round. In Friday practice sessions, drivers who had finished in the top 15 in the 2007 Championship were not permitted to participate for the first 30 minutes.

Results and standings

Season summary

Points system

Points are awarded to any driver that completes 75% of race distance and is running on the completion of the final lap. NOTES: Adelaide: Clipsal 500. Std denotes all races except the Clipsal 500, L&H 500, and Bathurst 1000. These three races have unique rules. L&H 500: Phillip Island races are split into qualifying races and 500 km feature race. The two drivers per team will be grouped into separate qualifying races that will count towards drivers' individual point totals and towards the starting grid for the feature race. The two drivers will then race one car for the 500 km endurance race. Bathurst: Both drivers will share one car for entire race.

Drivers' Championship

Teams Championship

Triple Eight Race Engineering won the Teams Championship.

Manufacturers Championship

Ford won the Manufacturers Championship having won more rounds than rival Holden.