Paul Morris (racing driver)

Paul Morris
Nationality	Australian
Born	(1967-12-22) 22 December 1967 Morwell, Victoria
ATCC / V8 Supercars
Years active	1992–94, 1999–2014
Teams	Tony Longhurst Racing Holden Racing Team Paul Morris Motorsport Ford Performance Racing
Starts	341
Wins	3
Poles	0
Best finish	17th in 2001 Shell Championship Series
Previous series
1989–91 1991 1995–97, 1999 2009–10	Australian Formula Ford Australian Drivers' Champ. Australian Super Touring Development V8 Series
Championship titles
1995 1997 1999	Australian Super Touring Australian Super Touring Australian Super Touring

Paul Morris (born 22 December 1967 in Morwell, Victoria, Australia) is an Australian motor racing driver and team owner. Morris currently competes in Queensland sprint car racing and Stadium Super Trucks.

Early career

Paul Morris started his motor racing career at the age of 19 in 1987, driving in the Queensland Gemini Series. He won Rookie of the Year in his debut season, and won the state championship the following year. He spent the next three years competing in Formula Ford.^[1]

Morris made his Bathurst debut in 1991, driving a Toyota Corolla. He won the Class C title that year with Geoff Full.^[1]

He joined the BMW Works team in 1992, and competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship for several years. Morris went on to compete in the Australian Super Touring Championship from 1994 to 2000 (excluding 1998), winning four championships. His notable sponsors during this time were Benson & Hedges and Diet Coke. He also competed in the V8 Touring Car Championship full-time in 1994, driving a Holden Commodore sponsored by Diet Coke. That same year, he would claim another class victory at the Bathurst 1000 with German driver Altfrid Heger in a BMW, having written off his Holden in testing prior to the race.

In 1998, Morris drove for PacWest Racing in the PPG Dayton Indy Lights Championship in the United States. His best result was sixth in the opening round at Homestead.^[1]

V8 Supercars

Morris co-drove with the Holden Racing Team in the 1999 endurance events. He finished 3rd with Mark Skaife at Bathurst in that year.^[2]

From 2000, Morris again competed in the V8 Supercar Series full-time. Originally sponsored by Big Kev, he was involved in a major start-line accident at Oran Park 2000. He suffered a number of fractured vertebrae in this accident, and narrowly escaped the flaming wreckage of his VS Commodore.^[1]

Morris recovered without missing any V8 Supercar races, and he went on to achieve his first major success at Calder Park in 2001, where he won two of the three races and won the round overall.^[2]

In the week leading up to the final V8 Supercar round of 2008 Morris announced he would no longer be driving full-time in 2009 and that the team were searching for a full-time replacement in the #67 Commodore.

In 2011, Morris competes in the second-tier Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series in one of the teams older Commodores.

In 2014, Morris won the Bathurst 1000 outright for the first time as co-driver to Chaz Mostert for Ford Performance Racing. Morris had previously 'won' the 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 in a Super Touring BMW 320i with Craig Baird. Unfortunately however the Morris/Baird BMW was disqualified immediately after the race as the team had mistakenly left Baird in the car at its last pit stop, resulting in Baird breaching race regulations by driving for more than 3 continuous hours. The disqualification handed the win to team mates Geoff and David Brabham.

Speaking over the 2015 V8 Supercars Winton SuperSprint Morris announced his retirement from Bathurst after losing his co-driver seat to Cameron Waters.^[3]

Morris continues to race in the V8 Development Series.

Sprintcars

Morris competes in Speedway Sprintcars in Australia in the KRE engined #67 Supercheap Auto Sprintcar. Morris took his first Sprintcar pole position in Round 4 of the KRE Race Engines Track Championship at Brisbane International Speedway (Archerfield Speedway) in January, 2011.^[4] He has also had heat wins in World Series Sprintcars.

Morris suffered a major crash at Archerfield during round 6 of the 2012/13 World Series Sprintcars. After winning his earlier heat race, Morris started from position 5 in the B Main, but lasted less than a ¼ of a lap after clipping the wheels of another car on the front straight resulting in his car going end over end and finally coming to rest in the middle of turn 2. Morris escaped the crash without injury, but his Sprintcar was in need of major repair.

Career highlights

• Winner, Australian Super Touring Championship 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000^[5]
• Winner, Bathurst 1000 (Australian Touring Car Championship) 1991 (Class C), 1994 (Class B)^[5]
• Winner, Bathurst 500 (Super Touring) 1999^[5]
• 3rd, Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 at Mount Panorama Circuit 1999^[2]
• Winner, Calder Park V8 Supercar round 2001^[2]
• 3rd, Bathurst 24 Hour at Mount Panorama Circuit 2003^[6]
• Winner Bathurst 12 Hour 2007 (BMW)
• Winner 2014 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with Chaz Mostert.

Career Results

Morris placed 19th in the 2005 V8 Supercar Championship Series driving a Holden VZ Commodore

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	No.	Team	Car	Co-driver	Position	Laps
1991	78	Speedtech Motorsport	Toyota Sprinter	Geoff Full	12th	140
1992	20	Paul Morris Motorsport	BMW M3	Denny Hulme	DNF	32
1993	23	Paul Morris Motorsport	BMW M3	Joachim Winkelhock	15th	146
1994	46	Paul Morris Motorsport	BMW 318i	Altfrid Heger	10th	155
1997 (ASTC)	2	Paul Morris Motorsport	BMW 320i	Craig Baird	DSQ	161
1998 (ASTC)	2	Brad Jones Racing	Audi A4	Paul Radisich	DNF	84
1999	2	Holden Racing Team	Holden VT Commodore	Mark Skaife	3rd	161
2000	29	Paul Morris Motorsport	Holden VT Commodore	Matt Neal	12th	158
2001	29	Paul Morris Motorsport	Holden VT Commodore	Ashley Stitchbury	12th	159
2002	29	Paul Morris Motorsport	Holen VX Commodore	Wayne Wakefield	DNF	135
2003	29	Paul Morris Motorsport	Holden VX Commodore	John Faulkner	DNF	5
2004	29	Paul Morris Motorsport	Holden VY Commodore	Alan Gurr	DNF	50
2005	67	Paul Morris Motorsport	Holden VZ Commodore	Paul Radisich	DNF	26
2006	67	Paul Morris Motorsport	Holden VZ Commodore	Steve Ellery	6th	161
2007	67	Paul Morris Motorsport	Holden VE Commodore	Steve Ellery	DNF	145
2008	39	Paul Morris Motorsport	Holden VE Commodore	Russell Ingall	18th	156
2009	67	Paul Morris Motorsport	Holden VE Commodore	Tim Slade	7th	161
2010	39	Paul Morris Motorsport	Holden VE Commodore	Russell Ingall	8th	161
2011	49	Paul Morris Motorsport	Holden VE Commodore	Steve Owen	11th	161
2012	49	Paul Morris Motorsport	Ford FG Falcon	Steve Owen	DNF	53
2013	80	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore	Scott Pye	6th	161
2014	6	Ford Performance Racing	Ford FG Falcon	Chaz Mostert	1st	161

Indy Lights results

Complete Bathurst 24 Hour results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2002	Prancing Horse Racing Scuderia	John Bowe Brad Jones John Teulan	Ferrari 360 N-GT	1	96	DNF	DNF
2003	John Teulan	Peter Fitzgerald John Teulan Scott Shearman	Porsche 996 GT3 RC	A	515	3rd	3rd

References

External links

• Official website