V8 Supercars appoints McConville in critical judicial role
Highly decorated and much admired V8 Supercar driver Cameron McConville has hung up his helmet to assume the role as the Driving Standards Observer (DSO) of V8 Supercars.
The widely respected McConville has accepted the role, taking over from Tomas Mezera who has stepped aside to further his promising career on the Seniors golf tour.
McConville has most recently served the DSO role in the Carrera Cup category where he has impressed as a part of race control.
Accepting the role with V8 Supercars means McConville will relinquish his position as a highly valued co-driver for the V8 Supercar endurance events.
"The timing is right," McConville said.
"It wasn't easy to walk away from more than a decade in V8 Supercars as a driver but I feel this is the right move into a new direction within the sport.
"I have been acting as a DSO for the past three years or so with other categories and this has allowed me to learn what this role requires.
"I really enjoy working in race control and although it's quite a stressful environment it has a lot of similarities to the pressures of a race car.
"I'm enormously grateful for the privilege of having a long career behind the wheel at the highest level, now I'm excited by the next chapter and looking forward to new challenges."
McConville is one of the most popular and respected members of the V8 Supercar paddock.
V8 Supercar Commission Chairman Mark Skaife said McConville had all the attributes to make a successful transition into the critical judicial role, particularly having the confidence of his peers.
"The critical aspect of a role like this is having the respect of the drivers and the teams," Skaife said.
"Tomas had that respect and the confidence of the drivers that he knew the nuances of driving at the elite level and knowing when something was right or wrong.
"Being a modern day driver and having competed at the highest level as recently as last year gives Cam the first-hand knowledge and currency in the sport.
"It's a difficult role and there will be differences of opinion but Cam has the experience to make the right calls based on his enormous first-hand understanding and the information that will be at his disposal in the control tower."
McConville has been a regular endurance driver since his fulltime retirement in 2009, with one of his greatest highlights joining the late Jason Richards for second place at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 in 2010.
He competed in the Fujitsu (now Dunlop) V8 Supercar Series and V8 Utes after his retirement and last year partnered with Holden Racing Team's James Courtney for a spectacular fourth place in one of the most dramatic finishes to the Mount Panorama Classic.
It ends a stellar career which also began with HRT when he helped Craig Lowndes seal his third V8 Supercar title by finishing second at Bathurst way back in 1999.
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