25 best Super2 drivers in 25 years: #3 to #1

The top three drivers in Supercars.com's countdown of the 25 best Super2 drivers in the category's 25 year history have been unveiled.

Celebrating an important milestone in the history of the development series, the most successful drivers in Super2 have been acknowledged over the past two months.

Whilst every driver to have featured in the countdown have been race winners in the category, and most have been champions, the top three drivers have Super2 careers that stand out from the rest.

The top three drivers on the list are the only drivers to have won two Super2 championships, and were consistently at the head of the field throughout their Super2 careers.

The records of all three drivers are exemplary, with a combined tally of 82 race wins, 35 round wins, and six Super2 Series victories.

Here are Supercars.com's best three drivers in the history of the Dunlop Super2 Series.

3) Steve Owen

20 race wins, 10 round wins, 2008 & 2010 champion

Steve Owen isn't your typical Super2 Series winner.

Owen was a familiar face in Australian motorsport, the runner-up in the 1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship having been in and around the Supercars fraternity since his Formula Ford successes.

Finishing fourth in a partial campaign in 2002 by far and away the longest of Owen's part-time campaigns, with his first full tilt coming for Scott Loadsman's operation in 2008.

By that stage Owen had featured in the main game for Britek and Rod Nash Racing without much success following another successful Formula Ford campaign in 2004, and his main game experience showed.

The Loadsman team had never won a Super2 race before Owen joined them for what was initially a one-round deal at the season opener in Adelaide.

Owen promptly swept the round, and was quickly snapped up to complete the season, where he ultimately claimed a maiden Super2 title with a further four race wins, two round wins and six podiums.

A Walkinshaw co-drive presented itself in 2009, but for 2010 it was back to the development series for the then-35-year-old, who joined Greg Murphy Racing, again for what was originally a one-year deal.

History repeated itself for Owen, who swept the opening round at Adelaide again, before remaining with the team for the remainder of the season and wrapping up the crown with a race to spare off the back of eight round wins and four round wins.

Two of the most unlikely title wins in Super2 history, Owen's grit and determination, combined with raw speed and experience, made him a formidable force in the development series.

2) Dean Canto

21 race wins, 9 round wins, 2000 & 2005 champion

The first driver in development series history to become a two-time champion, Dean Canto only spent three seasons in Super2, but was a perennial frontrunner in all three of those years.

The maiden season of the Super2 Series in 2000 was designed to give privateers their own category in an increasingly professional Supercars world, however rising stars also saw it as a chance to prove their worth.

Among them was then 19-year-old Sydneysider Canto, who lined up for the year in an ex-Glenn Seton Ford Falcon EL, and proved a dominant force in the inaugural season.

Canto won five of the 15 races held, won two of the opening three rounds, and only missed the podium in three races to become the first-ever Super2 Series champion.

After not being able to nail down a full-time ride as Briggs Motorsport became Triple Eight in 2003, Canto returned to Super2 in 2005 to spearhead Dick Johnson Racing's assault.

Despite missing two races after a start line crash at Wakefield Park, Canto won 10 races and five rounds, flying to his second Super2 crown.

Another ill-fated attempt at launching a full-time Supercars career, this time with Garry Rogers Motorsport, didn't work out, with Canto once again stepping into Super2 for 2008, this time with Howard Racing.

Six race wins and two round wins saw Canto once again challenge for the title, however this time it wasn't enough, with Steve Owen claiming the title by 141 points.

1) Paul Dumbrell

41 race wins, 16 round wins, 2002 & 2014 champion

The undisputed greatest in the history of the Super2 Series, Paul Dumbrell bookended his Supercars career with two hugely successful stints in the development series.

Having had a taste of main game as a 16-year-old student in 1999, ending with a heavy crash at Bathurst, Dumbrell became one of the hottest prospects in Australian motorsport when he joined Super2 in 2001.

Having considered an open-wheeler pathway, including a Formula 3000 test in the year 2000, Dumbrell immediately was on the pace with Gibson Motor Sport in Super2.

Finishing second to Simon Wills in his rookie year, Dumbrell moved to the Independent Race Cars team and put together the most dominant Super2 campaign ever seen.

Over five rounds and 15 races, Dumbrell won an astonishing 12 races, including a 10-race winning streak, and four rounds, winning the championship by 484 points over the late Dale Brede, the largest winning margin in Super2 history.

A successful main game career followed, including a Bathurst 1000 win alongside Jamie Whincup in 2012, however in an effort to maintain his match fitness between business commitments, Dumbrell returned to Super2 in 2014.

Joining Eggleston Motorsport, a team that had been on the rise in the 2010s, Dumbrell was the missing piece in taking the team to the top, winning the 2014 title with a round to spare despite leaving the Perth round early die to business commitments.

Dumbrell finished second in 2015, and could only manage seventh in 2016 as he struggled to keep up with the newer model VF Commodores and FGX Falcons in his VE Commodore, also missing the final round due to injury.

Armed with a VF Commodore in 2017 and 2018, Dumbrell returned to form, claiming back-to-back runner-up finishes in the title race to end his racing career.

Dumbrell's 2002 heroics look unlikely to be beaten any time soon, whilst his return to the series in 2014 saw him provide the ultimate benchmark for the rising stars of the era.