1989 Australian Drivers' Championship

Last updated

Contents

The 1989 Australian Drivers' Championship was an Australian motor racing competition open to racing cars complying with CAMS Formula Holden regulations. The championship winner was awarded the 1989 CAMS Gold Star as the Australian Drivers' Champion. It was the 33rd running of the Australian Drivers' Championship and the first to feature the Formula Holden class which had been developed during 1988, originally named Formula Australia.

The championship began on 7 May 1989 at Mallala Motor Sport Park and ended on 10 September at Sandown Raceway after ten rounds. Defending champion Rohan Onslow of Sydney won his second consecutive Australian Drivers' Championship driving a Ralt RT20. Mark McLaughlin, the winner of the inaugural Formula Holden race at Mallala, placed second in his Elfin FA891 (an Australian car designed and built specifically for the new category as opposed to the Ralt's which were sourced from Formula 3000 racing overseas). Channel 7 television commentator and then sometime touring car driver Neil Crompton finished third in his debut year in open wheel racing driving an ex-Satoru Nakajima Ralt RT20.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1989 Australian Drivers' Championship.

TeamCarNoDriver
R.J.Macarthur Onslow Ralt RT201 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Rohan Onslow
Tony Blanche Ralt RT213 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Tony Blanche
Competitive Edge Ralt RT204 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Roger Martin
Clive Kane Photography Ralt RT215 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Simon Kane
Elfin Sports Cars Elfin FA8916 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mark McLaughlin
Boylan Racing Ralt RT207 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Neil Crompton
Bap Romano Spa FB0018 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Bap Romano
Cascone CorporationSpa FB0018
12		 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Sam Astuti
John Briggs Ralt RT219 Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Briggs
Ray Cutchie Ralt RT411 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Ray Cutchie
Brian Shead Cheetah Mk.913 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Peter Glover
TAFE Team Motorsport Shrike NB89H18 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Arthur Abrahams
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Ian Richards
20 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Peter Doulman
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mark Poole
David Mawer Ralt RT2127 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Elwyn Bickley
Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Smith
Brett FisherListon BF350 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Brett Fisher
Chris Hocking87B [1] [2] 74 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Chris Hocking
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Rohan Onslow
John Hermann Ralt RT488 Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Herrman

Note: All cars were required by the Formula Holden regulations to be fitted with 3.8 litre Holden V6 engines. [3]

Race calendar

The 1989 Australian Drivers' Championship was contested over ten rounds at five race meetings.

Rd.CircuitLocation / stateDateWinnerTeam
1 Mallala Motor Sport Park Mallala, South Australia 7 MayMark McLaughlin Elfin Sports Cars
2Rohan OnslowR.J.Macarthur Onslow
3 Winton Motor Raceway Benalla, Victoria 4 JuneRohan OnslowR.J.Macarthur Onslow
4John Briggs John Briggs
5 Oran Park Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 9 July [4] Rohan OnslowR.J.Macarthur Onslow
6Rohan OnslowR.J.Macarthur Onslow
7 Amaroo Park Sydney, New South Wales 6 August [5] Neil Crompton Boylan Racing
8 Simon Kane Clive Kane Photography
9 Sandown International Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 10 September [6] Sam AstutiCascone Corporation
10 Neil Crompton Boylan Racing

Points system

Championship points were awarded 9–6–4–3–2–1 based on the top six race positions at each round. [7]

Results

PosDriverRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6Rd 7Rd 8Rd 9Rd 10Pts
1Rohan Onslow5th1st1stRet1st1stRet6th2nd3rd49
2Mark McLaughlin1st2nd2nd2ndDNS3rd2nd3rdRetRet41
3 Neil Crompton 3rd5thRet3rd2nd6th1stDNS3rd1st39
4Sam AstutiRetDNS4th4th3rd2nd1st2nd31
5 Simon Kane DNSDNS4th4th7th2nd5th1stRetDNS23
John Briggs4th6th3rd1stRet8th4th4th23
7Peter Glover2nd3rd6thDNS11
8Chris Hocking5th5th6th5th7thDNS5thDNS9
9 Peter Doulman 9thRet6th4th6th5th7
10Mark Poole3rdRet4
11Bap RomanoRet4th3
John Smith 4thDNS3
Tony BlancheRetDNSRetRet8th7th8th5thDNS6th3
14Ian Richards5thRet8thRet2
15Ray Cutchie7th8th7th6th7thRet1
Brett Fisher6th9thRetRet1
PosDriverRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6Rd 7Rd 8Rd 9Rd 10Pts
ColourResult
GoldWinner
SilverSecond place
BronzeThird place
GreenPoints classification
BlueNon-points classification
Non-classified finish (NC)
PurpleRetired, not classified (Ret)
RedDid not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
BlackDisqualified (DSQ)
WhiteDid not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
BlankDid not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

References

  1. ↑ Australian Drivers Championship - Gold Star, Round 1 (entry list), Official Programme, Mallala, Sunday May 7th 1989, page 21
  2. ↑ The 87B was designed and built in Australia and was based on the March 87B; as recorded in the article Formula Holden is Here! Official Programme, Mallala, Sunday May 7th 1989, page 20
  3. ↑ Formula Holden, Official program, Foster's Australian Grand Prix, Adelaide, 2–3–4–5 November 1989, pages 133–134
  4. ↑ Australian Motor Racing Year 1989/90, pages 172 & 174
  5. ↑ Program, Amaroo Park Raceway, Sunday, August 6, 1989
  6. ↑ Australian Motor Racing Year 1989/90, pages 180 to 184
  7. ↑ Conditions For Australian Titles, 1989 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 75

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.