1997 AMP Bathurst 1000

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Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit Mount Panorama street racing circuit in Australia.svg
Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit

The 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 was the 38th running of the annual Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 5 October 1997 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. It was the first Bathurst 1000 race held after the controversial split between race organisers, the Australian Racing Drivers Club, and V8 Supercar, which led to Australia's leading touring car category contesting a separate 1000 kilometre race at Bathurst. That race, the 1997 Primus 1000 Classic, was held two weeks after the AMP Bathurst 1000.

The 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 was open to Super Touring Cars and featured teams from Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain. It could thus be considered as the first "international" Bathurst endurance race since the 1992 Tooheys 1000, which was the last Bathurst 1000 to be contested by cars complying with Australian regulations based on FIA Group A rules.

The race was won by brothers Geoff Brabham and David Brabham, driving a BMW 320i for BMW Motorsport Australia. The car of teammates Paul Morris and Craig Baird had initially been declared the winner of the race but was later disqualified as Baird had breached the race regulation which limited any one driver to a maximum of three hours continuous driving; they were placed 27th & last. [1] A late race error saw the BMW Motorsport Australia team leave Baird in the car at the final pit stop instead of putting Morris in the car for the run to the chequered flag. This mistake cost the team a 1–2 finish for BMW. It was the second time in Geoff Brabham's career that he had won a major endurance race with his brother as a co-driver. The middle of the three Brabham brothers Gary, was one of Geoff's co-drivers when he won the IMSA 1991 Coca-Cola 12 Hours of Sebring.

Top Ten Run-off

The fastest ten cars from qualifying contested a one lap "Top Ten Run-off" on the Saturday to determine the first ten grid places for the race.

PosNoTeamDriverCarTime
Pole2 BMW Motorsport Australia Flag of Australia (converted).svg Paul Morris BMW 320i 2:16.5958
23 Williams Renault Dealer Racing Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Alain Menu Renault Laguna 2:16.6158
36Esso Ultron Team Peugeot Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Tim Harvey Peugeot 406 2:17.1536
405 Vauxhall Sport Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Warwick Vauxhall Vectra 2:17.2754
526Esso Ultron Team Peugeot Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Patrick Watts Peugeot 406 2:17.5628
683 BMW Motorsport Australia Flag of Australia (converted).svg Geoff Brabham BMW 320i 2:17.5857
734 Garry Rogers Valvoline Cummins Flag of New Zealand.svg Steven Richards Nissan Primera 2:17.9726
81 ORIX Audi Sport Australia Flag of Australia (converted).svg Brad Jones Audi A4 Quattro 2:18.8756
97 Vauxhall Sport Flag of the United Kingdom.svg John Cleland Vauxhall Vectra 2:19.5864
1023 Williams Renault Dealer Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Alan Jones Renault Laguna 2:20.5274

* 1997 was the first time in which a car Peter Brock was entered in was driven in the runoff by his co-driver. In this case it was Vauxhall Sport team owner and former Formula One driver Derek Warwick who was in the drivers seat. Brock had in fact rolled the #05 Vauxhall Vectra coming into Caltex Chase during qualifying.
* Derek Warwick became the 6th ex-Formula One driver to appear in the runoff following Jack Brabham, Derek Bell, Larry Perkins, Alan Jones and David Brabham.
* Paul Morris' pole time of 2:16.5958 was 5.5798 seconds slower than Glenn Seton's 1996 pole time of 2:11.0160 set in a V8 powered Ford EF Falcon showing the difference in speed between the Australian 5.0 litre V8 formula and the 2.0 litre Super Touring cars.
* Eight of the ten drivers were making their first appearance in the Bathurst Top 10 shootout. Only Brad Jones and Alan Jones (no relation) had appeared previously. Alain Menu, Tim Harvey, Derek Warwick and Patrick Watts, all British Touring Car Championship regulars, were Bathurst rookies.
* Geoff Brabham became the first third member of a family to appear in the Top 10 runoff following his father Jack (1978) and his 1997 co-driver, his younger brother David (1993). As of the 2015 race, this is the last time the name Brabham has appeared in the runoff.
* Appearing in his first Top 10 runoff, Steven Richards, the son of then 5 time Great Race winner Jim Richards, joined David and Geoff Brabham and Steven Johnson (the son of 3 time winner Dick Johnson) as second generation drivers whose fathers had also appeared in the runoff.

Official results

PosNoTeamDriversCarLapsTime/RetiredGrid
183 BMW Motorsport Australia Flag of Australia (converted).svg Geoff Brabham
Flag of Australia (converted).svg David Brabham
BMW 320i 1616:41:25.40726
21 ORIX Audi Sport Australia Flag of Australia (converted).svg Brad Jones
Flag of Germany.svg Frank Biela
Audi A4 Quattro 161+12.15178
311 ORIX Audi Sport Australia Flag of Australia (converted).svg Cameron McConville
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Jean-François Hemroulle
Audi A4 Quattro 161+1:11.255911
44 Volvo Dealer Racing Flag of New Zealand.svg Jim Richards
Flag of Sweden.svg Rickard Rydell
Volvo 850 159+2 laps13
58 Volvo Dealer Racing Flag of Sweden.svg Jan Nilsson
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Cameron McLean
Volvo 850 158+3 laps12
605 Vauxhall Sport Flag of Australia (converted).svg Peter Brock
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Warwick
Vauxhall Vectra 148+13 laps4
716 Faber-Castell Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Paul Nelson
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Justin Mathews
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Bob Holden
BMW 318i 146+15 laps20
820Brian Bradshaw Race Preparation Flag of New Zealand.svg Dennis Chapman
Flag of New Zealand.svg Brian Bradshaw
BMW 318i 144+17 laps25
921MF Motorsport Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mike Fitzgerald
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Jamie Miller
Peugeot 405 Mi16 139+22 laps26
1060FAI Insurance Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Julian Bailey
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Warren Luff
Honda Accord 138+23 laps14
1145Gun Motorsport Flag of Australia (converted).svg David Auger
Flag of New Zealand.svg Lawrie Kyte
Alfa Romeo 155 134+27 laps24
DNF64CPW Motorsport Flag of New Zealand.svg Jason Richards
Flag of New Zealand.svg Brett Riley
BMW 318i 125Engine17
DNF37 Fastway Couriers Flag of New Zealand.svg Tony Newman
Flag of New Zealand.svg Dwayne Bewley
Peugeot 405 Mi16 121Oil Pressure15
DNF30Roadchill Express Flag of Australia (converted).svg Troy Searle
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Geoff Full
BMW 320i 115Engine18
DNF3 Williams Renault Dealer Racing Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Alain Menu
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jason Plato
Renault Laguna 114Diff2
DNF26Esso Ultron Team Peugeot Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Patrick Watts
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Neil Crompton
Peugeot 406 112Oil Pressure5
DNF14HVE Motorsport Flag of Australia (converted).svg Ric Shaw
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Anthony Robson
Hyundai Lantra 110Throttle Cable23
DNF34 Garry Rogers Motorsport Flag of New Zealand.svg Steven Richards
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Matt Neal
Nissan Primera 84Brakes7
NC88Knight Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Peter Hills
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Andrej Pavicevic
Ford Mondeo 80Not Classified21
DNF58HVE Motorsport Flag of Australia (converted).svg Paul Pickett
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Bill Sieders
Hyundai Lantra 73Suspension27
DNF6Esso Ultron Team Peugeot Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Tim Harvey
Flag of New Zealand.svg Paul Radisich
Peugeot 406 70Suspension3
DNF10Phoenix Motorsport Flag of Australia (converted).svg Neal Bates
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mark Adderton
Toyota Camry 64Gearbox16
DNF23 Williams Renault Dealer Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Alan Jones
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Graham Moore
Renault Laguna 38Crash10
DNF12Nigel Barclay Flag of New Zealand.svg Nigel Barclay
Flag of New Zealand.svg Blair Smith
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Jim Cornish
BMW 318i 37Engine19
DNF7 Vauxhall Sport Flag of the United Kingdom.svg John Cleland
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg James Kaye
Vauxhall Vectra 32Power Steering9
DSQ2 BMW Motorsport Australia Flag of Australia (converted).svg Paul Morris
Flag of New Zealand.svg Craig Baird
BMW 320i 161Disqualified (Driver stint breach)1
DSQ89Knight Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Jenni Thompson
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Aaron McGill
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Terry Skene
Ford Mondeo 56Disqualified (Driving in wrong direction)22
DNQ [2] 15 [2] All Auto Parts [3] Flag of Australia (converted).svg Milton Leslight [2]
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Dennis Cribbin [2]
Toyota Carina [2]
DNS [4] 22 [4] BMW Motorsport Australia [3] Flag of Australia (converted).svg Geoff Brabham [4] BMW 320i [3]
DNS [4] 38 [4] Fastway Couriers [3] Flag of New Zealand.svg Dwayne Bewley [4]
Flag of New Zealand.svg Tony Newman [4]
Peugeot 405 Mi16 [3]

Statistics

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References

  1. The Great Race 1997, pages 228–231
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 The Great Race 1997, pages 147–148
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 Entry List, Official Programme, The 35th AMP Bathurst 1000, page 62
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Best individual times in each qualifying session, The Great Race 1997, pages 234–235