1989 Tooheys 1000

The 1989 Tooheys 1000 was a 1000 km endurance motor race for Group A Touring Cars. It was held on the 1st of October 1989 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race was run as the season finale to the World Touring Car Masters.

Background

Two weeks before the race, CAMS announced that the two dominant cars of the 1989 World Touring Car Masters, the Ford Sierra RS500 entered by Zakspeed and the Nissan Skyline R32, would get a restrictor plate placed into their engines in order to maximize the power output of both cars to just 500HP, citing it as safety measures due to the crashes that had occurred during the actual WTCM season.

While the Australian privateers were certainly very happy about this, Zakspeed principal Erich Zakowski wasn't very happy with the situation: "I mean, they clearly did this in order to benefit the Australian privateers. Else, they wouldn't stand a chance of winning this race with all things considering. We saw last year how Kaliber dominated the race, and while I understand they want more spectacle, ruining championship fights for some teams isn't the way to do it..." Nismo didn't comment on the subject, as it appeared the handicap could probably help them with the better aerodynamics of the R32 hoping to take part in the race decision.

In terms of the actual championship fight, Klaus Ludwig entered the final race of the championship in the championship lead, on 193 points. 6 points behind him was Roland Ratzenberger, as it seemed the championship was going to be decided between them both. Manuel Reuter, who would be paired with Ratzenberger for the race, was 3rd on 154 points, 39 behind Ludwig. So, while still mathematically in the championship, the German wouldn't be able to overtake Ratzenberger. None of the R32's, despite having the pace throughout the season to beat Ford, were in the championship fight, with Nismo more worried about defending 2nd in the teams championship from Toyota's Union Saver Developments, who were just 1 point behind - the Austrian team looking for their World Touring Car Masters debut race victory, and the reliability displayed by the Supra Turbo this year marking them as dark horses in the bookies.

Independents championship still existed, and even though it kept a low profile throughout the year, it was the Venezuelan Johnny Cecotto, using sheer consistency, found himself in the championship lead on 159 points, despite not having won a single race through the year. Steve Soper was in 2nd place on 151 points, with Winkelhock 3rd on 150 points. The championship was going to be decided between these three drivers, with Borgudd and Donnelly still mathematically in it, but proving impossible for Donnelly - due to beeing Winkelhock's team-mate - and Borgudd had to expect to win the class while everyone else retired ahead of him, which had not happened this year thus far.

Entry List

#	Team	Main Driver	Co-Driver	Vehicle	Class
Class A
01	Template:AUS Ford Performance Australia	Template:USA Brendon Cassidy	Kayne Scott	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
03	Template:AUS Lansvale Smash Repairs	Template:AUS Steve Reed	Template:AUS Trevor Ashby	Template:AUS Holden Commodore VL TWR	A
05	Template:AUS Mobil 1 Racing	Template:AUS Peter Brock	Template:AUS Brad Jones	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
6	Template:AUS Miedecke Motorsport	Template:AUS Andrew Miedecke	Template:AUS Neil Crompton	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
7	Template:AUS TWR Holden Dealer Team	Template:GBR Winston Percy	Template:AUS Allan Grice	Template:AUS Holden Commodore VL TWR Mk2	A
15		Template:GBR Jeff Allam	Template:AUS Kevin Bartlett
16		Template:AUS Larry Perkins	Template:AUS Tomas Mezera
10	Template:AUS Allan Moffat Racing	Template:AUS Gregg Hansford	Klaus Niedwiedz	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
14	Wolf Racing Team	Jörg van Ommen	Template:DEN Kurt Thiim	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
17	Template:AUS Dick Johnson Racing	Template:AUS Dick Johnson	Denny Hulme	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
18		Neville Crichton	Template:AUS Peter Fitzgerald
19	Template:AUS Caltex CXT Racing Team	Template:AUS Colin Bond	Template:AUS Garry Rogers	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
22	Template:AUS Nissan Motorsport Australia	Jim Richards	Template:AUS Mark Skaife	Nissan Skyline R32	A
23		Template:GBR Mark Blundell	Template:AUS George Fury
25	Template:AUS Benson & Hedges Racing	Template:AUS Tony Longhurst	Template:AUS Alan Jones	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
29	Template:GBR Kaliber Industrial Control Services Racing	Template:GBR Steve Soper	Template:GBR Andy Rouse	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
30	Template:AUS Peter Jackson Racing	Template:AUS Glenn Seton	Template:AUS John Goss	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
36	Zakspeed	Klaus Ludwig	Frank Biela	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
37		Template:AUT Roland Ratzenberger	Manuel Reuter
55	Template:AUS Playscape Racing	Template:AUS Kevin Waldock	Anders Olofsson	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
70	Template:AUS Gary Wilmington Performance	Template:AUS Ray Lintott	Reda Awadullah	Template:AUS Holden Commodore VL	A
79	Template:GBR Phillips Car Systems Racing	Joachim Winkelhock	Template:GBR Geoff Donnelly	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
86	Aegis Motorsport	Paul Radisich	Template:FRA Guillaume Gauthier	Template:GBR Ford Sierra RS500	A
100	Template:AUS Capri Components	Template:AUS Lawrie Nelson	Template:AUS Tino Leo	Template:USA Ford Mustang	A
105	Template:AUS ICL Racing	Peter Janson	Template:AUS Greg Crick	Template:AUS Holden Commodore VL TWR	A
420	Escuderia Hernandez	Oscar Castellano	Guillermo Maldonado	Nissan Skyline R32	A
954	Ecurie Monaco	Arturo Merzario	Fulvio Maria Ballabio	Template:GBR Jaguar XJS	A
Class B
16	Template:AUT Union Saver Developments	Template:GBR David Leslie	Template:GBR John Cleland	Toyota Supra Turbo	B
19		Keke Rosberg	Juan María Traverso
20	Volvo Dealer Team	Robbie Francevic	Template:AUS John Bowe	Volvo 240 Turbo	B
40		Per-Gunnar Andersson	Ulf Granberg
33	Template:AUS Toyota Team Australia	John Faulkner	Template:AUS Neal Bates	Toyota Supra Turbo	B
35		Template:AUS Garry Wilmington	Andrew Bagnall
34	Template:AUS Sutherland Mitsubishi	Template:AUS Gary Scott	Template:AUS Alan Taylor	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	B
51	Template:GBR Roger Downson Engineering	Template:GBR Robb Gravett	Template:GBR James Weaver	Template:GBR Rover Vitesse SD1	B
53	Mitsubishi Motors	Masanori Sekiya	Template:USA Scott Pruett	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	B
77		Costas Los	Chris Lambden
69	Tokyo Motor Sport	Motoharu Kurosawa	Hitoshi Ogawa	Nissan Skyline R31 GTS-R	B
72	Audiwerke Motorsports	Template:GBR Derek Warwick	Altfrid Heger	Audi V8	B
73		Leonhard von Gottorp	Frank Jelinski
80	Larsen Racing System	Slim Borgudd	Andreas Larsen	Volvo 240 Turbo	B
200	Scuderia Adriatica	Gianni Giudici	Erica B. Mancino	BMW 635CSi	B
300	Template:AUS Nettcomm Murray Carter Racing	Template:AUS Murray Carter	Akihiko Nakaya	Nissan Skyline R31 GTS-R	B
Class C
1	Mercedes-Benz AMG Team	Template:GBR Tim Harvey	Mauro Baldi	Mercedes-Benz 190E	C
11		Armin Hahne	Jochen Mass
8	Template:GBR Prodrive	Johnny Cecotto	Template:GBR Frank Sytner	BMW E30 m3	C
26	Olaf Manthey Racing	Template:FRA Alain Cudini	Olaf Manthey	Mercedes-Benz 190E	C
42	Volker Schmidt Racing	Template:BEL Pierre Dieudonné	Template:AUT Dieter Quester	Mercedes-Benz 190E	C
50	Template:AUS Bill Bryce Racing	Brett Riley	Ludwig Finauer	BMW E30 M3	C
52	Template:AUS M3 Motorsport	Template:AUS Peter Doulman	Template:AUS John Cotter	BMW E30 M3	C
74	Jägermeister Ford Racing	Beate Nodes	Annette Meeuvissen	Template:GBR Ford Escort RS Turbo	C
75	Alfa Corse	Gianfranco Brancatelli	Michele di Gioia	Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo	C
83	Andersson/Rex Rotary	Gary Croft	Netten Lindgren	BMW E30 M3	C
89	Lennart König	Lennart König	Bettina Sonntag	Alfa Romeo 75	C
94	BMW Motorsport	Roberto Ravaglia	Template:FRA Fabien Giroix	BMW E30 M3	C
95		Marc Hessel	Markus Ostreich
954	Template:USA Winchester Motor Sport	Template:USA Johnny Winchester	Template:USA Nicholas Griffith	BMW E30 M3	C
Class D
13	Template:AUS Bob Holden Motors	Template:AUS Bob Holden	Tim Hall	Toyota Corolla Levin	D
112	Toyota Team Thailand	Varaoj Buncharylua	Sutthipong Samitchart	Toyota Corolla Levin	D
709	Template:AUS Volkswagen Dealers Australia	Massimo Sigala	Helmut Maier	Volkswagen Golf Mk1	D
948	Beneš Motorsports	Klára Beneš	Viktor Kazankov	Skoda 130LR	D