Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit
The race-winning Nissan Skyline GT-R of Jim Richards and Mark Skaife, pictured in 2015.
The second-placed Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV of Win Percy and Allan Grice, pictured at the 1991 race.
The third-placed Nissan Skyline GT-R of Mark Gibbs and Rohan Onslow, pictured in 2015.
The 18th-placed Toyota Supra of John Smith and Geoff Morgan, pictured at the 1991 race.

The 1991 Tooheys 1000 was a motor race which was staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia on 6 October 1991. It was the 32nd running of the Bathurst 1000. The 1000 km race was held for cars complying with the provisions of Australian Group 3A Touring Car regulations[1] with the field divided into three engine capacity divisions. It was the Round 2 of both the 1991 Australian Endurance Championship and the 1991 Australian Manufacturers' Championship.[2]

Nissan driver Mark Skaife became the first driver since Peter Brock in 1983 to claim provisional pole position, pole position after the Top 10 runoff (with a then fastest touring car lap time of 2:12.63), the race win, and the fastest race lap. His lap record in the race was set in the teams #2 GT-R and not the #1 he drove to victory with Jim Richards. (Brock's race record lap of 1983 was also set in the team's second, #25 car, but that was the car he drove to victory with John Harvey and Larry Perkins).

The Richards / Skaife Nissan GT-R recorded a one lap victory from the Holden Racing Team entered Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV of 1990 race winners Win Percy and Allan Grice with the GIO Racing Nissan GT-R of Mark Gibbs and dual Australian Drivers' Champion Rohan Onslow a further lap behind in third place. After having won the Sandown 500 in the lead up to Bathurst, third place was enough to see Gibbs and Onslow win the Australian Endurance Championship and help win Nissan their fourth Australian Manufacturers' Championship.

With the overall race time of 6h 19m 14.80s breaking the 1984 record of 6h 23m 13.06s. The 1991 time remained as the race record for the 1000 km event[3] until it was broken at the 2010 event with a 6h 12m 51.4153s race time. As of the end of 2018 the 1991 edition is still one of the fastest races in the history of this event, being the sixth fastest.

Divisional structure

Division 1

For Group 3A cars of 3001cc and Over engine capacity, it featured the turbocharged Nissan Skylines, Ford Sierras, Toyota Supras and a Mitsubishi Starion, the V8 Holden Commodores and a BMW 635 CSi.

Division 2

For Group 3A cars of 1601-3000cc engine capacity, it was composed exclusively of BMW M3s, both the 2.5 L "Evo" version and the original 2.3 L car.

Division 3

For Group 3A cars of Up to 1600cc engine capacity, it was composed exclusively of various models of Toyota Corolla.

Tooheys Top 10

PosNoTeamDriverCarTT10Qual
Pole 1 Nissan Motorsport Australia Australia Mark Skaife Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R 2:12.630 2:12.84
2 4 GIO Racing Australia Mark Gibbs Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R 2:13.876 2:15.08
3 30 Peter Jackson Racing Australia Glenn Seton Ford Sierra RS500 2:14.892 2:15.26
4 18 Shell Ultra Hi Racing Australia John Bowe Ford Sierra RS500 2:15.679 2:16.06
5 17 Shell Ultra Hi Racing Australia Dick Johnson Ford Sierra RS500 2:16.033 2:16.56
6 05 Mobil 1 Racing Australia Peter Brock Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 2:16.071 2:16.44
7 2 Nissan Motorsport Australia Australia Drew Price Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R 2:16.296 2:15.62
8 11 Mobil 1 Racing Australia Larry Perkins Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 2:17.018 2:16.20
9 35 Peter Jackson Racing Australia David Parsons Ford Sierra RS500 2:17.581 2:17.54
10 16 Holden Racing Team United Kingdom Win Percy Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 2:17.732 2:16.96

* After breaking Tony Longhurst's 1990 qualifying record of 2:13.84 by a full second, Mark Skaife lowered the mark again with a 2:12.630 in the Top 10. Skaife's Nissan GT-R also recorded a Group A fastest ever 293 km/h (182 mph) on Conrod Straight during the runoff.
* 1991 was the first ever all-Nissan front row at Bathurst. It was also Nissan's third Bathurst pole position after George Fury claimed pole in 1984 in the Bluebird turbo, and Gary Scott had done so in 1986 in the Skyline DR30 RS turbo. With three GT-R's, Nissan also had its best ever representation in the runoff, breaking the record of two set in 1982 and 1986.
* 1991 was the only time between 1988 and 1992 that a Ford Sierra RS500 did not qualify on the pole. Glenn Seton in the fastest Sierra was over 2 seconds slower than Skaife and one second slower than the GT-R of second placed Mark Gibbs. His time was also 0.952 slower than Klaus Niedzwiedz's 1990 pole time in a Sierra.
* Peter Brock made his first appearance driving a Holden in the runoff since the first Group A race in 1985. Brock qualified his Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV in 6th place. Compared to Skaife's speed on Conrod Straight in the twin-turbo GT-R, Brock's naturally aspirated V8 Commodore recorded 278 km/h (173 mph), though this was a substantial improvement as the older model Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV usually topped out at around 270 km/h (168 mph) unless aided by a tow from another car. Despite this the VN Commodores were in fact almost 1.5 seconds slower than the VL model had been in 1990.
* 1991 was the only time between his pole positions in 1988 and 1992 that Dick Johnson did not qualify his #17 Sierra on the front row.
* Drew Price (Nissan), Larry Perkins (Commodore), David Parsons (Sierra), and Win Percy (Commodore) were the only drivers not to improve on their qualifying time.
* HRT team manager and defending race winner Win Percy, who was competing in his 6th Bathurst 1000, made his first appearance in the Top 10 runoff. In four of his previous five races his cars had in fact competed in the runoff but it was his co-drivers - Tom Walkinshaw in 1985 and Allan Grice in 1987, 1988 and 1990, who did the driving on those occasions (Percy did not drive in 1986 and only qualified 18th in 1989).[4]

Official results

Pos Division[5] No Team Drivers Car Laps Qual
Pos		 Shootout
Pos
1 1 1 Nissan Motorsport Australia New Zealand Jim Richards
Australia Mark Skaife		 Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R 161 1 1
2 1 16 Holden Racing Team United Kingdom Win Percy
Australia Allan Grice		 Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 160 9 10
3 1 4 GIO Racing Australia Mark Gibbs
Australia Rohan Onslow		 Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R 159 2 2
4 2 20 Benson & Hedges Racing New Zealand Denny Hulme
Australia Peter Fitzgerald		 BMW M3 Evolution 157 19
5 1 28 Playscape Racing Australia Kevin Waldock
Australia Brett Peters		 Ford Sierra RS500 155 18
6 1 6 Alf Grant Australia Alf Grant
Australia Tim Grant		 Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R 148 27
7 1 05 Mobil 1 Racing Australia Peter Brock
Australia Andrew Miedecke		 Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 147 7 6
8 1 27 Terry Finnigan Australia Terry Finnigan
Australia Geoff Leeds		 Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 146 24
9 1 30 Peter Jackson Racing Australia Glenn Seton
Australia Gregg Hansford		 Ford Sierra RS500 146 3 3
10 1 50 Bryan Sala Australia Bryan Sala
Australia Graham Lusty		 Ford Sierra RS500 140 35
11 1 14 Warren Jonsson Australia Warren Jonsson
Australia Graham Jonsson		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 140 28
12 3 78 Speedtech Motorsport Australia Geoff Full
Australia Paul Morris		 Toyota Sprinter 140 39
13 1 3 Lansvale Smash Repairs Australia Steve Reed
Australia Trevor Ashby		 Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 137 16
14 1 26 Daryl Hendrick Australia Daryl Hendrick
United Kingdom Chris Lambden
Australia John White		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 137 36
15 1 22 Perkins Engineering
Formula 1 Investments		 Australia Graham Moore
Belgium Michel Delcourt
Australia Peter McKay		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 136 21
16 1 34 Ray Gulson Australia Ray Gulson
Australia Graham Gulson		 BMW 635 CSi 134 34
17 3 71 Toyota Team Australia Australia Ron Searle
Australia Don Griffiths		 Toyota Corolla FX-GT 133 42
18 1 15 Toyota Team Australia Australia John Smith
Australia Geoff Morgan		 Toyota Supra Turbo-A 131 17
19 3 75 Bob Holden Motors Australia Ted Dunford
Australia Brad Wright		 Toyota Corolla 126 46
20 3 73 Bob Holden Motors Australia Bob Holden
Finland Rauno Aaltonen
Australia Dennis Rogers		 Toyota Corolla 124 47
21 1 12 Ray Lintott Australia Ray Lintott
Australia Tony Scott
Australia John English		 Ford Sierra RS500 122 20
DSQ 1 10 Allan Moffat Enterprises Italy Gianfranco Brancatelli
Australia Charlie O'Brien		 Ford Sierra RS500 158 12
DNF 1 18 Shell Ultra Hi Racing New Zealand Paul Radisich
Australia Terry Shiel
Australia John Bowe		 Ford Sierra RS500 152 5 4
DNF 1 8 Caltex CXT Racing Team Australia Colin Bond
New Zealand Graeme Crosby		 Ford Sierra RS500 152 14
DNF 1 21 Ampol Max 3 Racing Australia Bob Jones
Australia Mike Imrie		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 139 33
DNF 2 25 Benson & Hedges Racing Australia Tony Longhurst
Australia Alan Jones		 BMW M3 Evolution 138 11
DNF 1 2 Nissan Motorsport Australia Australia Drew Price
Australia Garry Waldon
Australia Mark Skaife		 Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R 135 4 7
DNF 2 52 M3 Motorsport Australia Peter Doulman
Australia John Cotter		 BMW M3 133 32
DNF 1 9 Allan Moffat Enterprises Australia Gary Brabham
New Zealand Steve Millen		 Ford Sierra RS500 128 15
DNF 1 17 Shell Ultra Hi Racing Australia Dick Johnson
Australia John Bowe		 Ford Sierra RS500 123 8 5
DNF 1 24 Hersonne Engineering Australia Laurie Donaher
Australia Mick Donaher		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 123 38
NC 1 39 Everlast Battery Service Australia Bill O'Brien
Australia Brian Callaghan
Australia Brian Callaghan Jr		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 116 26
DNF 1 43 Brian Bolwell Racing Australia Brian Bolwell
Australia Arthur Abrahams		 Ford Sierra RS500 113 22
DNF 1 7 Holden Racing Team Australia Brad Jones
Australia Neil Crompton		 Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 100 13
DNF 3 77 Bob Holden Motors Australia Geoff Forshaw
Australia Richard Vorst		 Toyota Corolla 96 48
DNF 1 44 Brian Bolwell Racing New Zealand Glenn McIntyre
New Zealand Dave Barrow		 Ford Sierra RS500 93 31
DNF 1 19 Shell Ultra Hi Racing New Zealand Kayne Scott
New Zealand Gregg Taylor		 Ford Sierra RS500 90 25
DNF 3 74 Peter Verheyen Australia Peter Verheyen
Australia John Vernon		 Toyota Sprinter 86 44
DNF 3 70 Toyota Team Australia Australia Neal Bates
Australia Rick Bates		 Toyota Corolla FX-GT 76 41
DNF 1 11 Mobil 1 Racing Australia Larry Perkins
Australia Tomas Mezera		 Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 65 6 8
DNF 1 35 Peter Jackson Racing Australia David Parsons
Australia Wayne Park		 Ford Sierra RS500 60 10 9
DNF 1 41 Garry Willmington Performance Australia Garry Willmington
Egypt Reda Awadullah		 Toyota Supra Turbo 56 30
DNF 1 13 Peter Janson New Zealand Peter Janson
Australia Peter Gazzard		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 53 28
DNF 1 33 Pro-Duct Motorsport Australia Bob Pearson
Australia Bruce Stewart		 Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 48 23
DNF 2 54 Kiwi Motorsport New Zealand Keith Sharp
New Zealand Ian Spurle
Tanzania Edgar Salwegter		 BMW M3 34 40
DNF 3 72 David Sala Australia David Sala
Australia Brad Stratton		 Toyota Corolla 28 43
DNS 1 32 Pro-Duct Motorsport Australia Bob Tindal
Australia Darren Stewart		 Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 37
DNS 3 76 Bob Holden Motors Australia Mike Conway
Australia Calvin Gardiner		 Toyota Corolla 45
DNQ 1 36 Ron Masing Australia Ron Masing
Australia Greville Arnel		 Mitsubishi Starion Turbo 49
DNP 3 79 Malcolm Rea Australia Malcolm Rea
Australia Brian Selby
Australia Garry Jones		 Toyota Sprinter

Statistics

  • Provisional Pole Position - #1 Mark Skaife - 2:12.84
  • Pole Position – #1 Mark Skaife – 2:12.63
  • Fastest Lap – #2 Mark Skaife – 2:14.50 - Lap 130 (new lap record)
  • Average Speed – 158 km/h
  • Race Time - 6:19:14.80 (new race record)

See also

1991 Australian Touring Car season

References

  1. ↑ CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1991, page 170
  2. ↑ Australian Motor Racing Year, 1991/92, pages 238–239
  3. ↑
    • Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd; Bill Tuckey (2000). Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960–1999. Chevron Publishing Group. p. 479. ISBN 1-875221-12-3.
  4. ↑ 1991 Bathurst 1000 - Top 10 Shootout
  5. ↑ Toohey 1000 Official 1991 Programme, Entry List, page 61
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