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1991 Tooheys 1000

Motor race in Australia

Layout of the [[Mount Panorama Circuit

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 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.

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 until it was broken at the 2010 event with a 6h 12m 51.4153s race time. As of 2023, the 1991 edition is still one of the fastest races in the history of this event, being the ninth fastest.

The 1991 Tooheys 1000 was also the first Great Race since 1985, to be won by a car manufacturer other than Ford or Holden.

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

Pos	No	Team	Driver	Car	TT10
1	Nissan Motorsport Australia	AUS Mark Skaife	Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R	2:12.630	2:12.84
4	GIO Racing	AUS Mark Gibbs	Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R	2:13.876	2:15.08
30	Peter Jackson Racing	AUS Glenn Seton	Ford Sierra RS500	2:14.892	2:15.26
18	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	AUS John Bowe	Ford Sierra RS500	2:15.679	2:16.06
17	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	AUS Dick Johnson	Ford Sierra RS500	2:16.033	2:16.56
05	Mobil 1 Racing	AUS Peter Brock	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	2:16.071	2:16.44
2	Nissan Motorsport Australia	AUS Drew Price	Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R	2:16.296	2:15.62
11	Mobil 1 Racing	AUS Larry Perkins	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	2:17.018	2:16.20
35	Peter Jackson Racing	AUS David Parsons	Ford Sierra RS500	2:17.581	2:17.54
16	Holden Racing Team	GBR 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 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, 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 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).

Official results

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

References

CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1991, page 170
Australian Motor Racing Year, 1991/92, pages 238–239
Greenhalgh, David. (2000). "Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960–1999". Chevron Publishing Group.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2V-dsqK2ns 1991 Bathurst 1000 - Top 10 Shootout]
Toohey 1000 Official 1991 Programme, Entry List, page 61

Info: Wikipedia Source

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