NOBODY DOES IT BETTER
TWENTY SIX BATHURST VICTORIES, 16 TOURING CAR/SUPERCAR TITLES AND TWO ROUND-AUSTRALIA RALLY WINS.
Twenty six Bathurst victories, 16 Touring car/Supercar titles and two round Australia rally wins – that’s the unrivalled motorsport record of the Holden Commodore.
Although the Commodore arrived with great fanfare in Holden showrooms in October 1978, it was another 18 months before it burst onto Australian race circuits, the baton then having been passed to it from the Torana A9X.
In the leadup however, in August 1979, the Commodore had achieved Holden’s greatest motorsport success finishing first, second and third in the gruelling two-week, 20,000km 1979 Repco Reliability Trial, that captivated the nation. That triumph changed the perception of the VB Commodore, putting it firmly on the buyers list.
When the Commodore finally hit the racetracks, success was immediate with Peter Brock taking a VB model to its maiden Australian Touring Car title.
Then came Bathurst.
The 1980 race is remembered for Allan Moffat’s short, smoky campaign and Falcon mounted Dick Johnson crashing into a rock while leading.
For Commodore the Bathurst baptism couldn’t have been better with Brock winning in a VC and Commodores filling the top seven places.
Throughout the Group C Touring Car era (1973-1984) the Commodore notched up further Bathurst wins in 1982 and 83 (VH) before the famous one-two formation finish by the Holden Dealer Team VKs in 1984. There
“BATHURST REMAINED A HAPPY COMMODORE HUNTING GROUND"
were many more race wins but no more Touring Car titles.
The competition got considerably tougher for Commodore with the introduction of international Group A Touring Car regulations in 1985 and while it spawned many of HDT's finest road cars, on-track success was hard to come by. Commodore's next Touring Car championship wasn't until 1994 with Mark Skaife piloting a VP.
But Bathurst remained a happy Commodore hunting ground with privateers Allan Grice and Graeme Bailey winning in 1986 in a VK, and Peter Brock, David Parsons and Peter McLeod in 1987 in a VL after the two leading Ford Sierras were disqualified. Commodore also won at Mount Panorama in 1990, with Grice and Englishman Win Percy also driving a VL and again in 1993 with Larry Perkins and Gregg Hansford in a VP. Perkins teamed with Russell Ingall in a last-to-first win in 1995 in a VR and again in 1997 in a VS.
The lessons learned from the Repco rally helped Ed Ordynski and Ross Runnalls guide their VR to victor y in the 1995 Mobil 1 Trial.
The following year a pair of youngsters, Craig Lowndes and Greg Murphy took the Bathurst crown in 1996 in a VR model with Lowndes also taking home the Touring Car crown.
Then came the introduction of V8 Supercars in 1997, marking Commodore's most dominant period during which new stars emerged.
Lowndes used both VT and superseded VS models to secure back-to-back Supercar trophies and in the final Bathurst enduro of the century Commodore came up trumps with Steve Richards and Greg Murphy driving their Gibson Motorsport VT to victor y.
The VT Commodore also scored the first Bathurst win of the 21st century with Garth Tander and
“WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF THE VF, WHINCUP WON FOUR MORE CHAMPIONSHIPS"
Jason Bargwanna taking the honours in a Garry Rogers VT Commodore.
Mark Skaife entered his second purple patch (his first was with Nissan) winning a hat trick of Touring Car titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002 driving a VT and V X respectively and grabbing a couple more Bathurst wins in 2001 with Tony Longhurst and in 2002 with his mate Jim Richards, on board the V X model.
Rick Kelly and Greg Murphy achieved back-to-back Bathurst wins at the wheel of V Y Commodores, then Todd Kelly, Rick's older brother joined Skaife on the top step of the Bathurst podium in 2005. The Kelly boys continued their winning ways in 2006 with Rick giving the VZ the perfect send off, capturing the Supercar Championship.
Next came the VE Commodore that Garth Tander promptly drove to the Supercar Championship in 2007. The VE also won at Bathurst with Tander and Will Davison in 2009, Lowndes and Skaife the following year, Tander and rookie Nick Percat in 2011 and Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell in 2012.
The VE and Jamie Whincup also grabbed Supercar Championships in
2011 and 2012 and with the introduction of the VF Whincup won four more championships – 2013-2017.
The VF was also the car to have at Bathurst with victory in 2015 going to Lowndes and Steven Richards. It was still the one to have in 2016 where Will Davison grabbed his second win partnering Jonathon Webb and in 2017 with David Reynolds and Luke Youlden tasting victory at Mt Panorama.
While the ZB model hasn't notched up a Supercar championship it carried veterans Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards to one of the most popular Bathurst wins in 2018.