Robert James Francevic, (born on 18 September 1941 in Auckland, New Zealand) was a touring car racing driver in New Zealand and Australia in the 1970s and 1980s. He won the inaugural Nissan-Cue 500 (later Nissan Mobil 500) street race in Wellington, New Zealand in 1985 driving a Volvo 240 Turbo.
Following the Nissan series, Robbie, while still living in Auckland, contested the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship driving the Volvo 240T for owner and friend Mark Petch. Francevic shocked the established stars in Peter Brock, Dick Johnson and Jim Richards by winning the third round of the series at Symmons Plains in Tasmania before going on to dominate the final round at Oran Park in Sydney. Other than Richards, Francevic was the only multiple race winner in the championship (Richards won 7, Francevic 2 and Brock just one). The Mark Petch team recruited 1984 and 1985 Australian Drivers' Champion John Bowe to partner Francevic in the 1985 Castrol 500 at Sandown in Melbourne. After a strong showing, he car finished its race with Bowe at the wheel at the entrance to the pits with a seized diff.
In 1986 Francevic became the first New Zealand resident to win the ATCC, becoming the second New Zealander (after Jim Richards) to win the series and recording the only win for Volvo. Francevic won the first two races of the season at Amaroo Park and Symmons Plains, finished 2nd at Sandown to the Nissan Skyline of George Fury and won again at Adelaide. This was his last win for the series and coincided with new team management. Gone was team owner Petch and in charge was former Holden Dealer Team boss from the late '70s George Shepherd. The Volvo was overtaken in speed by the Nissan turbo's and and despite a newly built 240T appearing mid-season, Francevic was often slower than Bowe in qualifying but still scored enough points to win the championship from Fury by just 5 points.
Following the ATCC, Francevic wasn't happy. He was happy to have won the championship but wanted to win from the front and driving for points like he was forced to over the latter part of the championship wasn't his style. Tensions between Francevic and team boss Shepherd came to a head at the 1986 Castrol 500 at Sandown. With the Volvo he was to drive with fellow Kiwi Graham McRae not having practiced due to the late build time, Francevic refused to race the car believing it (and the teams second car which was in the same situation) would not be competitive. While the John Bowe / Alfredo Costanzo Volvo failed to finish its fastest lap was the same as the winning Nissan Skyline. Following his refusal to drive the car, Francevic was fired from the Volvo Dealer Team on 15 September 1986, the day after the Sandown 500.
At the 1985 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst, Francevic teamed with John Bowe in the Volvo and qualified the car an excellent 5th, his run in the Hardies Heroes top 10 run-off for pole position was thwarted by a flat tyre on his second run while trying to improve on his first run. After a strong early showing in the race in which Francevic had held 2nd for some time behind early leader Tom Walkinshaw, a failed alternator diode put them many laps down. The car finally retired on lap 122 when it ran out of fuel.
After winning the 1986 ATCC and his much publicised falling out with the Volvo Dealer Team, Francevic drove a Ford Sierra XR4Ti for former Volvo team owner Mark Petch to little success in the 1986 James Hardie 1000 with fellow Kiwi Leo Leonard and suffering terminal electrical problems on lap 26. After publicly predicting the Ford would take pole position for the race but Francevic could only manage 21st on the grid with a time of 2:23.05, some 5.89 seconds slower than the Skyline of Gary Scott after a troubled practice and qualifying trying to get the car to run properly.
He then landed a co-driving role in the 1987 race for Frank Gardner's JPS Team BMW in a BMW M3 finishing 6th outright and 2nd in class with Ludwig Finauer. For 1988 Francevic and long time backer Mark Petch secured a Ford Sierra RS500 from Walter Wolf Racing in Germany to run in the ATCC but only started one race (Round 3 at Winton) due to illegal build components on the Sierra and the championship run was abandoned in the effort to get the car right. The problems were fixed in time for the 1988 Tooheys 1000 at Bathurst where he teamed with German ace, and 1985 winner, Armin Hahne. Overheating finished their race on lap 103 while running well in the top 5 most of the race after qualifying 14th. He teamed with Italian racer Gianfranco Brancatelli in the Sierra in 1989, qualifying 15th but didn't get a drive the right front wheel fell off the car on lap 14 when going across the top of the Mountain. His last start was in 1990 with fellow Kiwi racer Andrew Bagnall in another Sierra RS500. They qualified 17th and drove well all day to finish 7th outright in a race in which many of the big budget teams failed to finish.
Francevic was an inaugural member of the MotorSport New Zealand Wall of Fame in 1994.
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| Preceded by Jim Richards |
Winner of the Australian Touring Car Championship 1986 |
Succeeded by Jim Richards |
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