1998 AMP Bathurst 1000

The 1998 AMP Bathurst 1000 was the 39th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 4 October 1998 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. It was the second year of the controversial split between race organisers, the Australian Racing Drivers Club, and V8 Supercar, which had led to Australia's leading touring car series leaving the Bathurst 1000. The V8 Supercar teams raced the 1998 FAI 1000 race, held six weeks later. The race distance was 161 laps, approximately 1000 km.

Class structure

The 1998 AMP Bathurst 1000 was an endurance race for Super Touring Cars, New Zealand Touring Cars and Production Cars.

ST

The class featured International Group 2 Touring Cars, otherwise known as Supertouring. It featured teams from Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain fielding a total of 29 cars. Featured cars were: Alfa Romeo 155, Audi A4, BMW 318i, BMW 320i, Ford Mondeo, Holden Vectra, Honda Accord, Hyundai Lantra, Nissan Primera, Peugeot 405, Peugeot 406, Toyota Carina, Vauxhall Cavalier, Vauxhall Vectra and Volvo S40.

NZ

The New Zealand touring car series, Schedule S, was invited and the nine car entry featured: BMW 320i, BMW 325i, Ford Telstar, Honda Integra, Nissan Sentra, Peugeot 405, Suzuki Baleno, Toyota Corolla and Toyota Corona.

3E

Production cars, conforming to an older version of the Australian Production Car Championship regulations were also invited with five cars arriving. They cars were: Honda Civic, Mazda 626 and Toyota Camry.

Top ten run-off

Post-qualifying shootout results as follows:^[1]

Pos	No	Team	Driver	Car	Time
1	40	Volvo S40 Racing	Rickard Rydell	Volvo S40	2:14.9265
2	34	Team Dynamics	Steven Richards	Nissan Primera	2:16.4143
3	4	Volvo S40 Racing	Tim Harvey	Volvo S40	2:16.4672
4	80	Vauxhall Sport	Greg Murphy	Holden Vectra	2:16.7782
5	8	Team Vectra	Derek Warwick	Vauxhall Vectra	2:17.3103
6	2	Audi Sport Australia	Paul Morris	Audi A4 Quattro	2:18.2657
7	1	Audi Sport Australia	Brad Jones	Audi A4 Quattro	2:18.3658
8	29	Brookes Motorsport	Lee Brookes	Honda Accord	2:18.9932
9	12	Greenfield Mowers Racing	Cameron McLean	BMW 320i	2:19.1715
10	88	Knight Racing	Peter Hills	Ford Mondeo	2:22.9436

Official results

Race results as follows:^[2]

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Car	Laps	Qual Pos	Shootout Pos
1	ST	40	Volvo S40 Racing	Rickard Rydell Jim Richards	Volvo S40	161	2	1
2	ST	34	Team Dynamics	Steven Richards Matt Neal	Nissan Primera	161	3	2
3	ST	1	Audi Sport Australia	Brad Jones Cameron McConville	Audi A4 Quattro	161	5	7
4	ST	12	Greenfield Mowers Racing	Cameron McLean Tony Scott	BMW 320i	159	8	9
5	ST	8	Team Vectra	Derek Warwick John Cleland	Vauxhall Vectra	157	6	5
6	ST	88	Knight Racing	Peter Hills Domenic Beninca	Ford Mondeo	155	10	10
7	ST	30	Roadchill Express	Troy Searle Luke Searle	BMW 320i	152	12
8	ST	22	Rod Wilson	Rodney Forbes Rod Wilson	BMW 318i	152	15
9	ST	16	Faber-Castell Racing	Justin Mathews Bob Holden Paul Nelson	BMW 318i	145	16
10	NZ	64	International Motorsport	Kevin Bell Rod Hicks	BMW 320i	144	28
11	ST	20	Dennis Chapman	Dennis Chapman Brian Bradshaw	BMW 320i	144	22
12	NZ	65	International Motorsport	Aaron Harris Miles Worsley	BMW 325i	141	33
13	ST	45	David Auger	David Auger Lawrie Kyte	Alfa Romeo 155	137	17
14	3E	35	Tom Watkinson	Tom Watkinson Calvin Gardiner	Mazda 626	136	36
15	3E	71	Rebound Clothing Co.	Phil Kirkham Matt Lehmann	Mazda 626	135	34
16	NZ	67	Geoff Short	Geoff Short Greg Goudie	Ford Telstar	131	32
17	3E	37	Ken Talbert	Ken Talbert Carlos Rolfo	Mazda 626	130	39
18	ST	25	Rodney James Jones	Mike Newton Jamie Miller	Vauxhall Cavalier	128	30
DNF	ST	14	Nigel Barclay	Blair Smith Jim Cornish	Nissan Primera	139	13
DNF	NZ	63	International Motorsport	Jason Richards Barrie Tomlinson	BMW 320i	128	24
NC	NZ	68	Wayne Johnson	Wayne Johnson Maurice O'Reilly	Honda Integra	120	37
NC	ST	49	Grid Motorsport	Anthony Robson Ric Shaw	BMW 318i	112	23
NC	NZ	70	Air Vanuatu / Bartercard	Ted Jarvis Tony Rutherford	Toyota Corolla	111	41
NC	ST	11	All Auto Parts	Milton Leslight Dennis Cribbin	Toyota Carina	110	27
NC	ST	58	HVE Motorsport	Paul Pickett Peter Rushton Nigel Stones	Hyundai Lantra	107	19
DNF	ST	2	Audi Sport Australia	Paul Morris Paul Radisich	Audi A4 Quattro	84	7	6
DNF	ST	80	Team Vectra	Greg Murphy Russell Ingall	Holden Vectra	83	1	4
DNF	ST	4	Volvo S40 Racing	Tim Harvey Jan Nilsson	Volvo S40	82	4	3
DNF	ST	98	Knight Racing	Paula Elstrek Damien Digby Heidi O'Neill	Ford Mondeo	78	25
DNF	ST	77	Motorsport Developments	Malcolm Rea Wayne Wakefield	Toyota Carina	76	23
DNF	ST	24	Bruce Miles	Bruce Miles Murray Cleland	BMW 318i	63	20
DNF	3E	38	Phoenix Motorsport	David Ratcliff Ron Searle	Toyota Camry	59	35
DNF	NZ	61	Prestige Motorsports Management	Peter Van Breugel Ian Spurle Mike Eady	Nissan Sentra	56	26
DNF	ST	10	TC Motorsport	Tony Newman Mark Williamson	Peugeot 406	52	11
DNF	ST	29	Brookes Motorsport	Robb Gravett Lee Brookes	Honda Accord	49	9	8
DNF	NZ	90	Robert Ker	Bernie Gillon Paul Pederson	Toyota Corona	47	31
DNF	NZ	62	BT Motorsport	Bill Tunzelmann Malcolm Udy	Peugeot 405	47	31
DNF	3E	33	Burwood Motorsport	Allan Letcher Adam Macrow	Honda Civic	34	38
DNF	ST	18	Aaron McGill	Aaron McGill Clayton Haynes	Peugeot 405	24	18
DNF	ST	60	Knight Racing	Warren Luff Mark Zonneveld	Ford Mondeo	18	14
DNF	ST	23	MF Motorsport	Mike Fitzgerald Jenni Thompson	Peugeot 405	17	29
DNF	ST	15	Nigel Barclay	Jamie Wall Mark Adderton	Honda Accord	14	42
DNS	NZ	66	Suzuki Value Finance	Max Pennington Grant Aitken Chris Bird	Suzuki Baleno

Statistics

• Provisional Pole Position - #80 Greg Murphy
• Pole Position - #40 Rickard Rydell - 2:14.9265
• Fastest Lap - #40 Rickard Rydell - 2:17.9558 - Lap 153
• Average Speed - N/A
• Race Time - 6:54:23.4756

References

• Normoyle, Steve (1998). The Great Race 18. Chevron Publishing Group. ISSN 1031-6124. 
• Normoyle, Steve (1998). "Official 1998 Great Race Programme". Chevron Publishing Group. ISSN 1327-1970. 
• Auto Action, 2–8 October 1998
• Auto Action, 9–15 October 1998