1996 Australian Touring Car Championship

The 1996 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of 5.0 Litre Touring Cars^[1] complying with Australian Group 3A regulations.^[2] The championship, which was the 37th Australian Touring Car Championship,^[3] was promoted as the Shell Australian Touring Car Championship.^[4] It was contested over ten rounds between January 1996 and June 1996.^[5] The championship was contested earlier in the year than usual as much of telecaster Channel 7's broadcast equipment was required for its 1996 Summer Olympics coverage. 1996 was the last year in which Channel 7 would broadcast the championship until 2007, with Network Ten taking over the broadcast rights from the 1997 season onwards.

1996 Australian Touring Car Championship

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1995

Next

1997

1996 Champion, Craig Lowndes' Holden VR Commodore

The championship was won by Craig Lowndes driving a Holden VR Commodore entered by the Holden Racing Team.

Television coverage

Channel 7's coverage was again a same day delayed broadcast which saw Garry Wilkinson return to the coverage as host and eventually as a commentator alongside Mark Oastler after Andy Raymond was moved from the broadcast booth (where he started the season) to the pits and Brad Jones joined the team as their full-time expert.

Mike Raymond retired from broadcasting full-time after the 1995 Bathurst 1000.

Pre season

At the end of 1995, tobacco sponsorship was prohibited by the federal government. A tight sponsorship market resulted in both Gibson Motorsport and Glenn Seton Racing scaling back to one car. Philip Morris sought to circumnavigate this by sponsoring Alan Jones Racing under a generic name.

Teams and drivers

Movements

• Alan Jones moved from Glenn Seton Racing, forming Alan Jones Racing in partnership with Jim and Ross Stone
• Paul Romano joined Alan Jones Racing from Romano Racing
• Greg Crick replaced David Attard at Alcair Racing

Arrivals / returnees

• Garry Rogers Motorsport joined the series with Steven Richards driving an ex Gibson Motorsport VR Commodore
• John Faulkner Racing joined the series with John Faulkner driving an ex Holden Racing Team VR Commodore
• John Sidney Racing joined the series with Max Dumsney driving an ex Glenn Seton Racing EF Falcon
• Longhurst Racing expanded to two cars with a customer EF Falcon for Steve Ellery
• Craig Lowndes replaced Tomas Mezera at the Holden Racing Team
• M3 Motorsport returned to the series for the first time since 1993 with John Cotter and Peter Doulman sharing the driving of an ex Perkins Engineering VP Commodore
• Perkins Engineering expanded to two cars with Russell Ingall joining the series

Departures

• With Gibson Motorsport scaling back to one car, Jim Richards left the series
• 1995 Privateer's Champion David Attard did not defend his crown

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1996 Australian Touring Car Championship:

Team	Vehicle	No	Drivers
Dick Johnson Racing	Ford EF Falcon	1	John Bowe
		17	Dick Johnson
Gibson Motorsport	Holden VR Commodore	2	Mark Skaife
Lansvale Racing Team	Holden VP Commodore	3	Trevor Ashby Steve Reed
Wayne Gardner Racing	Holden VR Commodore	4	Wayne Gardner
		7	Neil Crompton
Holden Racing Team	Holden VR Commodore	05	Peter Brock
		15	Craig Lowndes
Perkins Engineering	Holden VR Commodore	8	Russell Ingall
		11	Larry Perkins
Larkham Motor Sport	Ford EF Falcon	10	Mark Larkham
Malcolm Stenniken	Holden VR Commodore	14	Malcolm Stenniken
Tim Slako	Holden VR Commodore	24	Tim Slako
Longhurst Racing	Ford EF Falcon	25	Tony Longhurst
		52	Steven Ellery
M3 Motorsport	Holden VP Commodore	26	John Cotter
		29	Peter Doulman
Terry Finnigan	Holden VP Commodore	27	Terry Finnigan
Playscape Racing	Ford EF Falcon	28	Kevin Waldock
Glenn Seton Racing	Ford EF Falcon	30	Glenn Seton
Phil Johnson	Holden VR Commodore	31	Grant Johnson
Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden VR Commodore	32	Steven Richards
Pro-Duct Racing	Holden VR Commodore	33	Bob Pearson
Claude Gorgi	Ford EB Falcon	34	Claude Giorgi
Scotty Taylor Racing	Holden VP Commodore	37	Bill Attard Alan Taylor
James Rosenberg Racing	Holden VR Commodore	38	Mark Poole
Challenge Motorsport	Holden VR Commodore	39	Chris Smerdon
Garry Willmington Performance	Ford EB Falcon	41	Garry Willmington
Mal Rose Racing	Holden VR Commodore	44	Mal Rose
John Faulkner Racing	Holden VR Commodore	46	John Faulkner
Daily Planet Racing	Ford EB Falcon	47	John Trimbole David Attard
Alcair Racing	Holden VR Commodore	49	Greg Crick
Peter McLeod	Holden VR Commodore	50	Peter McLeod
David Parsons	Holden VR Commodore	55	David "Truckie" Parsons
Novocastrian Motorsport	Holden VP Commodore	62	Wayne Russell
Pace Racing	Holden VP Commodore	74	Kevin Heffernan
John Sidney Racing	Ford EF Falcon	75	Max Dumesny
Cadillac Productions	Holden VP Commodore	79	Mike Conway
Shaun Walker	Holden VR Commodore	99	Shaun Walker
Alan Jones Racing	Ford EF Falcon	201	Paul Romano
		301	Alan Jones

Race calendar

The championship was contested over a ten-round series with three races per round.^[6]

Rd.	Circuit	Location / state	Date	Winner	Car	Team	Report
1	Eastern Creek Raceway	Sydney, New South Wales	25 - 27 Jan	Craig Lowndes	Holden VR Commodore	Holden Racing Team
2	Sandown International Raceway	Melbourne, Victoria	2 - 4 Feb	Craig Lowndes	Holden VR Commodore	Holden Racing Team
3	Mount Panorama Circuit	Bathurst, New South Wales	23 - 25 Feb	John Bowe	Ford EF Falcon	Dick Johnson Racing
4	Symmons Plains Raceway	Launceston, Tasmania	15 - 17 Mar	Craig Lowndes	Holden VR Commodore	Holden Racing Team
5	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit	Phillip Island, Victoria	12 - 14 Apr	Larry Perkins	Holden VR Commodore	Perkins Engineering
6	Calder Park Raceway	Melbourne, Victoria	26 - 28 Apr	Russell Ingall	Holden VR Commodore	Perkins Engineering
7	Lakeside International Raceway	Brisbane, Queensland	3–5 May	Craig Lowndes	Holden VR Commodore	Holden Racing Team
8	Barbagallo Raceway	Perth, Western Australia	24–26 May	Craig Lowndes	Holden VR Commodore	Holden Racing Team
9	Mallala Motor Sport Park	Mallala, South Australia	31 May - 2 Jun	Craig Lowndes	Holden VR Commodore	Holden Racing Team
10	Oran Park Raceway	Sydney, New South Wales	14 - 16 Jun	Peter Brock	Holden VR Commodore	Holden Racing Team

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 20-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 basis to the top ten finishers in each race.^[6]

Results

Pos Driver Car Penalty Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Pts[7] 1 Craig Lowndes Holden VR Commodore 0 56 46 13 60 20 26 60 60 50 32 423 2 John Bowe Ford EF Falcon 0 32 40 60 36 14 42 34 24 32 30 344 3 Glenn Seton Ford EF Falcon 0 28 44 20 32 37 30 27 42 4 44 308 4 Peter Brock Holden VR Commodore 0 10 26 34 48 12 10 32 30 22 60 286 5 Larry Perkins Holden VR Commodore 0 7 12 32 16 40 30 14 5 22 14 192 6 Russell Ingall Holden VR Commodore 0 20 26 8 8 22 52 14 8 18 7 183 7 Wayne Gardner Holden VR Commodore 0 36 14 14 2 18 20 4 22 28 24 182 8 Alan Jones Ford EF Falcon 0 14 1 10 14 25 0 36 28 32 20 180 9 Mark Skaife Holden VR Commodore 0 8 40 16 16 Ret 16 10 26 15 30 177 10 Dick Johnson Ford EF Falcon 0 22 10 40 7 28 13 28 Ret 18 7 173 11 Tony Longhurst Ford EF Falcon 0 12 Ret 10 11 12 26 8 20 Ret 1 100 12 Steven Richards Holden VR Commodore 0 0 12 0 2 16 8 9 5 24 8 84 13 Neil Crompton Holden VR Commodore 0 22 6 21 24 Ret 73 14 Paul Romano Ford EF Falcon 0 10 1 Ret Ret 13 2 3 2 Ret Ret 31 15 Steve Ellery Ford EF Falcon 0 0 1 0 1 12 1 0 5 6 2 28 16 Max Dumesny Ford EF Falcon 0 8 Ret 5 DNS 13 17 John Faulkner Holden VR Commodore 0 2 3 Ret Ret 5 18 Greg Crick Holden VR Commodore 0 1 0 1 1 Ret 0 Ret 0 Ret Ret 3 19 Kevin Waldock Ford EF Falcon 0 Ret 2 2 20 Terry Finnigan Holden VP Commodore 0 1 0 0 1 20 Mark Poole Holden VP Commodore 0 0 0 1 1 Pos Driver Car Penalty Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points classification Blue Non-points classification Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired, not classified (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX)

See also

• 1996 Australian Touring Car season
• 1996 Tickford 500
• 1996 AMP Bathurst 1000