1997 Tickford 500 Explained

The 1997 Tickford 500 was an endurance motor race for V8 Supercars.^[1] It was held on 14 September 1997 at the Sandown Raceway^[1] and was the 32nd running of the Sandown 500.

The race was won by Craig Lowndes and Greg Murphy, driving a Holden VS Commodore^[1] for the Holden Racing Team.^[2]

Qualifying

The fastest lap in qualifying was set by Mark Skaife at 1:11.3142.

Top 10 Shootout

The Top 10 Shootout, which was contested by the fastest ten cars from Qualifying, determined the order of the first ten grid positions for the race.

Pos	No	Entrant	Driver	Car
Pole	05	Holden Racing Team	Mark Skaife	Holden VS Commodore
2	10	Mitre 10 Racing	Mark Larkham	Ford EL Falcon
3	1	Ford Credit Racing	Glenn Seton	Ford EL Falcon
4	9	Alan Jones Racing	Alan Jones	Ford EL Falcon
5	97	Holden Racing Team	Jason Bargwanna	Holden VS Commodore
6	15	Holden Racing Team	Greg Murphy	Holden VS Commodore
7	46	Betta Electrical	John Faulkner	Holden VS Commodore
8	7	Wayne Gardner Racing	Wayne Gardner	Holden VS Commodore
9	17	Shell Helix Racing	Dick Johnson	Ford EL Falcon
10	25	Castrol Longhurst	Tony Longhurst	Ford EL Falcon

Official results

Pos.	No.	Entrant	Drivers	Car	Laps
1	15	Holden Racing Team	Craig Lowndes Greg Murphy	Holden VS Commodore	157
2	11	Castrol Perkins Racing	Larry Perkins Russell Ingall	Holden VS Commodore	157
3	9	Alan Jones Racing	Alan Jones Jason Bright	Ford EL Falcon	157
4	46	John Faulkner Racing	John Faulkner Win Percy	Holden VS Commodore	156
5	34	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Steven Richards Jim Richards	Holden VS Commodore	155
6	7	Wayne Gardner Racing	Wayne Gardner Neil Crompton	Holden VS Commodore	155
7	18	Dick Johnson Racing	Steven Johnson Craig Baird	Ford EL Falcon	154
8	45	Gibson Motorsport	Darren Hossack Steven Ellery	Holden VR Commodore	154
9	97	Holden Young Lions	Jason Bargwanna Mark Noske	Holden VS Commodore	153
10	25	Longhurst Racing	Tony Longhurst Charlie O'Brien	Ford EL Falcon	151
11	1	Glenn Seton Racing	Glenn Seton David Parsons	Ford EL Falcon	150
12	05	Holden Racing Team	Peter Brock Mark Skaife	Holden VS Commodore	150
13	12	Robert Smith Racing	Bruce Williams Paul Gover	Holden VS Commodore	148
14	26	M3 Motorsport	Peter Doulman John Cotter	Holden VP Commodore	148
15	24	Romano Racing	Paul Romano Allan Grice	Holden VS Commodore	144
16	14	Malcolm Stenniken	Malcolm Stenniken Norris Miles	Holden VR Commodore	144
17	16	Castrol Cougars	Melinda Price Kerryn Brewer	Holden VS Commodore	139
18	49	Alcair Airconditioning		Greg Crick^[3] Peter Fitzgerald Terry Finnigan	Holden VR Commodore	132
DNF	47	Bottlemagic	John Trimbole Tomas Mezera	Holden VS Commodore^[4]	128
DNF	28	Playscape Racing	Kevin Waldock John Smith	Ford EF Falcon	112
DNF	17	Dick Johnson Racing	Dick Johnson John Bowe	Ford EL Falcon	108
DNF	79	Cadillac Productions	Mike Conway Gavin Monaghan	Ford EB2 Falcon	95
DNF	3	Lansvale Racing Team	Steve Reed Trevor Ashby	Holden VS Commodore	47
DNF	10	Larkham Motor Sport	Mark Larkham Andrew Miedecke	Ford EL Falcon	33

The race was started in the rain under the control of the safety car.^[1] The weather conditions resulted in a slower than expected average speed and the race did not run to its full 161 lap distance, being halted on lap 157 after 3 hours 45 minutes and 22.3508 seconds.^[1]

Statistics

Pole position: Mark Skaife^[1]
Fastest race lap: Mark Skaife – 1:17.4932 on lap 101^[1]
Race time of winning car: 3h 45:22.3508^[1]

References

History Repeats, Australian Auto Action, 19–25 September 1997, page 46
Official Program, Tickford 500, Sandown, Australian Auto Action, 12–18 September 1997, page 4
V8 Bathurst 1997, page 27
Entry List in the Official Program shows Trimbole and Mezera in a VS Commodore. Results in Australian Auto Action show VP Commodore. An image of the car at the 1997 Tickford 500 on page 26 of the book "V8 Bathurst 1997" shows that it was not a VP Commodore