# 1990 Australian Touring Car Championship

The 1990 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to Group 3A Touring Cars. The championship, which was the 31st Australian Touring Car Championship, was promoted as the Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship. It began on 25 February 1990 at Amaroo Park and ended on 15 July at Oran Park Raceway after eight rounds.
The title was won by Jim Richards, his third Australian Touring Car Championship victory. Richards drove for Nissan Motorsport Australia, utilising both Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R and the new Skyline R32 GT-R during one of the most competitive seasons in the history of the championship.

## Teams and drivers

The following drivers and teams competed in the 1990 Australian Touring Car Championship.
| Team (Entrant) | Car | No | Driver |
| Nissan Motorsport Australia | Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R | 2 | Jim Richards |
| Nissan Motorsport Australia | Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R | 3 | Mark Skaife |
| Caltex CXT Racing | Ford Sierra RS500 | 4 | Ken Mathews |
| Caltex CXT Racing | Ford Sierra RS500 | 8 | Colin Bond |
| Mobil 1 Racing | Ford Sierra RS500 | 05 | Peter Brock |
| Mobil 1 Racing | Ford Sierra RS500 | 6 | Andrew Miedecke |
| Mobil 1 Racing | Ford Sierra RS500 | 26 | Tony Noske |
| Allan Moffat Enterprises | Ford Sierra RS500 | 9 | Gregg Hansford |
| Perkins Engineering | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 11 | Larry Perkins |
| Perkins Engineering | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 31 | Tommy Suharto |
| John Holmes Motorsport | Ford Sierra RS500 | 12 | Ray Lintott |
| Bob Holden Motors | Toyota Sprinter AE86 | 13 | Mike Conway |
| Bob Holden Motors | Toyota Sprinter AE86 | 13 | Bob Holden |
| Bob Holden Motors | Toyota Corolla E80 | 74 | Phil Alexander Keith McCulloch |
| Bob Holden Motors | Toyota Corolla E80 | 75 | Dennis Rogers |
| Bob Holden Motors | Toyota Sprinter AE86 | 13 | Tim Hall |
| Murray Carter | Ford Sierra RS500 | 14 | Murray Carter |
| Toyota Team Australia | Toyota Supra Turbo-A | 15 | John Smith |
| Toyota Team Australia | Toyota Corolla FX-GT | 70 | Neal Bates |
| Toyota Team Australia | Toyota Corolla FX-GT | 71 | John Faulkner |
| Holden Racing Team | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 16 | Win Percy Neil Crompton |
| Shell Ultra Hi Racing | Ford Sierra RS500 | 17 | Dick Johnson |
| Shell Ultra Hi Racing | Ford Sierra RS500 | 18 | John Bowe |
| Phil Ward Racing | Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3–16 | 19 | Phil Ward |
| Benson & Hedges Racing | Ford Sierra RS500 | 20 | Alan Jones |
| Benson & Hedges Racing | Ford Sierra RS500 | 25 | Tony Longhurst |
| Benson & Hedges Racing | Ford Sierra RS500 | 62 | Neville Crichton |
| Bob Forbes Racing | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 21 | Mark Gibbs |
| Lusty Engineering | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 22 | Graham Lusty |
| Chris Lambden | Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R | 23 | Chris Lambden |
| Jagparts Racing | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 24 | Gerald Kay |
| Terry Finnigan | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 27 | Terry Finnigan Geoff Leeds |
| Lawrie Nelson | Ford Mustang | 29 | Lawrie Nelson |
| Peter Jackson Racing | Ford Sierra RS500 | 30 | Glenn Seton |
| Peter Jackson Racing | Ford Sierra RS500 | 35 | Drew Price George Fury |
| Lansvale Racing Team | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A | 32 | Trevor Ashby Steve Reed |
| Pro-Duct Motorsport | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 33 | Bob Pearson Marc Ducquet |
| Ray Gulson | BMW 635 CSi | 34 | Ray Gulson |
| Ian Carrig | BMW 635 CSi | 36 | Ian Carrig |
| Maurice Pickering | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 36 | Maurice Pickering |
| Brian Callaghan | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 37 | Brian Callaghan |
| Brian Callaghan | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 43 | Brian Callaghan Jr |
| Tony Mulvihill | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 41 | Tony Mulvihill |
| Matt Wacker | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 42 | Matt Wacker |
| Paul Trevathan | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A | 44 | Paul Trevathan |
| Lester Smerdon | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 45 | Lester Smerdon Graham Jonsson |
| Llynden Reithmuller | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 46 | Llynden Reithmuller |
| Garry Willmington Performance | Toyota Supra Turbo | 47 | Garry Willmington |
| M3 Motorsport | BMW M3 | 52 | John Cotter |
| M3 Motorsport | BMW M3 | 53 | Peter Doulman |
| Mike Twigden | BMW 323i | 53 | Mike Twigden |
| Playscape Racing | Ford Sierra RS500 | 55 | Kevin Waldock |
| Reda Awadullah | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 69 | Reda Awadullah |
| David Sala | Toyota Corolla E80 | 72 | Richard Vorst David Sala |
| Alf Grant Racing | Toyota Corolla | 74 | Alf Grant |
| Alf Grant Racing | Toyota Corolla | 74 | Tim Grant |
| Bob Holden Motors | Toyota Corolla | 76 | Matthew Springer |
| Geoff Full | Toyota Sprinter AE86 | 78 | Geoff Full |
| Daryl Hendrick | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 86 | Daryl Hendrick |
| Alf Barbagallo | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 96 | Alf Barbagallo |
| Car-Trek Racing | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 98 | Bob Jones |
| Car-Trek Racing | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 99 | Greg Crick Joe Sommariva |

## Season review

The opening three rounds of the championship continued the story of the previous two seasons with the Ford Sierra RS500's of Dick Johnson Racing teammates Dick Johnson (winner of Symmons Plains and Phillip Island) and John Bowe dominating podiums with only the tight nature of the Amaroo Park layout giving another driver a look-in, namely the Nissan Skyline of Jim Richards who held off Bowe in a race long duel to win the season's opening round. Another tight track at Winton Motor Raceway gave Richards his second victory of the year with team-mates Tony Longhurst and Alan Jones putting their Benson & Hedges Sierras ahead of the DJR pair onto the podium (the Longhurst Sierra's were generally acknowledged as most powerful of the Blue Oval's cars at some 590 bhp (440 kW; 598 PS), though the extra power usually hurt the Sierra's skinny rear tyres and as team manager Frank Gardner put it a year later, "We usually started at the front and worked our way back"). Lakeside Raceway saw a complete upset with veteran Colin Bond winning his first ATCC race since 1978 from former teammate Peter Brock in his Mobil 1 Sierra and Holden Racing Team driver Win Percy in what would prove be Holden's only podium finish of the season. Englishman Percy, a former three time British Touring Car Champion, had taken over the role of team manager and lead driver of the HRT in 1990 and was contesting his first ATCC.
Colin Bond made it two in a row at Mallala after Mark Skaife's spectacular debut of Nissan's new 640 bhp (477 kW; 649 PS), 4WD, twin turbo Skyline R32 GT-R, which was nicknamed "Godzilla", ended with a broken hub after storming to the lead in the early laps. As at Lakeside, Bond's steady, though unspectacular race pace paid off and as others fell away, his Caltex Sierra emerged in front. Peter Brock broke through for his first victory of the year at Wanneroo despite driving with falling turbo boost pressure for the last half of the race which actually helped minimise his tyre wear, while a broken axle to Johnson at Wanneroo saw his points lead surrendered to Richards who finished fourth in his first race of the new GT-R.
Ahead of the Oran Park Raceway Grand Finale, Richards held a three-point lead over two-time defending champion Johnson, with Bond and Brock still a chance being eleven and twelve points behind respectively. Bowe, winless despite his form, was too far behind even if he won and all other contenders retired. Richards, again in the GT-R, dominated Oran Park, making the points calculations irrelevant. Second place allowed Brock to slip past Johnson and Bond into the series runner's up position. After a poor start by Brock, who proved to be the only Sierra driver capable of matching Richards in the Nissan (though his fastest lap time proved to be almost 2 seconds slower than the Nissan), Richards drove away from the field. Behind Bowe, Longhurst was sixth after an inconsistent season ahead of Glenn Seton's improving Sierra. Percy was the best of the Holdens in eighth ahead of Alan Jones and Gregg Hansford who only had a partial season in Allan Moffat's Eggenberger Motorsport built Sierra.
For the first time since the ATCC changed from a single race to a series of races in 1969, the ATCC did not appear in Melbourne with neither Sandown or Calder hosting a round. The Phillip Island circuit, revived in 1989 for the Australian motorcycle Grand Prix which was a round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle World Championship, held its first ATCC race since 1977.

## Results and standings
### Race results

The 1990 Australian Touring Car Championship consisted of 8 rounds with one race per round. Each race was slightly under one hour in duration.
| Rd. | Circuit | Location / state | Date | Winning driver | Car | Team |
| 1 | Amaroo Park Raceway | Sydney, New South Wales | 23 – 25 Feb | Jim Richards | Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R | Nissan Motorsport Australia |
| 2 | Symmons Plains Raceway | Launceston, Tasmania | 9 – 11 Mar | Dick Johnson | Ford Sierra RS500 | Shell Ultra-Hi Racing |
| 3 | Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | Phillip Island, Victoria | 23 – 25 Mar | Dick Johnson | Ford Sierra RS500 | Shell Ultra-Hi Racing |
| 4 | Winton Motor Raceway | Benalla, Victoria | 6 – 8 Apr | Jim Richards | Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R | Nissan Motorsport Australia |
| 5 | Lakeside International Raceway | Brisbane, Queensland | 4 – 6 May | Colin Bond | Ford Sierra RS500 | Caltex CXT Racing |
| 6 | Mallala Motor Sport Park | Mallala, South Australia | 8 – 10 Jun | Colin Bond | Ford Sierra RS500 | Caltex CXT Racing |
| 7 | Wanneroo Park | Perth, Western Australia | 22 – 24 Jun | Peter Brock | Ford Sierra RS500 | Mobil 1 Racing |
| 8 | Oran Park Raceway | Sydney, New South Wales | 13 – 15 Jul | Jim Richards | Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R | Nissan Motorsport Australia |

### Championship standings

Points were awarded on a 20–15–12–10–8–6–4–3–2–1 basis for the first ten outright positions in each race. The best seven race results counted for each driver's total.
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Ama | Sym | Phi | Win | Lak | Mal | Wan | Ora | Pts. |
| 1 | Jim Richards | Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R | 1st | 7th | 3rd | 1st | 5th | 3rd | 4th | 1st | 102 (106) |
| 2 | Peter Brock | Ford Sierra RS500 | 5th | 2nd | 19th | 9th | 2nd | 4th | 1st | 2nd | 85 |
| 3 | Dick Johnson | Ford Sierra RS500 | 3rd | 1st | 1st | 5th | 7th | 2nd | Ret | 7th | 83 |
| 4 | Colin Bond | Ford Sierra RS500 | 9th | 6th | 4th | 8th | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 4th | 81 (83) |
| 5 | John Bowe | Ford Sierra RS500 | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 6th | 4th | 14th | 6th | 5th | 72 |
| 6 | Tony Longhurst | Ford Sierra RS500 | 4th | Ret | 9th | 2nd | 8th | 5th | Ret | 9th | 40 |
| 7 | Glenn Seton | Ford Sierra RS500 | 12th | 4th | Ret | 4th | 9th | Ret | 2nd | Ret | 37 |
| 8 | Win Percy | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 14th | 9th | 7th | Ret | 3rd | | 5th | 6th | 32 |
| 9 | Alan Jones | Ford Sierra RS500 | 8th | 12th | 6th | 3rd | Ret | Ret | 10th | Ret | 22 |
| 10 | Gregg Hansford | Ford Sierra RS500 | 6th | 8th | 5th | 11th | Ret | | | | 17 |
| 11 | Larry Perkins | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 11th | 10th | 8th | 7th | 14th | 7th | 7th | Ret | 16 |
| 12 | Andrew Miedecke | Ford Sierra RS500 | 7th | 5th | 10th | 12th | 11th | Ret | | | 13 |
| 13 | George Fury | Ford Sierra RS500 | | | | | | | | 3rd | 12 |
| 14 | Mark Skaife | Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R | Ret | | DNS | Ret | 6th | Ret | Ret | 8th | 9 |
| 15 | Neil Crompton | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | | | | | | 6th | | | 6 |
| 16 | Kevin Waldock | Ford Sierra RS500 | 16th | 11th | 15th | 13th | Ret | 8th | 8th | Ret | 6 |
| 17 | Chris Lambden | Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R | 15th | 13th | 14th | 14th | 10th | 9th | 11th | 10th | 4 |
| 18 | Neville Crichton | Ford Sierra RS500 | | | | | | | 9th | | 2 |
| 19 | Mark Gibbs | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 10th | | | 10th | 22nd | | | 22nd | 2 |
| 20 | Gerald Kay | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 21st | 15th | 11th | 20th | 17th | 10th | Ret | DNS | 1 |
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Ama | Sym | Phi | Win | Lak | Mal | Wan | Ora | Pts. |
| Colour | Result |
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | Second place |
| Bronze | Third place |
| Green | Points finish |
| Blue | Non-points finish |
| Blue | Non-classified finish (NC) |
| Purple | Retired (Ret) |
| Red | Did not qualify (DNQ) |
| Red | Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) |
| Black | Disqualified (DSQ) |
| White | Did not start (DNS) |
| White | Withdrew (WD) |
| White | Race cancelled (C) |
| Blank | Did not practice (DNP) |
| Blank | Did not arrive (DNA) |
| Blank | Excluded (EX) |