Better was to come for the Commodore in the endurance races with Grice and Bailey winning the 1986 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst from the HDT pair of John Harvey and Neal Lowe, with Grice becoming the first driver to lap the Mt. Panorama circuit at over in a Group A Touring Car when he was timed at 2:16.16 for the circuit in qualifying (Grice had also been the first to lap Bathurst at over 100 mph in a Group C touring car in 1982 with a time of 2:17.8, on that occasion driving a VH Commodore SS). Grice then went on to win the Group A support race at the 1986 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, which doubled as the second round of the 1986 South Pacific Touring Car Championship.