1997 Australian Super Touring Championship

The 1997 Australian Super Touring Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title open to Super Touring Cars. It was the fifth national title to be run in Australia for that class and the third to carry the Australian Super Touring Championship name. The series, which began on 4 May 1997 at Lakeside International Raceway and ended on 9 November at Amaroo Park after sixteen races, was promoted as the 1997 BOC Gases Australian Super Touring Championship.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1997 Australian Super Touring Championship.

Team	Manufacturer	Car model	No	Driver
Brad Jones Racing (Orix Audi Sport Australia)	Audi	A4 Quattro	1 *	Brad Jones
			11 *	Cameron McConville
Paul Morris Motorsport (BMW Motorsport)	BMW	320i	2 *	Paul Morris
			22 *	Craig Baird
			83 *	Geoff Brabham
Volvo Cars Australia (Volvo Dealer Team)	Volvo	850	4 *	Tony Scott
			8 *	Jim Richards
Phoenix Motorsport	Toyota	Camry	10	Mark Adderton Neal Bates
Greenfield Mowers Racing	Holden	Vectra	12	Cameron McLean
CPW Motorsport	BMW	318i	13	Wayne Wakefield
			27	Steven Johnson
			64	Jason Richards
Triple P Racing (Hyundai Motorsport)	Hyundai	Lantra	14	Jim Cornish Kurt Kratzmann
			57	Jim Cornish
			58	Paul Pickett
Albert Poon	Ford	Mondeo	15	Gianfranco Brancatelli Mike Briggs
			20	Albert Poon
AAP Racing	Toyota	Carina	15	Milton Leslight
Bob Holden Motors	BMW	318i	16	Justin Mathews
M-F Racing	Peugeot	405 Mi16	21	Mike Fitzgerald
Garry Rogers Motorsport	Honda Nissan	Accord Primera	34	Steven Richards
TC Motorsport (Fastway Couriers Racing)	Peugeot	405 Mi16	37	Tony Newman
			38	Dwayne Bewley
Gun Racing	Alfa Romeo	155 TS	45	David Auger
John Henderson Racing	Opel	Vectra	56	John Henderson
Warren Luff	Honda	Accord	60	Warren Luff
Robert Tweedie	Vauxhall	Cavalier	79	Bob Tweedie
Knight Racing	Ford	Mondeo	88	Peter Hills
			89	Jenni Thompson Claude Elias
Nigel Barclay	BMW	318i	99	Blair Smith

Note : * indicates entry nominated by a manufacturer for the Manufacturers Championship

Results and Standings

Race Calendar

The 1997 Australian Super Touring Championship season consisted of eight rounds with two races held at each round.

Rd.	Race	Race Title	Circuit	City / State	Date	Winner	Team	Report
1	1	Lakeside	Lakeside International Raceway	Brisbane, Queensland	3–4 May	Paul Morris	Paul Morris Motorsport
1	2	Lakeside	Lakeside International Raceway	Brisbane, Queensland	3–4 May	Paul Morris	Paul Morris Motorsport
2	1	Phillip Island	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit	Phillip Island, Victoria	31 May - 1 Jun	Paul Morris	Paul Morris Motorsport
2	2	Phillip Island	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit	Phillip Island, Victoria	31 May - 1 Jun	Geoff Brabham	Paul Morris Motorsport
3	1	Calder	Calder Park Raceway	Melbourne, Victoria	21 - 22 Jun	Brad Jones	Brad Jones Racing
3	2	Calder	Calder Park Raceway	Melbourne, Victoria	21 - 22 Jun	Geoff Brabham	Paul Morris Motorsport
4	1	Amaroo Park	Amaroo Park	Sydney, New South Wales	19 - 20 Jul	Brad Jones	Brad Jones Racing
4	2	Amaroo Park	Amaroo Park	Sydney, New South Wales	19 - 20 Jul	Brad Jones	Brad Jones Racing
5	1	Winton	Winton Motor Raceway	Benalla, Victoria	9 - 10 Aug	Cameron McConville	Brad Jones Racing
5	2	Winton	Winton Motor Raceway	Benalla, Victoria	24 - 25 Aug	Paul Morris	Paul Morris Motorsport
6	1	Mallala	Mallala Motorsport Park	Adelaide, South Australia	23 - 24 Aug	Brad Jones	Brad Jones Racing
6	2	Mallala	Mallala Motorsport Park	Adelaide, South Australia	23 - 24 Aug	Cameron McConville	Brad Jones Racing
7	1	Lakeside	Lakeside International Raceway	Brisbane, Queensland	25 - 26 Oct	Paul Morris	Paul Morris Motorsport
7	2	Lakeside	Lakeside International Raceway	Brisbane, Queensland	25 - 26 Oct	Paul Morris	Paul Morris Motorsport
8	1	Amaroo Park	Amaroo Park	Sydney, New South Wales	8 - 9 Nov	Geoff Brabham	Paul Morris Motorsport
8	2	Amaroo Park	Amaroo Park	Sydney, New South Wales	8 - 9 Nov	Paul Morris	Paul Morris Motorsport

Drivers Championship

Points were awarded 15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 based on the top ten race positions in each race. There was a bonus point allocated for pole position.

Pos Driver LAK 1 LAK 2 PHI 1 PHI 2 ORA 1 ORA 2 AMA 1 AMA 2 WIN 1 WIN 2 MAL 1 MAL 2 LAK 3 LAK 4 AMA 3 AMA 4 Pts 1 Paul Morris 1st 1st 1st 2nd Ret 2nd 2nd 4th 2nd 1st 6th 3rd 1st 1st 4th 1st 189 2 Geoff Brabham 2nd 2nd 5th 1st 2nd 1st 4th 3rd 8th 3rd Ret 2nd 2nd 2nd 1st 3rd 171 3 Cameron McConville DSQ 8th 2nd 4th 3rd 3rd 3rd 2nd 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 4th 6th 3rd 2nd 152 4 Brad Jones Ret 6th 11th 3rd 1st 4th 1st 1st 3rd 6th 1st 4th Ret 7th 2nd Ret 125 5 Jim Richards 3rd 3rd Ret 5th 4th 5th 5th 5th 4th 4th 2nd 5th 5th 4th 6th 5th 111 6 Cameron McLean 4th 4th 4th Ret 5th 10th 11th 6th 5th 7th 4th 6th 6th 5th 13th 11th 70 7 Steven Richards Ret Ret 3rd 6th DSQ 6th 6th 7th 7th 5th 11th Ret 8th Ret 42 8 Craig Baird 3rd 3rd 5th 4th 35 9 Justin Mathews 6th 7th 6th 8th 9th 9th 10th 11th 10th 9th Ret Ret 9th 9th 16th 8th 32 10 Tony Newman 8th 9th 7th 7th 8th Ret Ret 10th 11th Ret 7th 8th Ret 14th Ret DNS 24 11 David Auger 7th 10th 8th Ret 7th 8th 13th 13th 12th 10th 9th 9th 10th 10th 14th Ret 22 12 Bob Tweedie Ret Ret 12th DSQ 6th Ret 9th 9th 13th 11th 8th 7th 11th 12th 12th Ret 16 13 Mark Adderton Ret Ret 8th Ret 8th Ret 7th 7th 14 13 Neal Bates 6th 8th 5th Ret 14 15 Wayne Wakefield 5th 5th 12 16 Jason Richards 7th 8th 7 16 Steven Johnson 7th 8th 7 16 Tony Scott 9th 6th 7 19 Mike Briggs Ret 7th 7 20 Jim Cornish Ret 11th 10th Ret Ret Ret 10th Ret 2 20 Paul Pickett Ret Ret 9th Ret Ret 15th Ret DNS 2 20 Peter Hills 12th 12th 9th 12th 12th 11th Ret Ret 2 20 Claude Elias 15th 9th 2 Warren Luff Ret DNS 11th Ret Jenni Thompson 13th 16th Gianfranco Brancatelli Ret Ret Blair Smith Ret Ret Ret Ret Kurt Kratzmann Ret DNS John Henderson Ret Ret Milton Leslight Ret DNS Mike Fitzgerald Ret DNS Albert Poon DNS DNS Pos Driver LAK 1 LAK 2 PHI 1 PHI 2 ORA 1 ORA 2 AMA 1 AMA 2 WIN 1 WIN 2 MAL 1 MAL 2 LAK 3 LAK 4 AMA 3 AMA 4 Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Finished, in points Blue Finished, no points Not classified (NC) Purple Did not finish (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 participate Excluded (EX)

Manufacturers Championship

Championship points were awarded on a 15-12-10 basis for relative positions attained in each race by the best placed car of each of the three manufacturers that had nominated cars to compete on their behalf.

Position	Manufacturer	Rd1 R1	Rd1 R2	Rd2 R1	Rd2 R2	Rd3 R1	Rd3 R2	Rd4 R1	Rd4 R2	Rd5 R1	Rd5 R2	Rd6 R1	Rd6 R2	Rd7 R1	Rd7 R2	Rd8 R1	Rd8 R2	Total
1	BMW	15	15	15	15	12	15	12	12	12	15	10	12	15	15	15	15	220
2	Audi	-	10	12	12	15	12	15	15	15	12	15	15	12	10	12	12	194
3	Volvo	12	12	-	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	12	10	10	12	10	10	158

Teams Championship

Position	Team	Car	Points
1	BMW Motorsport	BMW 320i	362
2	Orix Audi Sport Australia	Audi A4 Quattro	305
3	Hyundai Motorsport	Hyundai Lantra	31
4	Knight Racing	Ford Mondeo	30
5	Volvo Dealer Team	Volvo 850	25
6	Fastway Couriers Racing	Peugeot 405	17

External links

• Australian Titles from www.camsmanual.com.au > About CAMS
• 1997 Racing Results Archive
• Review and images from the Winton round of the Championship at www.minerva.com.au