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103-509: Garry Rogers Motorsport is an Australian motor racing team. It is owned by retired racing driver Garry Rogers who began the team to further his own racing efforts. Based in Melbourne, originally out of a Nissan dealership owned by Rogers, the team has competed in a variety of touring car series in Australia ranging from relatively modest Nissan production cars to Chevrolet NASCAR race cars to building

206-490: A Peuegot 308 driven by Jordan Cox and Jason Bargwanna respectively, and Team Valvoline GRM , who also runs with an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce and a Peuegot 308 driven by Michael Caruso and Aaron Cameron respectively. The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in the Australian Touring Car Championship and Supercars, in order of their first appearance. Drivers who only drove for

309-470: A Nissan dealership in Melbourne). Rogers also ran and then assisted Formula Ford teams during the 1990s, helping title sponsor Valvoline's promotion of Australian motorsport, as well as helping drivers such as Steven Richards and Garth Tander . GRM joined the fledgling Australian Super Touring Championship in 1995 with young lead driver Steven Richards driving the team's Alfa Romeo 155 . Quickly Richards

412-515: A big effort in the 1981 Australian Sports Sedan Championship driving a Holden Torana LX SS A9X Hatchback. The team disbanded while Rogers concentrated on his Nissan dealership and he drove for other teams at the Bathurst 1000 , including Allan Browne's Re-Car team in 1982 paired with Ron Wanless (who famously drove the Commodore the wrong direction through pit lane without incurring a penalty). Rogers

515-605: A few hours into the race, the entire fuel cell of the Monaro needed to be replaced, dropping the car 13 laps behind the Porsche. The team overcame the fuel cell problem as well as the car becoming jammed between gears just before sunrise after Nathan Pretty was hit by the BMW 318i of Debbie Chapman in The Chase, which also caused damage to the driver's side door. The Monaro spun and stalled, jamming

618-643: A few weeks later in Adelaide . In Melbourne the car ran with Brock's famous #05 rather than its usual #427, winning all four races after battling with the Lamborghini Diablo of Paul Stokell, though Brock admitted that he would not have won any of those races had Stokell not struck trouble in each race. He then drove the new car, painted red and, until late in the series, without the Monaro teams sponsorship of Just Car Insurance (GRM's usual major sponsor in V8 Supercars

721-511: A field of Toyota Corollas, Isuzu Geminis and a Nissan Gazelle. The Amaroo Park based Better Brakes/AMSCAR series was claimed by JPS Team BMW's number 2 driver, Tony Longhurst driving the team's secondary car, a BMW 325i , the forerunner to 1987's BMW M3 . Australia hosted the opening two rounds of the inaugural South Pacific Touring Car Championship with the final three rounds held in New Zealand . The opening round also doubled as Round 5 of

824-469: A local manufacturer competing for wins in the championship's top category and gave Holden special permission to use the 7.0 litre engine in the Monaro in order to better compete with the 6.0 litre, V12 Lamborghini and the 8.0 litre , V10 Viper. Holden did later announce the HRT 427 road car which was unveiled at the 2002 Sydney Motor Show and it was widely believed that this would be the road going version of

927-454: A podium at Bathurst , with Holdsworth and Caruso finishing third. The second car of Greg Ritter and David Besnard looked like being in a position to win the race in the closing stages before a poorly timed safety car meant that they only finished ninth. 2010 saw the team's major sponsor change from Valvoline to Fujitsu with the livery changing in accordance, to red and white separated by black lines. The Clipsal 500 saw Holdsworth finish on

1030-473: A pre-existing neck injury sustained in a Formula 3 accident years ago, with Chris Pither for Winton and Darwin while Michael Caruso made a one-off return to the team at Queensland Raceway. In mid October 2019, Garry Rogers announced that they won't be returning to the Supercars grid for the 2020 season, citing escalating costs of competing and a model that required them to purchase parts rather than develop them as

1133-408: A second car for the legendary touring car driver Peter Brock . It was this second car which won the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour with Jason Bright , Todd Kelly and Greg Murphy sharing the driving with Brock. The winning car from 2002, driven by the same four drivers as the previous year, finished second, less than one second behind after 24 hours of racing. With seven minutes to go in the race, and with

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1236-452: A victory. He was on track for another podium in the final race before a tyre failure dropped him down the field. Both cars finished in the top ten at the Sandown 500 , with McLaughlin and Jack Perkins finishing eighth and Prémat and Greg Ritter finishing tenth. McLaughlin finished the year tenth in the points standings while Prémat finished in nineteenth. In June 2013 it had been announced that

1339-543: Is currently owned by a historic car racing enthusiast, the third Monaro driven by James Brock was placed under auction on 20 February 2020. Holden Monaro 427C The Holden Monaro 427C was an Australian built and designed GT style race car based on the Holden Monaro CV8 road car. The car ran in the Procar Australia -run Australian Nations Cup Championship and at the short-lived Bathurst 24 Hour race at

1442-432: The 1986 James Hardie 1000 , Rogers teamed with Queenslander Charlie O'Brien . After qualifying 22nd, O'Brien started the race, but the car was struck down by a slipping clutch which led to its retirement after just 19 laps with Rogers not actually getting to drive. After spending 1987 on ice, the team came back in late-1988 with a Les Small ( Roadways Racing ) prepared, but unsponsored Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV at

1545-569: The 2003 24 Hours of Le Mans , defeating the Corvette C5-R's that used the same size 7.0 L V8's as the Monaro's), was powered by a 5.5 litre V12 engine and produced approximately 600 bhp (447 kW; 608 PS). It was driven in Nations Cup by the talented and popular Danish driver Allan Simonsen (who due to the budget needed to run the V12 Ferrari, also drove a Ferrari 360 Challenge in

1648-430: The 2003 Australian Nations Cup Championship , and Tander himself stated that he would like to race the car. However, with input from Holden Motorsport it was former AUSCAR and part-time V8 Supercar driver Nathan Pretty who was given the drive instead. Pretty went on to score numerous race wins in the series, including round wins at Symmons Plains and Winton , but would finish third in the eight round championship behind

1751-568: The 2004 Australian Nations Cup Championship . Although the championship had lost the talents of John Bowe who was concentrating on V8 Supercars, it did get some new contenders. Mark Coffey Racing , who had co-run the Lamborghini in the Bathurst 24 Hour with Team Lamborghini, had purchased an ex- ALMS Ferrari 550 Millenio from Team Rafanelli. The Ferrari 550 (the same model that had won the GTS Class in

1854-619: The 2019 TCR Australia Touring Car Series with two Renault Mégane R.S TCR and an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR . They will enter the 2020 season as Renault Sport GRM , after being sponsored by Renault Australia, in which they will run three Renault Mégane R.S TCRs. In 2018, Garry Rogers Motorsport built the first batch of S5000 single-seater race cars as a part of a partnership with the newly created S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship race category. Garry Rogers Motorsport has its origins in 1963 when Garry Rogers began racing Appendix J Holdens. He then went on to race Sports Sedans during

1957-619: The 24 Hours of Le Mans and the American Le Mans Series . However, while the racing Corvette's used a purpose-built racing V8 engine (dubbed the LS1.R), the GRM 427 cui engines were based on the road-going Chevrolet Corvette Z06 's upgraded (but still 5.7L) LS6 engine block (the internals of the Monaro's engines did include a number of the C5-R's "off the shelf" GM racing parts in order to bring them up to

2060-507: The Bathurst 1000 with Bargwanna) and finished runner-up to Mark Skaife in the title. Tander led the series early in the season but a couple of bad rounds in the middle of the season allowed Skaife to take the championship lead. Compared to 2000, 2001 was a poor season for the team, with Tander and Bargwanna finishing tenth and fifteenth in the points respectively and a best finish of second for Tander in Canberra . Bargwanna took his final win for

2163-482: The National Motor Racing Museum , located outside of Murray's Corner at Mount Panorama in Bathurst. The 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour winner is currently owned by a historic car racing enthusiast, the third Monaro driven by James Brock was placed under auction on 20 February 2020. 1986 Australian Touring Car season Touring Cars competed at 21 race meetings in Australia during the 1986 season, contesting

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2266-496: The Tooheys 1000 , sharing the drive with American John Andretti , the nephew of motor racing legend Mario Andretti . Rogers had originally wanted Mario to drive with him at Bathurst, hoping his high-profile would help land a major sponsor, but the 1978 World Champion was unavailable and suggested his nephew as a replacement. Unfortunately though, the younger Andretti was recovering from a broken leg (he still needed crutches outside of

2369-638: The "Nuclear banana") in second place behind the N-GT Ferrari F360 driven by Brad Jones . After taking the lead from the John Bowe driven Ferrari at the start, the car suffered an early flat tyre which dropped it to second behind the Cirtek Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 of David Brabham , while the Ferrari had already suffered the first of two engine failures early on and was out of contention. Then, just

2472-438: The "Nuclear banana") wore Tander's usual #34 rather than the #427 which it would wear until the end of 2004. Prior to the 24 Hour race, GRM also completed limited testing with its four nominated drivers at the tight Winton Motor Raceway . In its race debut at the 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour , the #427 Monaro was driven by Tander and fellow V8 Supercar drivers Steven Richards , Nathan Pretty and Cameron McConville . Tander qualified

2575-655: The 34th and last ATCC race win for the HDT who had won their first ATCC race when coincidentally Brock won at Surfers in 1973 in a Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 (Brock contributed 28 of those 34 wins with Colin Bond winning the other 6). While Richards won the Endurance Championship through consistent placings, the big prizes went elsewhere. Nissan claimed the Sandown 500 with Fury and his new young team mate Glenn Seton (the son of 1965 Bathurst winner Barry Seton who also built

2678-515: The 427C race car. The HRT (Holden Racing Team) 427 was based on a modified Holden Monaro bodyshell and, among other things, it featured a 580  hp (433  kW ) 7.0-Litre V8 engine developed by John Sidney Racing in Melbourne. However, due to the high cost specifications, the business case for full production failed since Holden could not built the 427 in such limited quantities for the original asking price of A$ 215,000. In all, only two road and four racing versions were ever built. The first car

2781-905: The Australian Endurance Championship at Calder Park while Round 2 was the Group A support race at the Australian Grand Prix. Allan Grice who won in Adelaide went on to claim the South Pacific title after a further win at Baypark in NZ. The 1986 Australian Manufacturers' Championship was awarded to Nissan . Tony Longhurst ( BMW 325i ) won the 1986 Better Brakes/AMSCAR Series for JPS Team BMW from Colin Bond ( Alfa Romeo GTV6 ) and his JPS team mate Jim Richards ( BMW 635 CSi ). South Pacific Touring Car Championship – Round 2 This race

2884-617: The GT specification Holden Monaro 427C . The team won the Bathurst 1000 in 2000 and also won both of the Bathurst 24 Hour races which were held in 2002 and 2003 . In 2013 the team celebrated its 50th year in racing since Rogers made his debut. Rogers has been famed as a talent spotter with a number of drivers finding their feet within GRM, including Steven Richards , Jason Bargwanna , Garth Tander , Jamie Whincup , Lee Holdsworth and Scott McLaughlin . Many of these drivers became future champions and Bathurst 1000 winners. The team competed in

2987-461: The Lamborghini of Paul Stokell and John Bowe in a Ferrari. Following the Monaro's dominant Bathurst 24 Hour win, Procar enforced the use of air restrictors on Monaros (as they did other competitors in the name of parity) which they would use for the rest of their racing life. The FIA approved 30mm air restrictors brought power back down from an alleged 700  hp (522  kW ) to around 600  hp (447  kW ), though torque would remain

3090-428: The Monaro "A better V8 Supercar". Holden had expected that the Monaro would be given a rev limit of 6,700 by Procar. However, when GRM got to Bathurst they were informed that the Monaro's had to be set for 5,700 revolutions per minute, a full 1,000 below expected. As driver Nathan Pretty would later point out, the 7.0L V8's had shown in testing that they didn't make their true power until well after 6,000 rpm so in racing

3193-639: The Monaro 427C's last win, but the last ever race of the Nations Cup Championship as Ross Palmer could no longer afford to fund the series and PROCAR was disbanded after failing to find a major sponsor. The series was replaced in 2005 by the return of the Australian GT Championship where the Monaros, with their 7.0 litre engines, were ruled ineligible due to the lack of a road-going 7.0 litre Monaro. After their 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour win, it

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3296-404: The Monaro had clawed its way back to second place, only three laps behind the leading Porsche. Then after a trouble free run, the Porsche broke a half-shaft with Brabham at the wheel, causing the car to pit for four laps. Sensationally, the Monaro pitted at the same time as the Porsche to replace rear suspension bolts that had broken away from the chassis. The GRM crew won the pit race and the Monaro

3399-509: The Monaro's did get some race and round wins in Nations Cup, including surprisingly twice for Nathan Pretty in 2003 and 2004 at the tight and twisty Winton Motor Raceway , it was the more track-focused Italian sports cars such as the Lamborghini Dialbo GTR and Ferrari 360 N-GT which would largely dominate the race wins over the two seasons the Monaro's ran in the series. The 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour race-winning Monaro currently resides at

3502-570: The Monaro, Garry Rogers Motorsport accepted the task of building the car as well as running it. The Monaro was originally intended to be debuted in 2003, but after the go ahead had been given for the Bathurst 24 Hour to be run in November 2002, the car's build and development time shortened to just 9 months. The Monaros ran a GRM developed version of the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R 's 7.0 litre (427 cui) motor which had taken numerous class wins in

3605-435: The Monaros controlled the race which was run in wet and dry conditions with the rain at one point (after just a couple of hours) coming down hard enough to have the entire field of 46 cars stopped on the pit straight for almost 10 minutes for safety reasons (also due to the lightning, race broadcaster Channel 7 's camera operators around the circuit were forced to stand down from their metal tube scaffolds ). The main opposition

3708-485: The Monaros on Conrod Straight was only around 275 km/h (171 mph), compared to the V8s which were reaching just under 300 km/h (186 mph), though he did point out that the Monaros were two seconds faster from Griffin's Bend to McPhillamy Park. The 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour race-winning Monaro currently resides at the National Motor Racing Museum , located at Mount Panorama in Bathurst. The 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour winner

3811-583: The Nations Cup Championship, Greg Crick's privately entered Viper had shown on a small budget that it was capable of beating the Monaros. Ten years later, in a late 2013 interview with AMC to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour and GRM's switch from Holden to Volvo in 2014, Rogers proclaimed that winning the two Bathurst 24 Hour races and finishing 1–2 in 2003 was the crowning achievement for his team during their 25 years running Holdens which spanned from 1988 until 2013. Former GRM driver and 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour winner Garth Tander also told in

3914-657: The Privateers Cup to Cameron McLean. Garry Rogers Motorsport joined the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1996 with Richards a driving a Holden VS Commodore sourced from Gibson Motorsport . The team expanded to two cars in 1998, with Jason Bargwanna driving the second car. Richards went to England for a test drive with the Nissan team in the British Touring Car Championship and

4017-559: The Saturday race with heat exhaustion. He was unable to take part in the Sunday race and was replaced by Development Series champion Scott McLaughlin. For 2013, McLaughlin was signed to drive for the team full-time alongside Prémat, with Caruso moving to Nissan Motorsport . Under the new New Generation V8 Supercar regulations, the team performed strongly at the start of the year with Prémat and McLaughlin finishing fourth and sixth respectively in

4120-529: The Sydney 500. Holdsworth left the team to join Stone Brothers Racing in 2012 and he was replaced by French driver Alexandre Prémat , while Caruso entered his fifth season with the team. The team struggled to find pace during the year, with a best result of fourth for Caruso at Hidden Valley, while Prémat struggled for most of the season. Prémat showed good pace at the Sydney 500, however, before retiring from

4223-466: The Trophy Class at events where the 550 wasn't entered). Also driving was privateer David Stevens in a turbocharged Porsche 911 GT2 . Peter Brock drove his Bathurst winning car alongside James in the new car, with GRM continuing to run the original car for Nathan Pretty. Of the three, Pretty had the best championship run, finishing second overall behind the Lamborghini of Paul Stokell. James Brock finished

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4326-480: The article that while many people were surprised that the Monaros were five seconds slower around the Mount Panorama Circuit than the V8 Supercars were at the time, especially given that the Monaros ran the 7.0 litre engines while the V8 Supercars were restricted to 5.0 litre V8s, the Monaro weighed in at over 1,600 kilograms, nearly 300 kg heavier than a V8 Supercar. Tander also said that the top speed of

4429-473: The car as well as running it. The car ran a GRM developed version of the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R 's 7.0 litre ( 427 cui ) motor which had taken numerous class wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans . The GRM engines were built by the team's engine builder Mike Excel. The car became known as the Holden Monaro 427C . In its race debut, the 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour , Tander qualified the bright yellow #427 car (nicknamed

4532-562: The car himself alongside Paul Fordham. Garry slowly eased himself out of regular driving, putting Steven Richards in the seat. The team also secured a major sponsor in Valvoline along the way. In this time the team also competed in Production Car racing at events such as the Winton 300 and Bathurst 12 Hour . The team used a Nissan Pulsar and a 300ZX due to Rogers' links with Nissan (he owns

4635-403: The car in second place on the grid and using the power of the 7.0 litre engine was able to take the lead from the start. Although Holden cars had a strong reputation at Bathurst and the similar engined Corvette C5-R's had scored numerous class wins in GT endurance racing, the Monaro was seen as too new pre-race and wasn't really considered a chance of winning or even finishing its debut race despite

4738-572: The car into the wall at Griffin's Bend with no steering, a legacy of the Grice crash. The Monaro ran in the lead for the last four hours to win the race by 24 laps from the British entered Mosler MT900R of Martin Short . In the race, Tander's fastest race lap of 2:14.3267 was actually quicker than Brad Jones ' pole time of 2:15.0742 and quicker than his own qualifying time of 2:16.8792 (in the warm up session prior to

4841-420: The car into the wall at Griffin's Bend with no steering, a legacy of the Grice crash. The Monaro, driven by Tander, Pretty, Steven Richards and Cameron McConville , ran in the lead for the last five hours to win the race by 24 laps from the British entered Mosler of Martin Short . In the race, Tander's fastest race lap of 2:14.3267 was actually quicker than Brad Jones' pole time of 2:15.0742. In 2003 GRM built

4944-602: The car), continued the tradition of American drivers not having a good Bathurst record and on lap 37 put the Commodore into the wall at Reid Park. To his credit Andretti admitted the accident was caused by driver error, going too fast, too soon, on cold tyres. The Commodore was also run in selected (mostly Victorian based) rounds throughout the 1989 Australian Touring Car Championship . For the 1989 Bathurst 1000 , Rogers accepted an offer to drive Colin Bond 's Caltex CXT Race Team 's second Ford Sierra RS500 with Ken Mathews (the car

5047-417: The cars roof line. GRM and Holden Motorsport also used a lot of their V8 Supercar components on the Monaro to make it a stronger race car. The car ran on 18 x 11 inch wheels at the front and 18 x 13 inch wheels at the rear while the wheels were supplied by OZ Wheels. The cars were also fitted with a 6-speed sequential gearbox made by Melbourne-based racing gearbox supplier Peter Holinger. The Nations Cup Monaro

5150-467: The circuit and went backwards into the wall at high speed. Holdsworth rebounded quickly to score his maiden V8 Supercar round win at Oran Park Raceway . After qualifying a career best fourth, Holdsworth dominated the final race of the weekend in very wet weather after a good strategy call from the team at the start of the race. Holdsworth was commended for his composure during the race while other, more experienced drivers made errors. Michael Caruso joined

5253-743: The day after the Castrol 500 at Sandown after refusing to drive what he believed would be an un-competitive car which had only been completed at the meeting started. He then returned to the Mark Petch team as they began development of a Ford Sierra turbo . Although Francevic won the ATCC in the car, 1986 was the last time the Volvo 240T was seen in Australian touring car racing. Defending ATCC, Endurance and AMSCAR champion, JPS Team BMW's Jim Richards picked up race wins during

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5356-501: The drivers never got to exploit the real power of the engines, though the torque levels of the engines did often compensate for that loss of power, especially at Bathurst. After Tander used the torque of the 7.0 litre V8 to take the lead from the John Bowe driven Ferrari 360 at the start, the car suffered an early flat tyre which dropped it to second behind the Cirtek Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3 RS of David Brabham , while

5459-614: The driving, the Martin Short Mosler MT900R that had finished second the previous year and had since won the 2003 British GT Championship and the GTO class at the 2003 1000 km of Spa (finishing 6th outright), as well as numerous international and Australian Porsche 911's of various specifications, it was the Brock Monaro which won the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour with V8 Supercar drivers Jason Bright , Todd Kelly and Greg Murphy sharing

5562-435: The driving. The winning car from 2002, driven by the same four drivers as the previous year, finished second, only 0.3505 seconds behind after 527 laps (5 less than in 2002) and 24 hours of racing. After easily qualifying 1-2 with Tander claiming pole with a time of 2:13.2856 (the fastest ever Monaro and Nations Cup time around The Mountain), 2.7 seconds faster than Murphy in 05 and some 4.4 seconds faster than John Bowe in 3rd,

5665-637: The engines for the Nissan team), while Allan Grice and Graeme Bailey returned from their attempt at the FIA Touring Car Championship in Europe to claim victory in the Bathurst 1000 , with Grice also winning the Group A support race at the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide . John Smith claimed the debut title for small touring cars, the distinction for the class was set at two litres leaving

5768-535: The famous Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst . In 2002 Holden Motorsport was looking at running a Holden Monaro in the first ever Bathurst 24 Hour endurance race against the likes of the Lamborghini Diablo GTR , Ferrari 360 N-GT , Chrysler Viper ACR and Porsche 911 GT3 that were regulars in the Nations Cup Championship. After the Holden Racing Team reportedly turned down the job of building

5871-451: The first race of the season at the Clipsal 500 . McLaughlin went on to finish in the top ten in the first six races, becoming the youngest ever V8 Supercar race winner when he took victory at Pukekohe. However, his fortunes changed following this victory, only taking three top ten finishes in the next fifteen races. Queensland Raceway saw a return to form, with McLaughlin taking a second place and

5974-468: The following events: The second year of Group A in Australia saw the domination of the JPS Team BMW team fade with several other teams pushing forwards. Most spectacularly was the return of Nissan Motorsport Australia (now under the leadership of former Bathurst winner Fred Gibson ) with the newly homologated Nissan Skyline DR30 RS turbo. Led by long time Nissan lead driver George Fury they were

6077-594: The full 7.0L size). GRM's engines were built by the team's engine builder Mike Excel who also designed a special inlet manifold for the engine. The aero kit (front and rear wings) on the Monaro was based on the similar aero package used on the Holden VX Commodore that ran in V8 Supercars (the Monaro road car was a 2-door coupé version of the VX Commodore), though the rear wing was larger than a V8 Supercar's and to conform to GT regulations had to be lower in height than

6180-419: The gearbox, forcing Pretty to get out and rock the car back and forth to clear the problem, a task made difficult by the Monaro's Sequential transmission . By the 18-hour mark the GRM entry had clawed its way back to second place, only three laps behind the lead. The Porsche struck trouble with a broken half-shaft, causing the car to pit for four laps. The GRM Monaro re-took the lead, despite the Monaro pitting at

6283-430: The high revving, 3.6 litre V8 Ferrari had already suffered the first of two engine failures early on and was out of contention. Then, just a few hours into the race after re-taking the lead from the Porsche, the entire fuel cell of the Monaro needed to be replaced, dropping the car 13 laps behind. The team overcame the fuel cell problem as well as the car becoming jammed between gears just before sunrise after Nathan Pretty

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6386-509: The late 1960s and the 1970s. In the mid-1970s Rogers got more serious, running a BDA Escort in Sports Sedans with some success, before moving onto an ex- Ian Geoghegan Holden Monaro . Around this time, in late 1978, Rogers also moved into the Australian Touring Car Championship as a privateer in an ex- Bob Jane Holden Torana . He ran through until the end of 1979 in touring cars before turning his attention back to Sports Sedans, putting in

6489-659: The main rival for another new team, the John Sheppard run Volvo Dealer Team , a factory supported team which succeeded the Mark Petch Motorsport Volvo team of 1985. The Touring Car Championship became a two horse race between Volvo's Robbie Francevic and Fury. Fury was never able to haul in Francevic's early points lead and Francevic was crowned champion. Francevic was fired from the Volvo Dealer Team by Sheppard

6592-648: The pair finished 6th outright at Bathurst, 4 laps behind the TWR Jaguar XJS of John Goss and Armin Hahne . GRM re-emerged in 1986 when he purchased a BMW 635 CSi from JPS Team BMW and drove it throughout that year's touring car season . The year included a win in one of the AMSCAR Series races at Amaroo Park. Rogers BMW carried sponsorship from Bob Jane T-Marts , with the car painted in Bob Jane's famous Hugger Orange. At

6695-413: The podium at the event for the third year in a row, Holdsworth taking third place on Sunday. The team came very close to winning the Bathurst 1000 , with Holdsworth and Besnard leading the majority of the race. A drive-through penalty for speeding in pit lane with thirty laps to go meant that the pair would only finish in seventh place, while Caruso and Ritter finished tenth. Holdsworth won the final race of

6798-424: The preceding VF Commodores. The team also scored a single podium at Melbourne, with Tander. At the end of the 2018 season, their main sponsor, Wilson Security, withdrew sponsorship and was replaced with Boost Mobile. Garth Tander was also dropped from the team and was replaced with Richie Stanaway. No podiums came from the team as Stanaway was forced to withdraw from the last race at Winton to Queensland Raceway, due to

6901-403: The race, Tander had actually recorded a 2:13.6871 which was the fastest time of the session by some 6.3313 seconds). With the demise of the Bathurst 24 Hour and Nations Cup after 2003 and 2004 respectively, Tander's 2002 fastest race lap time stands as the Nations Cup class record lap for Mount Panorama. It was then widely expected that regular GRM V8 Supercar driver Tander would drive the car in

7004-567: The reasons for his decision to withdraw from the series. At the end of the season, Richie Stanaway announced his retirement from motorsport altogether and James Golding went to Charlie Schwerkolt's Team 18 as a Co-Driver for the Enduro Cup. In 2019, the team entered into the TCR Australia Touring Car Series , entering in a single Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce and two Renault Mégane R.S '. Jimmy Vernon with withdrawn halfway through

7107-462: The relatively low quality of the field with only 3 or 4 of the 36 entrants considered a true chance for outright honours. While the 7.0 L engine was a known quantity, many felt that the Monaro's other racing components would have suspect reliability, though as veteran driver Allan Grice pointed out, the Monaro shared a lot of parts with V8 Supercars which had over 10 years of proven race history, while 7 time Bathurst 1000 winner Jim Richards labelled

7210-399: The same at around 780 N⋅m (580 lb⋅ft). In 2003 GRM built a second car for the legendary touring car driver Peter Brock which would make its on track debut in Round 2 of the championship at Symmons Plains in Tasmania . Brock had driven the Bathurst winning Monaro at the Nations Cup support races at the 2003 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne before the start of the championship

7313-417: The same time as the Porsche to replace rear suspension bolts that had broken away from the chassis. When the Porsche returned to the track, Allan Grice , told to drive as fast as possible, hit the wall on the top of the mountain while attempting to lap the Mosler MT900R driven by Mark Pashley which broke the Porsche's rear suspension and took it out of contention. Upon its return to the track Darren Palmer put

7416-511: The season, claiming the Australian Endurance Championship . Peter Brock likewise returned to the winner list for Holden Dealer Team , dominating the Adelaide round of the ATCC before engine failure, and later claiming an ATCC win at Surfers Paradise which would prove to be the last time a Holden won a race in the championship until 1992. Brock's win at Surfers in his Holden VK Commodore SS Group A would also prove to be

7519-465: The series and was replaced with Jordan Cox for the remainder of the series. The team claimed seven podiums from Cox, James Moffat and Chris Pither. In 2020, Renault increased sponsorship with the team, to be renamed to Renault Sport GRM and add a third car into the main team, with James Moffat and Dylan O'Keeffe the confirmed drivers. They will also increase their presence through the series as GRM Customer Racing , with an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce and

7622-587: The series in fourth place while Peter Brock finished the championship in sixth place despite not contesting all rounds. The GRM built Monaros have the distinction of winning both the first and last races they competed in. After the debut victory in the 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour race, James Brock drove his Monaro to victory in the last race of the 2004 Nations Cup Championship at the Mallala Motor Sport Park in South Australia . It would prove to be not only

7725-468: The series. Garth Tander, who was with the team from 1998 to 2004, returned to the team to replace Scott McLaughlin, who left the team to join DJR Team Penske . The team only scored a single podium at Phillip Island, with Tander, as well as adding James Golding as a wildcard throughout the year. Moffat left the team at the end of 2017 and was replaced by Golding. In 2018, they ran ZB Commodores, replacing

7828-534: The smaller Gen III production based engine which would have been almost restriction free, as seen with the Mosler MT900R which used the 5.7 litre motor. He also refuted that having a professional team such as GRM made the car unbeatable at Bathurst, stating that had anyone built a V10 Viper to at least the same standards and had professional drivers like the Monaros instead of part-timers and gentlemen drivers, then " nobody would have seen which way they went ", as during

7931-461: The team at Surfers Paradise in 2002 before switching to Larkham Motor Sport for the 2003 season. He was replaced by 2002 Australian Formula Ford champion Jamie Whincup . GRM was one of the first teams to use the Holden VY Commodore for the 2003 season, with Tander driving the new model car. Whincup would drive an older model VX Commodore . Whincup was sacked at the end of the season and

8034-479: The team for 2008, replacing Canto. No wins came for the team in this season, however Holdsworth finished second at the Clipsal 500 and he and Caruso finished fifth at the L&;H 500 . Caruso won his first race in 2009, holding off a late race charge from Alex Davison in the Sunday race at Hidden Valley . Holdsworth was again on the podium at the Clipsal 500 , finishing second in the Saturday race. The team also achieved

8137-407: The team on a part-time basis are listed in italics. In 2002 Holden Motorsport was looking at running a Holden Monaro in the Bathurst 24 Hour endurance sports car race against the likes of the Lamborghini Diablo GTR , Ferrari 360 N-GT , Chrysler Viper ACR and Porsche 911 GT3 . After the Holden Racing Team reportedly turned down the job of building the Monaro, GRM accepted the job of building

8240-505: The team on a part-time basis are listed in italics. The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in the Super2, in order of their first appearance. Drivers who only drove for the team on a part-time basis are listed in italics. The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in the TCR Australia, in order of their first appearance. Drivers who only drove for

8343-501: The team would switch to running the Volvo S60 for the 2014 season , in a collaboration with Volvo Cars and Polestar Racing . As a result of the Swedish manufacturer's involvement, Prémat was dropped in favour of Swedish driver Robert Dahlgren . While Dahlgren largely struggled, McLaughlin achieved considerable success, winning four races and the 2014 Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400 event on

8446-470: The team's association with Volvo would end at the conclusion of the 2016 season , with the cars and engines to be returned to Sweden. On track, after a winless 2015 the team returned to form at the 2016 WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint with McLaughlin winning both races over the weekend, and ultimately finishing 3rd in the drivers' championship. In January 2017, it was announced that the team would return to running Holden Commodores, after Volvo withdrew from

8549-539: The team's first major livery change since joining the sport, with the traditional blue, white and red replaced by black, silver and red. Major sponsor Repco also left the team. Holdsworth and Canto remained with the team with Canto driving a new Holden VE Commodore . Holdsworth remained in a VZ Commodore until the Queensland Raceway round. Holdsworth was involved in a serious crash in Round 4 at Winton when his car slid off

8652-405: The traditional Bathurst 1000 where he had scored his nine other wins dating back to 1972 . After the teams 1-2 finish in the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour, Garry Rogers said in an interview with Australian Muscle Car (AMC) Magazine that with the restrictions that PROCAR forced the team to have on the 7.0 litre V8s, such as induction and rev limits, he believed the cars would actually have been faster using

8755-403: The two Monaros of Murphy and Tander running nose to tail, team boss Garry Rogers gave his drivers permission to race each other to the finish, with orders to respect the work put into the event by the team and not to take each other out. Tander was all over Murphy in the final four laps of the race and set the race's fastest lap of 2:14.489 with just three laps to go (Murphy's corresponding lap time

8858-406: The two Monaros running nose to tail, Garry Rogers gave Murphy and Tander permission to race each other to the finish, with orders to respect the work put into the event by the team and not to take each other out. Tander was all over Murphy in the final four laps of the race and set the race's fastest lap of 2:14.489 with just three laps to go, while Murphy's corresponding lap time was a 2:14.499, which

8961-457: The way to finishing fifth in the championship. In 2015, the second car was driven by David Wall and in 2016 by James Moffat . In 2015, Polestar was split in half and GRM no longer had an association with the Polestar brand as of 2016. In 2016 the team however did feature branding of Cyan Racing , the new name for the former racing arm of Polestar, and Volvo Dealer Racing. It was then announced that

9064-420: The year at the Sydney 500 after taking both pole positions for the event. Holdsworth and Caruso remained with the team in 2011 for their fourth consecutive season at teammates. The team was only able to achieve three podium results, with Holdsworth finishing second at Hamilton and at Winton and third at the 2011 Gold Coast 600 , driving with Frenchman Simon Pagenaud . Caruso achieved a best result of fourth at

9167-507: Was Valvoline ), in the Nations Cup Championship alongside Pretty, though he did not win a Nations cup round or race until the opening race of the final round at Surfers Paradise . Pretty and Brock finished third and fourth respectively in the 2003 championship. Against a much better quality field than in 2002, including the Stokell Lamborghini, a new 5.0 L BMW M3 GTR V8 for John Bowe, the Ferrari 360 N-GT with David Brabham leading

9270-436: Was a 2:14.499, which was his car's fastest lap of the entire weekend). However, Tander's last chance at snatching victory from Murphy with a last lap lunge into Murray's Corner was thwarted due to yellow flags on the last lap thanks to a BMW parked just before the start/finish line forcing him to stay behind and finish second. One more Monaro was built in late 2003, with Peter Brock and his son James to run as Team Brock in

9373-833: Was a top 10 qualifier at Bathurst in 1983 , partnering Clive Benson-Brown to a 13th-place finish after suffering brake problems, while in 1984 he drove with Melbourne's motor racing 'Gentleman', Captain Peter Janson in the Castrol 500 at Sandown , and the James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst in Janson's Commodore. The car failed to finish both endurance races. As Australian touring car racing went to regulations based on FIA Group A from 1985 , Rogers once again only drove at Sandown and Bathurst , teaming with Melbourne solicitor Jim Keogh in Keogh's ex- JPS Team BMW 635 CSi . After not finishing at Sandown,

9476-465: Was able to return to the track and re-take the lead for good with just over 4 hours remaining. When the Porsche returned to the track, Allan Grice, told to drive as fast as possible, hit the wall on the top of the mountain while attempting to lap the Mosler MT900R driven by Mark Pashley which broke the Porsche's rear suspension and took it out of contention. Upon its return to the track Darren Palmer put

9579-527: Was built in mid-2002 and was given a shakedown run by GRM's V8 Supercars lead driver Garth Tander at the Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne before it made its first public appearance when Holden Motorsport bought track time at the 2002 Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 V8 Supercar race at Bathurst in order to promote the Bathurst 24 Hour to be run later in the year. On track at Bathurst the yellow Monaro (nicknamed

9682-472: Was controversial thanks to its 7.0 litre V8 as the road going Monaro was only equipped with the smaller, 5.7 litre Gen III (LS1) V8. Many felt that the car should have been using the smaller engine, as all other cars in the Nations Cup Championship were required to use production based engines of the same capacity as their road going versions. However, Procar (founded and funded by longtime Dick Johnson Racing sponsor Ross Palmer of Palmer Tube Mills fame) wanted

9785-571: Was established as one of the series leading privateers, finishing ninth in the burgeoning championship. In 1995 the team replaced the Alfa with a Honda Accord and Richards used it to win the Privateers Cup and place fifth in the championship behind the two factory supported BMW and Audi drivers. The team continued into 1996, replacing the Honda with a Nissan Primera but the team's form slipped, distracted by their new V8 Supercar and Richards finished seventh, losing

9888-502: Was expected that the Monaro's with their all-powerful (and some thought unfair) 7.0L V8's would come to dominate Nations Cup racing. However, while the Monaro's were definitely suited to the Mount Panorama Circuit with its long hill climb, long straights and fast, flowing corners, Australia's shorter, tighter racing circuits didn't suit the Holden's which were mostly bigger, heavier and with less aero and braking ability than their opponents. While

9991-416: Was expected to come from the Nations Cup winning V12 Lamborghini Diablo of Paul Stokell which also included talented young Danish driver Allan Simonsen in the driver lineup. However, despite Stokell having the speed to match the Monaros in the early laps, its challenge was thwarted by numerous punctures and they would eventually finish 40 laps down in 8th place. With seven minutes to go in the race, and with

10094-408: Was his car's fastest lap of the race. Tander's last chance at snatching victory from Murphy with a last lap lunge into Murray's Corner was thwarted due to yellow flags on the last lap forcing him to stay behind and finish second. For Brock, the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour would be his last win at Mount Panorama, and would be seen by some (including himself) as his tenth Bathurst win, despite the race not being

10197-399: Was hit by the BMW 318i of Debbie Chapman in The Chase, which also caused damage to the driver's side door. The Monaro spun and stalled, jamming the gearbox, forcing Pretty to get out and rock the car back and forth to clear the problem, a task made difficult by the Monaro's Sequential transmission and its 1,400  kg (3,086  lb ) weight. By the 18-hour mark (10 AM Sunday morning),

10300-405: Was replaced by Cameron McConville for 2004. McConville took the team's first round win in two years in controversial circumstances at Winton when he passed Rick Kelly on the second last corner of the race just after the end of a yellow flag zone. Tander left the team at the end of 2004 for what was then called Kmart Racing and was replaced by Andrew Jones . Jones was sacked after Bathurst and

10403-423: Was replaced by Dean Canto for two of the final three rounds of 2005 and the 2006 season. Lee Holdsworth also joined the team in 2006, as well as driving in the final round of 2005, with McConville moving to Paul Weel Racing . The team scored one race win in 2006 with Canto winning the reverse grid race at Barbagallo after Team Kiwi Racing driver Paul Radisich spun off the track at the last corner. 2007 saw

10506-478: Was replaced by 1997 Australian Formula Ford champion Garth Tander. Bargwanna scored the team's first race win at Calder that year, also finishing second for the round. Tander scored the team's first round win in 1999 at Queensland Raceway and he and Bargwanna finished second in the Queensland 500 in the same year. The 2000 season remains the team's most successful season to date. Tander won three rounds (including

10609-623: Was the Sierra that Tony Longhurst and Tomas Mezera had driven to victory the 1988 race). Rogers and Mathews failed to finish the race. In the early 1990s GRM turned its attention to the Calder Park Thunderdome and the AUSCAR series running a variety of Ford Falcons during the category's heyday (during the 1990s AUSCAR fields were dominated by the Holden Commodore ). At first, Rogers drove

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