Tony Longhurst
| Tony Longhurst | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Australian |
| Born | 1 October 1957 Sydney |
| ATCC/V8 Supercar | |
| Years active | 1985–2007 |
| Teams | JPS Team BMW Tony Longhurst Racing Longhurst Racing Stone Brothers Racing Rod Nash Racing Holden Racing Team Perkins Engineering Team Dynamik |
| Starts | 191 |
| Wins | 5 |
| Best finish | 3rd in1991&1992 |
| Previous series | |
| 1983 1986–91 1994 | Alfasud Series AMSCAR Australian Super Touring |
| Championship titles | |
| 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1994 2001 2009 | AMSCAR AMSCAR Bathurst 1000 AMSCAR AMSCAR AMSCAR Australian Super Touring Bathurst 1000 Bathurst 12 Hour |
Anthony Lawrence Longhurst(born 1 October 1957 in Sydney) is an Australian racing driver and former Australian Champion water skier. He is most noted for his career in theAustralian Touring Car ChampionshipandV8 Supercarseries. Longhurst is a two-time winner of theBathurst 1000,winning the event in 1988 withTomas Mezera[1]and in 2001 withMark Skaife,[2]and is one of only five drivers to win Bathurst in both aFordand aHolden(the others beingCraig Lowndes,Steven Richards,Jamie WhincupandChaz Mostert).[3]
He also had a long association withBMW,racing internationally in the1987 World Touring Car Championshipand1993 FIA Touring Car Challenge,and winning the1985Sandown 500and the1994Australian Super Touring Championshipfor the marque.
Career
[edit]JPS Team BMW
[edit]
After a self-enteredBathurst 1000debut in1983withMike Burgmann,Longhurst joinedFrank Gardner'sJPS Team BMWteam for the1984 Australian Endurance Championship.Co-driving withJim Richards,Longhurst continued with the team in 1985, winning the1985 Sandown 500in a one-two finish for the team. Longhurst also entered three solo rounds of the1985 Australian Touring Car Championship,finishing third at theAmaroo Park Racewayround on only his second appearance. Longhurst entered the entire1986 Australian Touring Car Championship,again finishing on the podium at Amaroo, and finishing fifth in the championship. In1987,Longhurst would finish fourth in the championship with four round podiums. Frank Gardner then shut his team at the end of the 1987 season.[4]
LoGaMo Racing
[edit]
With the demise of JPS Team BMW, Longhurst started his own touring car team in 1988, which based itself on the Gold Coast behind the Longhurst family ownedDreamworld.Both Gardner and Terry Morris would take a shareholding in the team which became known asLoGaMo Racing.For sponsorship reasons the team was known by various names during its time includingFreeportMotorsport andBenson & HedgesRacing.
Initially running the powerfulFord Sierra RS500from 1988 to 1990, Longhurst won the1988 Bathurst 1000driving withTomas Mezera.The car (pictured right) remains on display at theNational Motor Racing Museum,which is located on the outside of the final turn of the famousMount Panorama Circuit.Longhurst also won his first championship round in1988at Amaroo. The team then used the evolution modelBMW M3from 1991 to 1993, and Longhurst finished a career-best third in both1991and1992.In this period, Longhurst saw particular success atLakeside International Raceway,winning threeroundsat the circuit in 1988, 1991 and 1992.[5]
From 1993, the ATCC moved to theGroup 3A Touring Carformula based onFord FalconsandHolden Commodores.LoGaMo continued to run the BMW M3 in 1993 before running aHolden VP Commodoresupplied byPerkins Engineeringin1994.In 1994 Longhurst won the first race of the1994 Barbagallo ATCC round,his final solo race victory in the championship.[6]
Outside the ATCC, Longhurst was the only driver to have won five of the now defunctAMSCARseries run at Sydney's Amaroo Park circuit. He won the series in 1986 (BMW 325i), 1987 (BMW M3), 1989 and 1990 (Ford Sierra RS500) and 1991 (BMW M3 Evolution). Longhurst also saw success in the New Zealand endurance events held forGroup Aregulations. In 1992 he won theWellington 500in the team's BMW M3 and came 3rd in the 1989 event.[7]He also finished 3rd in 1989 and 2nd in 1986 in thePukekohe 500event which was held in conjunction with the Wellington event.
Longhurst Racing
[edit]In 1995, Longhurst sold out to fellow shareholders Gardner and Morris (who wanted to focus on theAustralian Super Touring Championship) and formedLonghurst Racingto compete in the Australian Touring Car Championship with aFord EF Falconbacked byCastrol.The team's highlight was a podium at the1996 Bathurst 1000with Longhurst andSteven Ellery.Despite this, the team experienced limited success and Longhurst sold the team at the end of the1999 season.[8]
Contracted driver
[edit]For2000,Longhurst was hired to drive forStone Brothers Racing.Longhurst came close to winning the2000 Bathurst 1000withDavid Besnard,despite making the most pitstops of anyone in the race, until an incident scuppered their chances while leading with ten laps to go.[9]In 2001, Longhurst competed withRod Nash Racingduring the single-driver events before being drafted into theHolden Racing Teamfor the endurance races. Driving withMark Skaife,Longhurst won the2001 Bathurst 1000.2002was Longhurst's last full-time season, driving forBriggs Motor Sport.
In 2003, Longhurst only entered the endurance races, pairing with Jim Richards as he had done in the 1980s. He would sign forPerkins Engineeringin 2004, but did not see out the full season. In 2005, Longhurst bought the license forTeam Dynamik's second car, running the No. 45 car forMax WilsonunderWOW Sight & Soundsponsorship.[10]FollowingSimon Wills's rollover at the Sandown 500, Longhurst purchased the remaining license from Team Dynamik and replaced Wills as Wilson's co-driver for the following round at Bathurst. He announced his retirement from competitive racing after the2005 Bathurst 1000,where he and Brazilian co-driverMax Wilsonfailed to finish the race.[11]
He also made an appearance at theTarga Tasmaniain 2005 and 2006, finishing fourth overall in the latter.
Retirement and comebacks
[edit]Despite his retirement announcement, Longhurst made two subsequent returns to the V8 Supercar Championship Series. In 2006, he was co-driver forSteve Owenin the Rod Nash Racing AutoBarn Commodore. The pair put in solid drives finishing 12th at Sandown and 7th at Bathurst. Longhurst's final drive came at the2007 Sandown 500where he paired withGlenn Setonfollowing a series of last minute driver swaps in the Holden Racing Team following Mark Skaife having surgery to remove his appendix.[12]
In 2009 he added aBathurst 12 Hourvictory, co-driving with Rod Salmon and Damien White.[13]By winning the 12 Hour, Longhurst joinedAllan Grice,Gregg Hansford,Dick JohnsonandJohn Boweas the only winners of both theBathurst 1000and Bathurst 12 Hour races at the time of his achievement. In 2016, Longhurst returned to competition making an appearance at theSydney Motorsport Parkround of theAustralian GT Championshipin aMARCFord Focusand at theSilverstone Classicdriving his1994 Australian Manufacturers' ChampionshipwinningBMW 318iSuper Touringcar.[14][15]
Longhurst returned to Bathurst for the first time since winning the2009 WPS Bathurst 12 Hourwhen he contested the2017 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hourdriving aBMW M6 GT3for BMW Team SRM alongsideTimo Glock,Mark Skaife andRussell Ingall.The entry did not finish. Longhurst again entered the2018 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hourin a GT4 BMW and won his class withAaron SetonandMatthew Brabham.After this result, Longhurst again called time on his career.[7]
Other activities
[edit]Longhurst continues to live on theGold CoastinQueenslandand owns and manages the Boat Works facility atCoomera.[16] Before entering motorsport, Longhurst was successful inwater skiing,holding the Australian speed record.[10]
Career results
[edit]Sourced from Driver Database[17]
Supercars Championship results
[edit](Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete World Sportscar Championship results
[edit](key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 |  JPS Team BMW
|
BMW 320i | MNZ | SIL | LMS | NUR | BHT | MOS | SPA | IMO | FJI | KYL | SAN ovr:14 cls:1 |
NC | 0 |
Complete World Touring Car Championship results
[edit](key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | JPS Team BMW
|
BMW M3 | MNZ | JAR | DIJ | NUR | SPA | BNO | SIL | BAT ovr:4 cls:1 |
CLD Ret |
NC | 0 | ||
 BMW Motorsport CiBiEmme
|
WEL ovr:7 cls:2 |
FJI |
† Not registered for series & points
Complete Bathurst 1000 results
[edit]
Complete Sandown Endurance results
[edit]Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results
[edit]| Year | Team | Co-drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Overall position |
Class position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | BMWAustralia Pty Ltd
|
Alan Jones Neville Crichton
|
BMW M5 | C | 251 | 2nd | 1st |
| 2009 | TMR Australia
|
Rod SalmonDamien White
|
Mitsubishi Lancer RS Evo X | C | 239 | 1st | 1st |
| 2017 | BMW Team SRM
|
Timo GlockMark SkaifeRussell Ingall
|
BMW M6 GT3 | AP | 134 | DNF | DNF |
| 2018 | Boat Works Racing
|
Matthew BrabhamAaron Seton
|
BMW M4GT4 | C | 250 | 22nd | 1st |
References
[edit]- ^Sierras fill top three at Bathurst
- ^"Motorsport: Skaife supreme in topsy-turvy Bathurst race".The New Zealand Herald.8 October 2001.Retrieved23 November2011.
- ^"Richards a chip off the old block".The Sydney Morning Herald.7 October 2007.Retrieved23 November2011.
- ^Greenhalgh, David; Howard, Graham; Wilson, Stewart (2011).The official history: Australian Touring Car Championship - 50 Years.St Leonards,New South Wales:Chevron Publishing Group.ISBN978-0-9805912-2-4.
- ^Noonan, Aaron (14 July 2017)."On This Day: David defeats Goliath".Supercars.Retrieved25 July2021.
- ^Bartholomaeus, Stefan (19 April 2021)."THE 27-YEAR WIN DROUGHT BROKEN BY MOSTERT | V8 Sleuth".V8 Sleuth.Retrieved25 July2021.
- ^ab"Longhurst calls time on chequered career".Supercars.5 February 2018.Retrieved25 July2021.
- ^"Saturday Sleuthing: Brad Jones Racing's First V8 Supercar".Supercars.6 June 2015.Retrieved25 July2021.
- ^"Saturday Sleuthing: Last Gasp Queensland Winner".Supercars.26 July 2014.Retrieved25 July2021.
- ^ab"Tony Longhurst".Speedcafe.22 October 2010.Retrieved25 July2021.
- ^Greenhalgh, David; Tuckey, Bill (2013).The official history of The Great Race Bathurst: 50 years.St Leonards,New South Wales:Chevron Publishing Group.ISBN9780980591231.
- ^Lynch, Michael (14 September 2007)."Skaife ruled out of Sandown after appendix surgery".The Age.Retrieved5 May2019.
- ^Bathurst 12: Event race report
- ^Longhurst eyes Bathurst amid race returnSpeedcafe1 July 2016
- ^Longhurst to race title winning BMW at SilverstoneSpeedcafe25 June 2016
- ^The Boat Works RisingOcean Magazine14 August 2015
- ^Tony Longhurst at Driver Database
- 1957 births
- Australian Touring Car Championship drivers
- Bathurst 1000 winners
- Living people
- Sportspeople from the Gold Coast, Queensland
- Racing drivers from Sydney
- Supercars Championship drivers
- World Sportscar Championship drivers
- Australian Endurance Championship drivers
- BMW M drivers
- Stone Brothers Racing drivers
- Porsche Carrera Cup Australia drivers
- Racing drivers from New South Wales
- V8 Utes drivers