[William Dale Jr]

1986 Australian Touring Car Championship
Round 3 - The Castrol Challenge - Sandown Park, VIC (13/4/1986)

Circuit Length: 3.9 km
Race Distance: 21 laps (25 laps scheduled, race duration reduced due to TV commitments)
Weather: Sunny

With Peter Brock racing in Europe, Neal Lowe was entrusted the #05 Commodore in front of the boss's home crowd. Other additions to the field were Glenn Seton in a second Peter Jackson Skyline, another Skyline was on hand for perennial privateer Murray Carter, while Peter McLeod was back with his Commodore after a rebuild.

Francevic and Lowe outgunned polesitter Fury to the first corner, while chaos ensued behind. Seton outbraked himself trying to follow Fury past Harvey, sending the Mobil car into Crosby. Johnson and McLeod ran into each other trying to avoid the mess in front of them, while Richards and Longhurst both copped dented panels. All but Johnson eventually continued, the green Mustang retiring with both front shock absorbers broken. All the action left Francevic, Lowe and Fury well clear of McLeod.

Lowe and Francevic traded the lead a couple of times, until the Volvo pilot punted Lowe into a spin at the hairpin at the end of the back straight. Lowe continued but was unable to make up the lost time. Meanwhile, Fury eventually snuck past Francevic, going on to take the first of four consecutive race wins for the DR30 Skyline at Sandown. An unlucky McLeod lost 4th on the last lap; his fuel pick-up was damaged in the opening lap carnage and was unable to pick up the last few litres.

Position	Number	Entrant	Driver	Car	Class	Race Time/Laps	Retirement Cause	Fastest Time	Qualifying Time	Grid Position
1	30	Peter Jackson Nissan Racing	George Fury	Nissan Skyline DR-30	B	39m42.2s		1m52.3s	1m50.7s	1
2	10	Volvo Dealer Team	Robbie Francevic	Volvo 240T	B	39m44.8s		1m52.2s	1m51.8s	2
3	05	Mobil Holden Dealer Team	Neal Lowe	Holden Commodore VK	C	40m23.3s		1m53.1s	1m52.6s	3
4	75	Network Alfa	Colin Bond	Alfa Romeo GTV6	B	41m04.7s		1m56.4s	1m54.8s	12
5	4		Peter McLeod	Holden Commodore VK	C	41m12.4s		1m54.1s	1m53.8s	8
6	3	Mobil Holden Dealer Team	John Harvey	Holden Commodore VK	C	41m17.7s		1m53.9s	1m52.6s	4
7	36	Everlast Battery Service	Murray Carter	Nissan Skyline DR-30	B	41m21.6s		1m56.9s	2m00.4s	18
8	25	JPS Team BMW	Tony Longhurst	BMW 325i	B	41m29.9s		1m56.0s	1m54.3s	10
9	20	James Keogh	Jim Keogh	Holden Commodore VK	C	41m34.0s		1m57.3s	1m57.2s	15
10	23	Lusty Engineering P/L	Graham Lusty	Holden Commodore VK	C	20 laps		1m57.9s	1m59.8s	17
11	2		Graeme Crosby	Holden Commodore VK	C	20 laps		1m53.3s	1m59.2s	16
12	28	Capri Components	Laurie Nelson	Ford Mustang	C	20 laps		1m59.9s	1m52.9s	5
13	24	Jagparts	Gerald Kay	Holden Commodore VK	C	20 laps		1m57.4s	1m56.9s	14
14	15	Peter Jackson Nissan Racing	Glenn Seton	Nissan Skyline DR-30	B	18 laps		1m55.3s	1m54.0s	9
DNF	77		Peter Williamson	Toyota Supra	B	13 laps			1m56.1s	13
DNF	34		Garry Rogers	BMW 635CSi	C	9 laps			1m54.4s	11
DNF			Ray Ellis	Holden Commodore VK	C	7 laps			2m00.4s	19
DNF	1	JPS Team BMW	Jim Richards	BMW 635CSi	C	5 laps	broken gear lever		1m53.7s	7
DNF	78		Brian Sampson	Mitsubishi Starion	B	3 laps			2m00.7s	20
DNF	17		Dick Johnson	Ford Mustang	C	0 laps	accident damage		1m53.0s	6