[William Dale Jr]

1987 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship
Round 1 - Calder Park, VIC (1/3/1987)

Circuit Length: 2.40 km
Race Distance: 60 laps
Weather: Overcast

The big story before the race meeting was Holden's dumping of Peter Brock a week prior. The originally planned 3-car attack was pared down to two, with the team's new VL auctioned off to raise funds. Gary Scott was drafted in to replace the departing Allan Moffat and John Harvey.

The JPS team debuted the new BMW M3 - not yet officially homologated until race-day - along with Dick Johnson's new Sierras, now in the red and yellow colours of Shell as part of a rumoured million-dollar sponsorship deal. Grice was back in a Roadways-prepared VK, alongside him Graeme Crosby, while Andrew Miedecke joined the OXO team to drive the #35 car alongside Don Smith. Unchanged apart from Scott's departure was the Nissan team, with two cars for George Fury and Glenn Seton, the team having sorted out their tyre-chewing issues from Bathurst 1986.

The front row had a new look to it, a wet qualifying session saw Richards and Johnson qualifying their new cars 1-2. It would be Dick's best qualifying performance of the ATCC.

The rolling start works against the men on the front row, the normally-aspirated runners coming the the fore. Perkins makes a storming start before outbraking himself at the end of the straight and running off the circuit, letting Seton through into a lead he wouldn't lose. Brock, Fury, and a recovering Perkins would give chase, until Brock dropped out with engine issues.

Position	Number	Entrant	Driver	Car	Class	Race Time/Laps	Retirement Cause	Fastest Time	Qualifying Time	Grid Position
1	15	Peter Jackson Nissan Racing	Glenn Seton	Nissan Skyline DR-30	A	1h02m34.72s		1m01.75s	1m07.89s	3
2	11	Enzed Team Perkins	Larry Perkins	Holden Commodore VK	A	1h02m37.27s		1m01.61s	1m09.27s	7
3	30	Peter Jackson Nissan Racing	George Fury	Nissan Skyline DR-30	A	1h02m37.74s		1m01.87s	1m08.70s	5
4	2	Bob Jane T-Marts	Allan Grice	Holden Commodore VK	A	1h02m50.49s		1m02.14s	1m08.78s	6
5	3	JPS Team BMW	Jim Richards	BMW M3	B	1h03m20.35s		1m02.74s	1m07.62s	1
6	4	JPS Team BMW	Tony Longhurst	BMW M3	B	1h03m26.14s		1m02.46s	1m08.67s	4
7	35	OXO Supercube Motorsport	Andrew Miedecke	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS	A	1h03m38.86s		1m02.60s	1m12.82s	15
8	14	Murray Carter	Murray Carter	Nissan Skyline DR-30	A	1h03m39.23s		1m02.78s	1m11.08s	13
9	17	Shell Ultra Hi.Tech Racing	Dick Johnson	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS	A	59 laps		1m02.70s	1m07.85s	2
10	10	John Andrew Motorsport	Neville Crichton	Ford Sierra XR4Ti	A	59 laps		1m03.04s	1m09.78s	9
11	34	OXO Supercube Motorsport	Don Smith	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS	A	59 laps		1m03.39s	1m24.04s	23
12	75	Network Alfa	Colin Bond	Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo	B	58 laps		1m04.94s	1m10.97s	12
13	26	Kalari Transport	Tony Noske	Holden Commodore VK	A	57 laps		1m04.78s	1m13.64s	16
14	27	Ray Gulson	Graham Gulson	BMW 635CSi	A	56 laps		1m05.95s	1m24.39s	24
15	86	Gemspares	Daryl Hendrick	Isuzu Gemini ZZ	C	53 laps		1m10.42s	1m20.84s	22
16	88	David Sala	David Sala	Isuzu Gemini ZZ	C	52 laps		1m11.10s	1m18.13s	21
17	57	Michael Freeman	Mike Freeman	Toyota Celica RA40	C	51 laps		1m11.55s	NTR	26
DNF	38	Grellis Marketing	Ray Ellis	Holden Commodore VK	C	54 laps		1m04.91s	1m33.15s	25
DNF	6	Mobil Holden Dealer Team	Gary Scott	Holden Commodore VK	A	45 laps	spun off	1m02.44s	1m11.37s	14
DNF	05	Mobil Holden Dealer Team	Peter Brock	Holden Commodore VK	A	35 laps	engine	1m02.30s	1m10.14s	11
DNF	32	Toyota Team Australia	Drew Price	Toyota Corolla	C	35 laps		1m07.23s	1m17.51s	19
DNF	31	Toyota Team Australia	John Smith	Toyota Corolla	C	30 laps		1m07.16s	1m14.08s	17
DNF	18	Shell Ultra Hi.Tech Racing	Gregg Hansford	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS	A	25 laps	turbo	1m03.26s	1m09.74s	8
DNF	28	Capri Components	Lawrie Nelson	Ford Mustang	A	24 laps		1m05.33s	1m15.25s	18
DNF	21	Lusty Engineering	Graham Lusty	Holden Commodore VK	A	11 laps	spun off	1m04.05s	1m18.04s	20
DNF	8	ICL Racing	Graeme Crosby	Holden Commodore VK	A	10 laps	brake failure	1m02.04s	1m09.85s	10