The 1997 Tickford 500 was an endurance motor race for V8 Supercars.History Repeats, Australian Auto Action, 19–25 September 1997, page 46 It was held on 14 September 1997 at the Sandown Raceway and was the 32nd running of the Sandown 500.
The race was won by Craig Lowndes and Greg Murphy, driving a Holden VS Commodore for the Holden Racing Team.Official Program, Tickford 500, Sandown, Australian Auto Action, 12–18 September 1997, page 4
Qualifying The fastest lap in qualifying was set by Mark Skaife at 1:11.3142.
Top 10 Shootout The Top 10 Shootout, which was contested by the fastest ten cars from Qualifying, determined the order of the first ten grid positions for the race. Pos No Entrant Driver Car Pole 05 Holden Racing Team Mark Skaife Holden VS Commodore 2 10 Mitre 10 Racing Mark Larkham Ford EL Falcon 3 1 Ford Credit Racing Glenn Seton Ford EL Falcon 4 9 Alan Jones Racing Alan Jones Ford EL Falcon 5 97 Holden Racing Team Jason Bargwanna Holden VS Commodore 6 15 Holden Racing Team Greg Murphy Holden VS Commodore 7 46 Betta Electrical John Faulkner Holden VS Commodore 8 7 Wayne Gardner Racing Wayne Gardner Holden VS Commodore 9 17 Shell Helix Racing Dick Johnson Ford EL Falcon 10 25 Castrol Longhurst Tony Longhurst Ford EL Falcon
Official results Pos. No. Entrant Drivers Car Laps 1 15 Holden Racing Team Craig Lowndes Greg Murphy Holden VS Commodore 157 2 11 Castrol Perkins Racing Larry Perkins Russell Ingall Holden VS Commodore 157 3 9 Alan Jones Racing Alan Jones Jason Bright Ford EL Falcon 157 4 46 John Faulkner Racing John Faulkner Win Percy Holden VS Commodore 156 5 34 Garry Rogers Motorsport Steven Richards Jim Richards Holden VS Commodore 155 6 7 Wayne Gardner Racing Wayne Gardner Neil Crompton Holden VS Commodore 155 7 18 Dick Johnson Racing Steven Johnson Craig Baird Ford EL Falcon 154 8 45 Gibson Motorsport Darren Hossack Steven Ellery Holden VR Commodore 154 9 97 Holden Young Lions Jason Bargwanna Mark Noske Holden VS Commodore 153 10 25 Longhurst Racing Tony Longhurst Charlie O'Brien Ford EL Falcon 151 11 1 Glenn Seton Racing Glenn Seton David Parsons Ford EL Falcon 150 12 05 Holden Racing Team Peter Brock Mark Skaife Holden VS Commodore 150 13 12 Robert Smith Racing Bruce Williams Paul Gover Holden VS Commodore 148 14 26 M3 Motorsport Peter Doulman John Cotter Holden VP Commodore 148 15 24 Romano Racing Paul Romano Allan Grice Holden VS Commodore 144 16 14 Malcolm Stenniken Malcolm Stenniken Norris Miles Holden VR Commodore 144 17 16 Castrol Cougars Melinda Price Kerryn Brewer Holden VS Commodore 139 18 49 Alcair Airconditioning Greg CrickV8 Bathurst 1997, page 27 Peter Fitzgerald Terry Finnigan Holden VR Commodore 132 DNF 47 Bottlemagic John Trimbole Tomas Mezera Holden VS CommodoreEntry List in the Official Program shows Trimbole and Mezera in a VS Commodore. Results in Australian Auto Action show VP Commodore. An image of the car at the 1997 Tickford 500 on page 26 of the book "V8 Bathurst 1997" shows that it was not a VP Commodore 128 DNF 28 Playscape Racing Kevin Waldock John Smith Ford EF Falcon 112 DNF 17 Dick Johnson Racing Dick Johnson John Bowe Ford EL Falcon 108 DNF 79 Cadillac Productions Mike Conway Gavin Monaghan Ford EB2 Falcon 95 DNF 3 Lansvale Racing Team Steve Reed Trevor Ashby Holden VS Commodore 47 DNF 10 Larkham Motor Sport Mark Larkham Andrew Miedecke Ford EL Falcon 33
The race was started in the rain under the control of the safety car. The weather conditions resulted in a slower than expected average speed and the race did not run to its full 161 lap distance, being halted on lap 157 after 3 hours 45 minutes and 22.3508 seconds.
Statistics Pole position: Mark Skaife Fastest race lap: Mark Skaife – 1:17.4932 on lap 101 Race time of winning car: 3h 45:22.3508
References
External links Official Supercars website Image of the winning car at i.pinimg.com, as archived at web.archive.org