The 1997 Tickford 500 was an endurance motor race for V8 Supercars.[1] It was held on 14 September 1997 at the Sandown Raceway[1] and was the 32nd running of the Sandown 500.

Track map of the Sandown Raceway

The race was won by Craig Lowndes and Greg Murphy, driving a Holden VS Commodore[1] for the Holden Racing Team.[2]

Qualifying

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The fastest lap in qualifying was set by Mark Skaife at 1:11.3142.

Top 10 Shootout

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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[2] 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

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Pos.[1] No.[2] Entrant[2] Drivers[1] Car[1] Laps[1]
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 Crick[3]
  Peter Fitzgerald
  Terry Finnigan
Holden VR Commodore 132
DNF 47 Bottlemagic   John Trimbole
  Tomas Mezera
Holden VS Commodore[4] 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.[1] 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.[1]

Statistics

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  • Pole position: Mark Skaife[1]
  • Fastest race lap: Mark Skaife – 1:17.4932 on lap 101[1]
  • Race time of winning car: 3h 45:22.3508[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l History Repeats, Australian Auto Action, 19–25 September 1997, page 46
  2. ^ a b c d Official Program, Tickford 500, Sandown, Australian Auto Action, 12–18 September 1997, page 4
  3. ^ V8 Bathurst 1997, page 27
  4. ^ Entry 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
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Preceded by Sandown 500
1997
Succeeded by