and Terry Shiel won the race driving a
Nissan Skyline DR30 RS.
Qualifying The race saw the Australian debut of the evolution
Ford Sierra RS500. Although none of the four Sierras finished the race (two in fact did not start), the new model proved it would be the car to beat at
1987 James Hardie 1000. Andrew Miedecke in his
Oxo Supercubes Sierra (an
Andy Rouse kit car) attained provisional pole position in qualifying with a time of 1:49.45 before his weekend ended when co-driver Don Smith rolled the car at the end of pit straight, just prior to the end of qualifying.
Dick Johnson went even better in the Dulux Dozen runoff for pole with a time of 1:47.59, almost two seconds quicker than Miedecke's time earlier in the day. This time would remain the fastest ever Group A touring car time recorded on the 3.9 km long international circuit.
Peter Brock attracted pre-race criticism for his decision to have
Channel 7 television commentator
Neil Crompton as the second driver of the
Mobil 1 team's
Holden Commodore with accusations of it being nothing more than a
PR exercise after the bad press the team had received in 1987 in the wake of Brock's split with
Holden. With new
Bridgestone tyres and an adjustable rear end developed by the team that allowed negative camber of the rear tyres transforming the handling of the Commodore, plus some extra engine development up to and following the
Spa 24 Hours bringing power up to a respectable , Brock himself qualified fifth, only a couple of tenths behind
Allan Grice's Les Small prepared
Roadways VL Commodore and some 1.5 seconds faster than
Larry Perkins in the older model
VK. Both Grice and Perkins were running engines with approximately more than the HDT cars.
Race The 1987 Castrol 500 was won by the
Peter Jackson Nissan Racing Skyline DR30 RS of
George Fury and Terry Shiel. The win continued the Nissan team's winning streak at Sandown in 1986 and 1987 with the Skyline, having won the ATCC rounds at the circuit in both years as well as Fury and
Glenn Seton having won the
1986 Castrol 500. They won by a lap from the
V8 Holden VK Commodore of
Larry Perkins and
Denny Hulme with the New Zealand Nissan Skyline of Kent Baigent and Graeme Bowkett a further lap back in third place.
Kiwis Kaigent and Bowkett continued to impress with their speed in the privateer Skyline, never falling out of the top five during the race except during pit stops. The NZ Skyline was engineered by Jim and Ross Stone who would later go on to work with both
Andrew Miedecke and Dick Johnson Sierra's over the next few seasons before forming their own team
Stone Brothers Racing. The car also featured a lot of technical input from the Peter Jackson team. The Ford Sierra of pole sitter Dick Johnson suffered an engine failure in the race morning warmup which forced him and
Gregg Hansford to move to the team's car. After starting from 14th on the grid, Johnson showed the speed of the new Sierra by storming to the front after just 7 laps, leaving the BMW's, Commodores and turbo Nissans in his wake on Sandown's long front and back straights. Johnson would go on to set a Group A lap record of 1:50.28 before the #18 car was retired with engine failure on lap 86. The
JPS Team BMW M3 of
Jim Richards and
Tony Longhurst held second place late in the race and Richards was contesting the lead with Fury on the now damp track due to light rain until the
2.3 L engine lost oil pressure on lap 118. Just five laps earlier, the
Holden VL Commodore of
Peter Brock had been holding a strong third place comfortably in front of Perkins until his front brakes suddenly gave out at the end of pit straight. Brock slid sideways into the sandtrap and was lucky not to roll the Commodore after the driver's side wheels dug into the sand. The Up to 2000cc class was won by the Peter Jackson Nissan
Gazelle of young gun
Mark Skaife and part-time
sports sedan racer Grant Jarrett from the
Toyota Team Australia Corolla of Mike Quinn and
John Faulkner and the
Toyota Sprinter of Sydney veterans
Bob Holden and Garry Willmington.
Television coverage Australian broadcasters Channel Seven covered both the Saturday shootout and the entire race. A copy can be found online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7T0WZGc7hA ==Classes==