News
Gallery 1
Keen motor racing fans may have noticed Tony Longhurst’s return to competition this year.
The two-time Bathurst 1000 winner raced his old BMW 318i Super Tourer at the Silverstone Classic in August (and won both races) before joining the Toyota 86 Racing Series and Carrera Cup championship back in Australia.
But there’s more to Longhurst’s return than just a bit of weekend fun. “It’s been planned,” explains the 58-year-old Queenslander. “I had a burn in the Marc car at Eastern Creek three or four months ago, was able to pick up a drive in the little Toyota 86s, then the Porsche, but that’s all planned for getting miles under my belt for [Bathurst].
Despite a relative lack of recent race experience, Longhurst is confident he’ll be raring to go by the time the 2017 Bathurst 12-Hour rolls around. “Any circuit we go to in Australia you’ve done a million laps there so you don’t have to think about the circuit, but in race conditions you seem to have a sixth sense, you know where the cars are and what to do, it all comes back to you very quickly.”
Of the three drivers, Longhurst has the strongest association with the BMW brand, driving for Team JPS in the Australian Touring Car Championship from 1985-87, then returning for 1991-93 seasons and winning the 1994 Australian Super Touring Championship.
