June 16, 2016 | General

RECORD BOOK CHARTS TCM HISTORY

FORD AND JOHN BOWE are the two names that stand above the rest when it comes to the history of the Touring Car Masters according to a new series record book completed in time for this weekend’s fourth round of 2016.

A comprehensive guide to the full 216-race history of Australia’s top Muscle Car series has recently been completed by series management documenting the complete history of the category ‘by the numbers’ since it was formed in 2007.

Some aspects of the guide are still being completed so it’s not quite yet ready to publish – but here’s an overview of the main stats to feature in the history of the Touring Car Masters. If you like numbers it makes for interesting reading!

RACES:

There have been 216 races contested in the history of the Touring Car Masters. Remarkably across that time only one of those has been declared a ‘no race’.

Those 216 races have been won by 23 different drivers – 17 of them having won on more than one occasion.

John Bowe predictably heads the winners list with a remarkable 80 race wins to his credit – 37% of all the TCM races ever contested. Double champion Gavin Bullas is second in the all-time rankings with 29 wins with the great Jim Richards third on 22. Andrew Miedecke (21) is next.

Brad Tilley won the first ever TCM race in March 2007 with his Ford GTHO Falcon the first to record his name in the winning record books.

In the battle of the brands Ford tops the charts with 140 victories ahead of Chevrolet (53) and Holden (15) – the only brands to have won more than three times.

Six different brands have won TCM races with AMC Porsche and Chrysler also having tasted outright success in the past – AMC with the Javelin Porsche with the 911 and Chrysler with its popular Charger in the hands of Greg Crick.

Ford’s Mustang has been the most dominant model: recording 105 victories between the earlier 1964-1966 models and the later Mark II ’68-’71 Boss or TransAm weapons.

Nearly 200 races have been won by the US ‘Pony Cars’ – Chevrolet’s Camaro having won 50 times with Jim Richards’ Falcon Sprint the next most successful car with 19 race wins. The recent success of the Holden Torana in the hands of John Bowe has seen it overtake the Falcon GTHO as the most successful Aussie-built car in TCM history thanks to its 12 wins.

The one thing TCM fans can guarantee is a multitude of different winners each year.

A record 7 drivers won races in the 2011 2012 2013 and 2014 seasons with six winning in 2007 2010 and so far in the 2016 season. The fact that key names like Eddie Abelnica Steven Johnson and Jason Gomersall are yet to win this year means the series could be on for a record number of different winners in 2016.

The lowest number of race winning drivers in a season came two years ago in 2015 when just four troubled the winners.

John Bowe holds the record for most race wins in a season (15) and in a row (10).

ROUND RESUTS

SEVENTY TWO ROUNDS have been contested in TCM history.

20 of those have seen ‘clean sweeps’ where a driver wins all three races in a round. 7 drivers have achieved that feat – Bowe of them 10 times Gavin Bullas on four occasions and Steven Johnson twice in his remarkable debut season in 2015.

Bowe has won 28 rounds in his TCM career one of only two drivers to have won more than 10 rounds. Gavin Bullas (11) is next with Jim Richards one away from breaking into double figures and Andrew Miedecke one further behind.

13 different drivers have won TCM rounds while only six have won multiple times.

Three times a round has been won without winning a race – Steve Mason Gavin Bullas and Jim Richards the three drivers to achieve that.

On three occasions the round result has been decided by countback: John Bowe beat Jim Richards on countback at Phillip Island in 2008 while Glenn Seton edged Bowe when he famously won the final race of the weekend at Bathurst in 2011. Richards then got one back on Bowe at Winton in 2014 by winning the final race and the round despite being tied.

John Bowe also leads the way when it comes to finishing on the podium – he’s scored 46 top three round finishes in TCM history comprised of his 28 wins and 18 other podium round results.

Jim Richards has continued his ‘Mr. Consistency’ mantle into the TCM series by backing up his nine round victories with 22 other podium finishes for a total of 31 podiums.

Andrew Miedecke (21 podiums) sits third in this particular rankings while fourth-placed Brad Tilley (15) has just one round win but 14 other top three finishing performances in his lengthy and successful career.

Tony Edwards is the most successful driver in TCM history without having won a round – he’s scored five podiums without having quite got to the top step.

13 different drivers have achieved that feat out of the 25 to have scored some silverware at some point in their TCM career.

Ford’s Mustang (35 round wins) has been helped to the top of the manufacturer rankings thanks in particular to John Bowe and Gavin Bullas’ efforts while Camaro’s have won 17 rounds thanks to Andrew Miedecke and Steve Mason.

QUAIFYING

OTHERWISE KNOWN as the JB Power Ranking.

There has been none better in the one lap dash for pole in the history of the category with Bowe heading the leader board here in every statistic imaginable except for ‘most times qualified second’!

His 41 pole positions mean he’s the only driver to have started from pole in more than 56% of TCM rounds and the only driver to have pole position numbers in the double figures.

The next best is Jim Richards (8) and Gavin Bullas (6).

Bowe has also qualified on the front row 56 times – giving him a 77% strike rate across the 72 TCM rounds contested! That number is even more impressive given he’s not contested every single round..

Jim Richards has qualified second 16 times in TCM history and on 20 occasions he and his old rival Bowe have shared the front row of the grid following TCM qualifying.

Steve Mason holds the record for the closest ever pole margin in TCM history – he out-qualified Gavin Bullas by a scant 0.0096s at Sydney Motorsport Park mid-way through TCM’s first season in 2007.

Nine times pole has been decided by less than 0.1 seconds while the largest ever pole margin was a fairly substantial 2.9 seconds – When John Bowe bested Eddie Abelnica at Phillip Island in a wet session at Phillip Island in 2013.

Bowe holds the four largest qualifying margins in TCM history plus the most poles in a row (9 between the end of 2013 and the second round of 2015).