Tony Longhurst


Anthony Lawrence Longhurst is an Australian racing driver and former Australian Champion water skier. He is most noted for his career in the Australian Touring Car Championship and V8 Supercar series.

Career

Longhurst is a two-time winner of the Bathurst 1000, winning the event in 1988 with Tomas Mezera and in 2001 with Mark Skaife, and is one of only four drivers to win Bathurst in both a Ford and a Holden.
He has raced internationally in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship and 1993 FIA Touring Car Challenge, both times for BMW. He also won the Australian Super Touring Championship for BMW in 1994.
After four years of service to the Frank Gardner run JPS Team BMW from 1984 to 1987, Longhurst started his own touring car team in 1988, which became known as LoGaMo Racing, which based itself on the Gold Coast behind the Longhurst family owned Dreamworld. For sponsorship reasons the team was known by various names during its time including Freeport Motorsport and Benson & Hedges Racing. Initially running the powerful Ford Sierra RS500 from 1988 to 1990, the team then began using the evolution model BMW M3, before running a Holden Commodore VP supplied by Perkins Engineering in 1994. Longhurst saw particular success at Lakeside International Raceway, winning three rounds at the circuit in 1988, 1991 and 1992. In 1995, Longhurst sold out to fellow shareholders Gardner and Terry Morris and formed Longhurst Racing to compete in the Australian Touring Car Championship with a Ford Falcon EF.
Tony Longhurst is the only driver to have won five of the now defunct AMSCAR series run at Sydney's Amaroo Park circuit. He won the series in 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1990 and 1991.
In 1992 he also won the NZ Wellington street race in BMW M3. Came 3rd in 1989 Wellington street race and 3rd 1989 and 2nd in 1986 in the Pukekohe Nissan Mobil race in NZ.
In 2005, Longhurst bought the license for Team Dynamik's second car, running the No. 45 car for Max Wilson under WOW Sight & Sound sponsorship. Following Simon Wills's rollover at the Sandown 500, Longhurst purchased the remaining license from Team Dynamik and replaced Wills as Wilson's co-driver for the following round at Bathurst. He announced his retirement from competitive racing after the 2005 Bathurst 1000, where he and Brazilian co-driver Max Wilson failed to finish the race. He also made an appearance at the Targa Tasmania that year. He returned to this event in 2006, finishing fourth overall.
Longhurst made two subsequent returns to the V8 Supercar Championship Series. In 2006, he was co-driver for Steve Owen in the Rod Nash Racing AutoBarn Commodore. The pair put in solid drives finishing 12th at Sandown and 7th at Bathurst. Longhurst's final drive came at the 2007 Sandown 500 where he paired with Glenn Seton following a series of last minute driver swaps in the Holden Racing Team following Mark Skaife having surgery to remove his appendix.
In 2009 he added a Bathurst 12 Hour victory, co-driving with Rod Salmon and Damien White. By winning the 12 Hour, Longhurst joined Allan Grice, Gregg Hansford, Dick Johnson and John Bowe as winners of both the Bathurst 1000 and Bathurst 12 Hour races.
In 2016, Longhurst returned to competition making an appearance at the Sydney Motorsport Park round of the Australian GT Championship in a Marque Sports Ford Focus and at the Silverstone Classic driving his 1994 Australian Manufacturers' Championship winning BMW 318i Super Touring car.
The Benson & Hedges Ford Sierra RS500 driven by Longhurst and Tomas Mezera to victory at Bathurst in 1988 is on display at the National Motor Racing Museum which is located on the outside of the final turn of the famous Mount Panorama Circuit.
Longhurst continues to live on the Gold Coast in Queensland and owns and manages the Boat Works facility at Coomera.
Longhurst will return to Bathurst for the first time since winning the 2009 WPS Bathurst 12 Hour when he will drive at the 2017 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour driving a BMW M6 GT3 for BMW Team SRM alongside Timo Glock, Mark Skaife and Russell Ingall.

Career results

Sourced from Driver Database
SeasonSeriesPositionCarTeam
1983Australian Endurance Championship65thChevrolet Camaro Z28Mike Burgmann
1984Alfasud Series1stAlfa Romeo AlfasudLonghurst Racing
1984Australian Endurance ChampionshipNCBMW 635 CSiJPS Team BMW
1984World Sportscar ChampionshipNCBMW 320iJPS Team BMW
1985Australian Touring Car Championship16thBMW 323iJPS Team BMW
1985AMSCAR Series2ndBMW 323iJPS Team BMW
1985Australian Endurance Championship2ndBMW 323i
BMW 635 CSi		JPS Team BMW
1986AMSCAR Series1stBMW 325iJPS Team BMW
1986Australian Touring Car Championship4thBMW 325iJPS Team BMW
1986Australian Endurance Championship3rdBMW 325i
BMW 635 CSi		JPS Team BMW
1987AMSCAR Series1stBMW M3JPS Team BMW
1987Australian Touring Car Championship4thBMW M3JPS Team BMW
1987World Touring Car Championship42ndBMW M3JPS Team BMW
CiBiEmme
1988Australian Touring Car Championship5thFord Sierra RS500Freeport Racing
1988Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship5thFord Sierra RS500Benson & Hedges Racing
1989Nissan Mobil 500 Series2ndFord Sierra RS500Benson & Hedges Racing
1989AMSCAR Series1stFord Sierra RS500Benson & Hedges Racing
1989Australian Touring Car Championship5thFord Sierra RS500Benson & Hedges Racing
1990AMSCAR Series1stFord Sierra RS500Benson & Hedges Racing
1990Australian Touring Car Championship6thFord Sierra RS500Benson & Hedges Racing
1990Australian Endurance Championship24thFord Sierra RS500Benson & Hedges Racing
1991AMSCAR Series1stBMW M3 EvolutionBenson & Hedges Racing
1991Australian Touring Car Championship3rdBMW M3 EvolutionBenson & Hedges Racing
1992Australian Touring Car Championship3rdBMW M3 EvolutionBenson & Hedges Racing
1993Australian Touring Car Championship9thBMW M3 EvolutionBenson & Hedges Racing
1993Touring Car World Cup22ndBMW 318iBigazzi Team
1994Australian Super Touring Championship1stBMW 318iBenson & Hedges Racing
1994Australian Touring Car Championship11thHolden VP CommodoreBenson & Hedges Racing
1995Australian Touring Car Championship11thFord EF FalconCastrol Longhurst Racing
1996Australian Touring Car Championship11thFord EF FalconCastrol Longhurst Racing
1997Australian Touring Car Championship8thFord EL FalconCastrol Longhurst Racing
1998Australian Touring Car Championship8thFord EL FalconCastrol Longhurst Racing
1999Shell Championship Series14thFord AU FalconCastrol Longhurst Racing
2000Shell Championship Series10thFord AU FalconStone Brothers Racing
2001Shell Championship Series13thHolden VX CommodoreRod Nash Racing
Holden Racing Team
2002V8 Supercar Championship Series11thFord AU FalconBriggs Motor Sport
2003V8 Supercar Championship Series37thHolden VY CommodoreHolden Racing Team
2004V8 Supercar Championship Series29thHolden VY CommodorePerkins Engineering
2006V8 Supercar Championship Series39thHolden VZ CommodoreRod Nash Racing
2007V8 Supercar Championship Series45thHolden VE CommodoreHolden Racing Team
2011Australian V8 Ute Series48thHolden Commodore SS VE UteAuto One Wildcard

Complete World Sportscar Championship results

YearTeamCar1234567891011DCPoints
1984 JPS Team BMWBMW 320iMNZSILLMSNURBHTMOSSPAIMOFJIKYLSAN
ovr:14
cls:1		NC0

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

YearTeamCar1234567891011DCPoints
1987 JPS Team BMWBMW M3MNZJARDIJNURSPABNOSILBAT
ovr:4
cls:1		CLD
Ret		NC0
1987 BMW Motorsport
CiBiEmme		BMW M3WEL
ovr:7
cls:2		FJINC0

† Not registered for series & points

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Complete Sandown Endurance results

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results