Australian Super Touring Championship - History

History

Super Touring was introduced into Australia in 1993 when CAMS replaced the existing Group 3A Touring Car category (which had been based on FIA Group A rules) with a new two class Group 3A. This encompassed both 2.0 Litre FIA Class II Touring Cars and 5.0 Litre Touring Cars, which would later become known as Super Touring Cars and V8 Supercars respectively.

In their first year the Class II cars were eligible to compete in both the Australian Touring Car Championship and in their own Australian 2.0 Litre Touring Car Championship which was run with the main series. This revived a name which had been used in 1986 & 1987 for a national title series for 2.0 Litre “Group A” Touring Cars. For 1994 the Class II cars contested their own separate series, the 1994 Australian Manufacturers' Championship, with both Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ titles awarded. 1995 saw the Super Touring name adopted for the category, the Australian Super Touring Championship name applied to the series and a Teams’ title added to the existing Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ awards.

The series was seen as an opportunity for Manufacturer involvement in Australian racing since the 5.0-litre category was the exclusive domain of Ford and Holden under the regulations, in the hope that manufacturers like BMW, Nissan and Toyota who had been involved in recent years of the preceding category, Group A might continue to race in Australia. Nissan showed no interest and has not raced in Australia since, but Toyota jumped immediately into the 1993 series with a two car factory team run by Colin Bond, however after losing the title to a privateer BMW team, Toyota pulled out. BMW stepped into the series in 1994, with Audi, Hyundai and Volvo following in 1995 with both Ford and Holden giving back door support to privately operated teams on and off for the next three seasons. Hyundai did not stay beyond its first season. BMW and Audi alternated championship success from 1995 to 1998. BMW pulled out after the 1997 series. Both Audi and Volvo ended their involvement after the 1999 season, leaving the category as a privateer series which then rapidly dwindled.

After a small scale 2000/2001 series where grids had been bolstered by the Future Touring category the series ceased to be self-supporting. In 2005 Super Touring cars were included in the class structure of the new Australian Touring Car Challenge series but were little more than one class among many and race wins, even in a handicap based structure, became rare. By 2007 as little as one or two cars appeared at each race meeting, the category has all but disappeared.