The 1987 Monza 500 was the first round of the
inaugural
In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...
World Touring Car Championship
The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sing ...
. The race was held for cars eligible for
Group A
Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...
touring car regulations. It was held on March 22, 1987, at the
Autodromo Nazionale di Monza
The Monza Circuit ( Italian: ; ) is a race track near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it was the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit after Brooklands and Indianapolis and the oldest in mainland Euro ...
, in
Monza
Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
.
The race was won by
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
drivers
Allan Moffat
Allan George Moffat, Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian-born Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins ...
and
John Harvey, driving a
V8 powered
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A, after the
BMW M3
The BMW M3 is a high-performance version of the BMW 3 Series, developed by BMW's in-house motorsport division, BMW M GmbH. M3 models have been produced for every generation of 3 Series since the E30 M3 was introduced in 1986.
The initial mod ...
s of
Schnitzer Motorsport
Schnitzer Motorsport was a motorsport team based in Freilassing near Munich, Germany. From the early days of its establishment, the team mostly operated an auto racing, automobile racing squad for BMW, and had remarkable results in touring car rac ...
, CiBiEmme Sport and Bigazzi (all running under the
BMW Motorsport
BMW M Motorsport (formerly BMW Motorsport) is the division of BMW responsible for motorsport-related activities, including works-run competition programmes in touring car racing, sports car racing, motorcycle racing.
The current organisation is a ...
banner) which had finished in the top six positions on the road were disqualified for being approximately underweight through the use of
kevlar
Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s as ...
body panels. The M3s had initially passed through post race scrutineering, but a privateer BMW team protested when their M3, which had not been built by BMW Motorsport, was found to be 50 kg heavier than the works cars.
The leading car eligible for championship points was the
Alfa Romeo 75
The Alfa Romeo 75 (Type 161, 162B), sold in North America as the Milano, is a compact executive car produced by the Italian automaker Alfa Romeo between 1985 and 1992. The 75 was commercially quite successful: in only three years, 236,907 cars ...
of Walter Voulaz and Marcello Cipriani which finished 7th outright, some 7 laps behind Moffat and Harvey.
The expected challenge from the
Eggenberger Motorsport team and their brand new
Ford Sierra RS Cosworth turbo's failed to materialise. The
Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...
sponsored,
Swiss
Swiss most commonly refers to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Swiss may also refer to: Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
* Swiss Café, an old café located ...
built Ford's failed to pass scrutineering when they appeared with a non-homologated engine management system. As there was no way to change the system at that late stage, Ruedi Eggenberger withdrew his cars from the event. The new Sierra turbo's did show speed though with British driver
Andy Rouse
Andrew Ernest Rouse (born 2 December 1947) is a British racing driver, most notably in the British Saloon Car Championship. He won the BSCC in 1975, 1983, 1984 and 1985.
Andy Rouse is one of the most successful drivers ever to appear in the ...
claiming pole position for the race in his RS Cosworth.
Class structure
Cars were divided into three classes based on engine capacity:
* Division 1: 1-1600cc
* Division 2: 1601-2500cc
* Division 3: Over 2500cc
Official results
Results were as follows:
, Entered: 41
, Started: 38
, Finished: 17
See also
*
1987 World Touring Car Championship
References
{{Sportscar Race Report
, Year_of_race = 1987
, Sportscar_Series = World Touring Car Championship
, Previous_race_in_season = none
, Next_race_in_season =
1987 Jarama 4 Hours
Monza 500
Monza 500