Mark Petch Motorsport was a motor racing team that competed in Australian and New Zealand motorsport.

History

Mark Petch Motorsport was formed in 1985 by former New Zealand National Championship winner Mark Petch who by 1985 had become a wealthy designer and manufacturer of industrial seals.
Autoquip A Volvo 240T was imported from Belgium and debuted at the 1985

Wellington 500 The Wellington 500 was a street circuit, street race for touring car racing, touring cars which took place at Wellington City in Wellington, New Zealand in the 1980s and 1990s. The 1987 event was a round of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship ...

with

Robbie Francevic Robert James Francevic (born Franičević on 18 September 1941 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a retired racing driver who featured prominently in New Zealand and Australia during the 1970s and 1980s. His biggest wins were the inaugural Wellington 5 ...

and former Works

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

driver Michel Delcourt taking victory despite the car not arriving in time for qualifying and only turning in a small number of laps in the final practice session. Their non-appearance in qualifying resulted in the car starting from the rear of the field, though within approximately 5 laps Delcourt had sliced through the field to be in 5th place Francevic then drove the car in the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship recording wins at Symmons Plains and Oran Park before teaming with John Bowe at the

Sandown 500 The Sandown 500 (commercially titled Penrite, Penrite Oil Sandown 500) is an annual endurance racing (motorsport), endurance Auto racing, motor race which is staged at the Sandown Raceway, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from 1964. The even ...

and

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a Touring car racing, touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supe ...

.Australia's most iconic Volvo racecar
Speedcafe 10 June 2013 Francevic drove the 240T to victories in the opening two rounds of the

1986 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for Touring Cars. It began on 2 March 1986 at Amaroo Park and ended on 13 July at Oran Park Raceway after ten rounds. The championship was authorised by the ...

, with the team's Australian assets then sold to the John Sheppard run Volvo Dealer Team.Australia's most iconic Volvo racecar
Speedcafe 10 June 2013 Mark Petch Motorsport then purchased an ex

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 ...

Ford Sierra XR4Ti, with Francevic driving the car at the

1986 Bathurst 1000 The 1986 James Hardie 1000 was an endurance motor race held on 5 October 1986 at the Mount Panorama Circuit, just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race, which was the 27th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race, was ...

in partnership with fellow Kiwi Leo Leonard. Francevic made a bold pre-race prediction that the turbo Ford, which had proven to be very fast (but fragile) in the

1986 European Touring Car Championship The 1986 European Touring Car Championship, known in 1986 as the FIA Touring Car Championship, was the 24th season of the European Touring Car Championship. The championship was run to the FIA's international Group A touring car regulations. Eu ...

, would claim pole position at Bathurst. However, various problems in getting the Sierra to run properly saw Francevic 21st on the grid some 6 seconds slower than Gary Scott's pole winning time in his turbocharged Nissan Skyline RS DR30. The race was just as bad for the team with Francevic forced to park the car after only 27 laps with transmission failure. In 1987, Mark Petch Motorsport purchased the Bigazzi

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 ...

raced by

Olivier Grouillard Olivier Grouillard (; born 2 September 1958) is a French racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to , and IndyCar in 1993. Born in Fenouillet, Haute-Garonne, Grouillard started kart racing from the age of fourteen competing in event ...

Altfrid Heger Altfrid Heger (born 24 January 1958) is a German racing driver who competed in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship. He won the 1988 Guia Race. Heger is the co-founder of Hegersport, a German company which organizes auto racing series such ...

and Winni Vogt at the 1987 Bathurst 1000 which was a round of that years inaugural

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 ...

. Following Bathurst, the M3 was then driven to victory in the 1987 (November) Pukekohe 500 in the hands of 1985 European Touring Car Champion

Gianfranco Brancatelli Gianfranco Brancatelli (born 18 January 1950) is a former racing driver from Italy. Career His racing career began in 1973, in the Formula Abarth series. In 1975, he advanced to Italian Formula 3 racing. Brancatelli entered 3 Formula One Grand ...

and

winner

Allan Grice Allan Maxwell Grice (born 21 October 1942), known to motor-racing fans as "Gricey", is an Australian former racing driver and politician, most famous for twice winning the prestigious Bathurst 1000 (1986 and 1990), and as a privateer driver of ...

. In 1988, Mark Petch purchased a Wolf Racing

Ford Sierra RS500 The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth is a high-performance version of the Ford Sierra that was built by Ford Europe from 1986 to 1992. It was the result of a Ford Motorsport project with the purpose of producing an outright winner for Group A racing in ...

with

Armin Hahne Armin Hahne (born 10 September 1955 in Moers, West Germany) is a German racing driver, best known for his exploits in touring car racing. The highpoint of his career was winning both the 1982 and 1983 Spa 24 Hours driving BMW's. Another highlig ...

co-driving at the

and Wellington 500. After running strongly in the top 3 for over 70 laps, the car was retired on lap 103. In 1989, Francevic competed in two rounds of the

Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the troph ...

before being joined by

at Bathurst and Wellington. In 1990, the car was raced at Bathurst by Brancatelli and

Robb Gravett Robb Gravett (born 10 May 1956 (sometimes noted as 2 May 1956) is a British retired racing driver and team owner from London. He started his motorsport career on two wheels, racing Moto Cross at the age of 12. By 15, he was already British champ ...

. In 1991, the Sierra was raced at Wellington by Brett Riley and

Kayne Scott Kayne Scott (born 21 June 1968 in Hamilton, New Zealand) started his motorsport career by competing in motocross at the age of 12. Scott is a five time New Zealand Trans-Am champion and won the 2005/06 New Zealand V8s series. He took a seven-yea ...

and in 1992 by Scott and

Greg Murphy Gregory David Murphy (born 23 August 1972) is a New Zealand professional racing driver, best known as a four-time winner of the Bathurst 1000. Greg Murphy joined Jeremy Clarkson and James May presenting Top Gear Live, when it had its first in ...

. A second Sierra was purchased from

Dick Johnson Racing Dick Johnson Racing (formerly DJR Team Penske) is Australia's oldest motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. Founded by Dick Johnson, the team's drivers have won ten Australian Touring Car Championship titles (five of the ...

at the end of 1991.Sierra – DJR4
Dick Johnson Racing Mark Petch Motorsport later became involved in New Zealand TraNZam racing and the New Zealand V8 Series winning the latter three times before being disbanded at the end of 2009.

References

{{Reflist, 2 New Zealand auto racing teams Auto racing teams established in 1985 Auto racing teams disestablished in 2009 Sports clubs and teams in New Zealand 1985 establishments in New Zealand 2009 disestablishments in New Zealand