A GROUP A Commodore built and raced in Australia during the period has taken a race win overseas – in Italy of all places!
Last weekend’s round of the Le Mans Classic Series at Imola resulted in a win for Phil Keen in the Heritage Touring Cup category at the helm of the ex-ENZED Commodore VL Group A SV owned by James Thorpe.
The car, driven at Bathurst in 1994 by Peter McLeod, son Ryan and Kevin Burton, snatched victory late in the one-hour timed race that covered 29 laps.
Keen powered by the leading BMW M3 of Francisco Freitas and Luis Liberal on the last lap, skipping away to win after the M3 ran low on fuel half a lap from home.
“I was shocked… crossed the line in P2 and then they waved me into P1!” said Keen post-race.
The category ran as part of the 2026 Le Mans Classic Series of historic and heritage racing.
Originally built and raced by Bob Forbes’ GIO team in Sydney, the winning Group A Commodore has been overseas now for quite some years but isn’t the first Holden to win in Italy.
Allan Moffat and John Harvey famously won the opening round of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship at Monza.
Another former Bathurst 1000 car was part of the field at Imola on the weekend too in the form of a TWR Jaguar XJ-S that ran at Bathurst in 1985.
Driven by owner Richard Meins and Nicky Pastorelli, the V12 Group A racer won the A1 class.
Chassis 005 won the Macau Ghia race in JPS livery in 1984 with Tom Walkinshaw at the wheel, though is better known to Aussie fans as running as car 9 at Mount Panorama a year later.
Driven by Jeff Allam and Ron Dickson, the car started on the front row of the grid but retired with engine issues within a mere matter of laps.