The 1988 Tooheys 1000 — the inaugural Bathurst race under the sponsorship of the beer giant — kept everyone guessing to the last, with Tony Longhurst and Tomas Mezera finally taking their Benson & Hedges Sierra to victory.

Protests and counter protests swinging between Tom Walkinshaw's factory Holden team and the leading Sierra entries heightened tension but failed to highlight any illegalities before race time. Later, though, Walkinshaw's Holdens were to be ruled as not conforming with touring car regulations.

Sierras dominated qualifying and much of the race. Dick Johnson, heading a three-car Shell team, put his Sierra on pole with a time of 2min 16.46secs, followed by teammate John Bowe and Tony Longhurst. With a rolling start being employed for the first time (and probably the last), Johnson swept to the lead. But his joy was short-lived.

On lap 19 the touring car champion's Ford was outed after a dramatic moment on Conrod Straight. Seven laps later his second of three cars was out, too. Longhurst then took over the front running until delayed with a broken throttle spring. This catapulted Klaus Niedzwiedz, sharing the ANZ Sierra with Allan Moffat and Gregg Hansford, to the front.

Many of the fancied teams were in trouble. Christer Simonses's Swedish-entered Sierra and the similar car of Pierre Dieudonne/Andrew Bagnall suffered blown turbos. Peter Brock's BMW M3 ran over an errant wheel and tore its oil cooler. Walkinshaw's Commodore broke its suspension. Allan Grice's Commodore was struck down by a succession of problems ...

The veteran Moffat seemed on course to notch his elusive fifth Bathurst win when, on lap 128, his Sierra peeled off into the pits with a blown head gasket. Larry Perkins/Denny Hulme, in the “Australianised” factory Commodore, and joined by Walkinshaw, also looked threatening until it too succumbed with engine failure after 137 laps.

Suddenly Longhurst and Mezera enjoyed a two-lap buffer and Mezera cruised home to victory, although not entirely without incident.

With a few laps remaining a Commodore exploded an engine and spun wildly right in the path of Mezera, who elected to take a detour down the escape road at the end of Conrod Straight. At the finish, the Benson & Hedges Sierra was one lap up on the surviving Johnson car, crewed by John Bowe and John Smith. Colin Bond and Alan Jones were third in the Caltex Sierra, with Peter Janson/Trevor Crowe fourth outright and first in the under 2500cc class. Fifth was John Giddings and Bruce Stewart in the second Caltex Ford, with Brian Callaghan/Barry Graham sixth, and the first Commodore home. John Faulkner/Drew Price took ninth overall and won the under 1600cc division.