Bowe Aims for Ipswich Clean Sweep

The body may be from the American muscle car era, but John Bowe’s Coates Hire, Dunlop Super Dealers, Wilson Security backed 1969 Ford Mustang Trans Am is bristling with modern technology under the skin.

Bowe, one of Australia’s motorsport legends with a career spanning over four decades, has competed in open wheelers, sports cars, touring cars, V8 Supercars, sport sedans and now the crowd-pleasing Touring Car Masters.

Since joining the likes of Jim Richards and Andrew Miedecke, Bowe has stamped his authority in the category with 54 race wins from 120 starts to date, making him the most successful driver of the Touring Car Masters.

Synonymous as a Ford driver, ironically Bowe made his Touring Car Masters debut in 2008 behind the wheel of a Chevy Camaro. In his time with the big Chevy, Bowe posted 14 wins for the General. 

He continued racing the Camaro in 2009, his first full Championship season and ended with one pole position, four race wins, one lap record and one round win.

Although Bowe changed brands in 2010, jumping into the now familiar Ford Mustang Trans Am, one thing didn’t change and that was Bowe’s winning ways. By the end of the year Bowe had racked up five pole positions, eight race wins, three lap records and three round wins to finish the Championship third.

In 2011 Coates Hire, Australia’s largest equipment hire company joined forces with Bowe, adorning the flanks of the Trans Am Mustang with the familiar Coates Hire orange logo.

With renewed vigour Bowe came out firing in 2011 and after a tough eight round season, clinched his first Touring Car Masters title. His stellar year included five pole positions, 12 race wins from 24 races (a stunning 50 percent success rate), one lap record and four round wins (another 50 percent success rate). Bowe won rounds at the Clipsal 500, Barbagallo Raceway, the Gold Coast street circuit and at Sandown Park.

There’s a saying in motorsport that it’s harder to defend a title than it is to win one in the first place and that was the challenge facing Bowe in 2012.

Behind the wheel of his trusty Trans Am once again, Bowe enjoyed even greater success in 2012 and defended his title in style.

On his way to chalking up his second Masters title, Bowe secured seven poles from eight rounds, won 14 races of 24 including a 10 race-winning streak, three lap records and five round wins. He also took a race victory at Bathurst, his first in a Ford since winning Bathurst with Dick Johnson in 1994.

So far this year Bowe hasn’t put a foot wrong in his quest for a hat trick of titles and after three rounds Bowe has a handy points lead over Jim Richards and Andrew Miedecke.

An ominous sign for his competitors is that at last year’s Coates Hire 300 meeting at Queensland Raceway just outside of Ipswich, Bowe qualified fastest and won all three races, just as he did at the last Masters round, five weeks ago in Darwin.

The Touring Car Masters will join the V8 Supercars and Dunlop Series as one of the weekend's support categories at the Coates Hire Ipswich 360. Tickets are available through Ticketek.