Group A arrived on the Australian scene in 1985 after the locally devised Group C regulations ended and Holden made a winning start at Sandown.
An international ruleset, Group A was devised by the FIA during the early 1980s for touring car and rallying competition enticing manufacturers not known for motorsport to enter.
Courtesy of the European Touring Car Championship where the likes of BMW, Jaguar, Rover, Volvo and Alfa Romeo, Group A was growing catching the eye of the Australian motorsport governing body CAMS.
After years of bickering between competitors and CAMS during the Group C era for concessions, Group A provided a more straightforward way of doing this by submitting to the FIA.
It was a season of change for the Holden Dealer Team in 1985 as its longstanding association with Marlboro ended and Mobil came onboard.
The factory teamed debuted two VK Commodores coined ’the last of the big bangers’ in late-1984, but debuted its Group A challenger at the first Wellington 500 before the Australian Touring Car Championship began.
Peter Brock had the advantage of having Larry Perkins in his corner during this time and the pair raced the Group A VK Commodore to fourth despite overheating being a concern.
Missing the opening round of the ATCC at Winton, Brock arrived in the Mobil VK at his home track of Sandown in its relatively new 3.8km extended layout.
Although a small field, it was a competitive one.
Dick Johnson was in his Mustang, Jim Richards went on to win the title in his JPS BMW partnered by Neville Crichton, Robbie Francevic in the Mark Petch Volvo, while Alfa Romeo had Colin Bond and 1980 Formula 1 world champion Alan Jones.
Having cured the overheating problems, Brock made the perfect start to outlast a late Richards challenge to take the maiden win for the Group A VK Commodore on its Australian competitive debut.
However, there were problems with the Holden soon cured by an evolution model released later in the year in regard to weight and reliability.
This win though is in the history books and Holden continued to punch above its weight through this turbulent era.