Austrian Gerhard Berger was one of the rising stars in the Formula 1 field by the mid-1980s, but in an act not even imaginable in today’s world he completed double duty at the first Adelaide Grand Prix in 1985.
After surviving a life threatening road car crash in 1984, Berger was undertaking his first full-season as part of the Arrows-BMW team as at the same time he formed part of the German marque’s gun factory line-up.
This included contesting multiple rounds of the European Touring Car Championship rounds in the highly competitive Group A era driving BMW’s starring 635csi. Berger won the 1984 Spa 24 Hour alongside Italian ace Roberto Ravaglia and Marc Surer as this particular event was owned by BMW during the 1980s.
At this same event, the growing need to choose one discipline or the other was none more displayed when Berger was handed the opportunity to test an ATS BMW Formula 1 at Zandvoort on the same weekend as the Spa 24 Hour.
Teething problems lengthened the test and it finished with the 24 hour classic well underway. Still in his racing overalls, Bergen drove from Zandvoort to Spa and made it to the Belgian circuit just in time to relieve Ravaglia after the Italian had completed a double stint and was about to give up!
Fast forward a year and a bit, Berger was enlisted to drive Bob Jane’s ex-Schnitzer BMW in the touring car support race at the first Adelaide Grand Prix.
The BMW had finished second at Bathurst with Ravaglia and Johnny Cecotto at Bathurst, while also was runner up at the Spa 24 Hour to Berger’s entry.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing to allow Berger to race as he needed to apply for permission from the world governing body FISA, FOCA and Arrows as the event was 24 hours before the Australian Grand Prix.
This was given and he started second on the grid behind Dick Johnson’s Palmer Tube Mills Ford Mustang.
Dropping to fifth at the start behind the two Mobil Holden Dealer Team Commodores and Kevin Bartlett in the Mitsubishi Starion, Berger was able to take the Japanese coupe before setting his sights on John Harvey.
But it all came a cropper.
Berger gradually moved across on the main straight on lap 3, crowding Harvey as he maintained his ground resulting in a spectacular spin for the BMW where it was beached in the gravel trap.
In the end, Dick Johnson secured the Ford Mustang’s only significant win on Australian soil beating Peter Brock as BMW privateer Charlie O’Brien finished third.
Berger enjoyed a successful Formula 1 career at Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren as he continued his touring car dalliances in 1986, highlighted by third place in the Spa 24 Hour.