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| Glenn Seton | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Nationality |  Australian |
| Born | (1965-05-05)5 May 1965 (age 60) |
| Supercars Championship career | |
| Championships | 2 (1993,1997) |
| Races | 209 |
| Wins | 40 |
| Podiums | 104 |
| Pole positions | 16 |
Glenn Michael Seton (born 5 May 1965) is an Australianracing driver. He won theAustralian Touring Car Championship in1993 and1997 while driving for his ownteam. Although he never won theBathurst 1000 like his fatherBarry did in1965, Glenn started frompole position in1994 and1996, and finished second three times. He came close to winning the race in1995, holding a significant lead in the closing stages, but his engine failed nine laps from the finish.[1][2]
Growing up in south-westSydney, Seton had a successful karting career before switching to cars after a heavy crash atOran Park Raceway aged 17.[1] He then raced for his father Barry's team in 1983, driving aFord Capri and making hisBathurst 1000 debut in1983 with Barry, better known as Bo. Seton then competed in three rounds of the1984 Australian Touring Car Championship in the car.
He then moved toNissan Motorsport from the1984 Australian Endurance Championship and would remain with the team until the end of1988. Father Barry also joined the team as engine builder. Glenn would first drive in aNissan Pulsar EXA in the1984 Castrol 500 atSandown in Melbourne, and then at the1984 James Hardie 1000, both times alongside Christine Gibson, the wife of his future bossFred Gibson. In 1986, he would win his first major race, theSandown 500 driving withGeorge Fury.[1]
His best individual year with Nissan came in1987 driving theNissan Skyline RS DR30 when he would finish second behindJim Richards in theATCC, only losing the championship after falling behind Richards in the final race atOran Park Raceway.[3] Teamed withJohn Bowe, Seton would then finish second in the1987 James Hardie 1000 which that year was part of theinauguralWorld Touring Car Championship. Seton, who had driven a memorable stint on slick tyres in wet conditions, and Bowe were in a strong position behind the later-disqualifiedEggenberger MotorsportFord Sierra RS500s until a safety car delayed them.[4] Post-season, Seton also competed atSuzuka Circuit in the final round of the1987 Japanese Touring Car Championship withAnders Olofsson, finishing in fourth place. It was Seton's only major race outside Australasia.
1988 would be a frustrating year for Seton. Nissan introduced the newSkyline HR31 GTS-R, and with the car arriving only mid-season, the team could not get on terms with the much more powerful Ford Sierras. The cars initial unreliability saw Seton's Skyline retire from the first lap at both theSandown 500 andTooheys 1000, both times when the cars production-based gearbox failed.[1]
Following this, Seton and his father Bo left the Nissan team at the end of 1988 to set upGlenn Seton Racing, which ran from1989 to2002, initially with Ford Sierra RS500s. The team wrote off its only car in the team's third round atLakeside International Raceway in 1989, forcing the team to miss the next two rounds. In this Group A Sierra period, in which Seton retained thePeter Jackson title sponsorship from the Nissan days, Seton would only win one championship round, atSymmons Plains Raceway in 1992.[5] In addition to this, Seton reunited with George Fury to win the1990 Sandown 500 which contributed to winning the1990 Australian Endurance Championship.
Approaching the new Group 3A regulations developed for 1993, GSR was one of the teams to develop a newV8 engineFord Falcon (EB). The team ran the Falcons at the season-ending endurance races in 1992, where Seton became the first driver to put aFalcon into the top 10 qualifiers atBathurst since 1984. The move to the new V8 formula would prove fruitful for Seton, winning the1993 and1997 Australian Touring Car Championships. In this period from 1993 to 1997, Seton finished in the top three of the championship in each year.[5] This was despite the team's level of funding and resources dropping significantly from 1996 following the end of tobacco sponsorship in Australia.
Despite his consistent success in the championship, success at Bathurst would continue to elude Seton in this period. Seton did claim pole position at Bathurst in1994 and1996, however was regularly hampered by reliability issues on race day. Most infamously, Seton was leading the1995 Bathurst 1000 until the final ten laps when an engine failure caused him to retire from the race. The race held extra importance for Seton as it was thirty years after father Bo's Bathurst victory, Seton himself was 30 years of age and was running in car number 30. A promotional offer would have given Seton the choice between $30,000 or his father's Bathurst winning car should he have won the race.[6]
Between 1999 and 2001, the team received increased funding fromFord Australia and was rebranded as Ford Tickford Racing. The team ran two cars in this period, first forNeil Crompton and then forSteven Richards but had limited success on track. Seton won his final solo championship race atWinton Motor Raceway in 2000, only losing the overall round victory after slipping off the track on oil in the final race.[5] Seton missed the Sandown round in 2000 after a testing crash atPhillip Island, however still finished fifth in the championship, before dropping to 16th in 2001.[1] The team downsized to one car in 2002 and lost the Tickford association, running withFord Credit title sponsorship, who had backed Seton since 1996.
At the end of 2002, Seton sold the team toProdrive and the team name was renamed toFord Performance Racing with Seton remaining with the team as a driver. The team would run three cars in 2003 withCraig Lowndes andDavid Besnard joining the team, with Lowndes and Seton combining for a second-place finish at the2003 Bathurst 1000. With Seton only being promoted to the 1987 podium after the later disqualifications, this was Seton's first time appearing on the Bathurst podium.[2] In 2004, the team suffered a spate of engine failures and Seton would only finish 15th in the championship, five spots ahead of Lowndes. Despite this, Seton and Lowndes would repeat their 2003 runner-up finish at the2004 Bathurst 1000, in what were Seton's only two podiums in his two-year stint with the team.[1]
In2005 he moved toDick Johnson Racing a team with whom Seton had a long rivalry with through the 1990s. In late 2005 after a disappointing season, Seton was sacked from Dick Johnson Racing halfway through his two-year contract and replaced byWill Davison for 2006.[1]
Seton was not able to find a 2006 full-time drive, so he joinedStone Brothers Racing for the two V8 Supercar endurance races withJames Courtney. Brake issues hampered the #4 SBR Falcon at Sandown where it finished ninth. At Bathurst they finished third, Seton's third podium in four years at the event.[7]
Seton moved from Ford and joined his childhood friend, and old Nissan teammate,Mark Skaife'sHolden Racing Team squad in the 2007 and 2008 endurance races. This marked the first times in Seton's career to drive aHolden. He finished 13th in the Sandown 500 withTony Longhurst and 11th in theBathurst 1000 withNathan Pretty. Seton again joined the Holden Racing Team in 2008, driving the #2 car withCraig Baird. The pair came 14th at thePhillip Island 500 and were running strongly at theBathurst 1000 until a late race clash withWarren Luff put them out of the race.[8] He made his final Bathurst appearance withJason Bargwanna forKelly Racing in2010.[9]
After retiring from full-time driving, Seton completed in multiple seasons ofTouring Car Masters, including finally winning his first race victory at Bathurst in 2011.[1] Seton would also finish 2nd in class at the2017 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour driving with son Aaron.
Seton is currently involved in the Australian Speedway scene and has travelled to the US with 2007/08 and 2009/10Australian Super Sedan Champion,Jamie McHugh[10]
In 2013 Seton won the2013 Great Southern 4 Hour, sharing aMitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 with Bob Pearson.
Seton, with ex-wife Jayne, is father of Courtney andAaron Seton, the latter of whom has also embarked on a racing career and now works as a mechanic for Dick Johnson Racing.[1][11] Seton grew up inMoorebank in south-westSydney before moving toMelbourne to work on the Nissan programme with his father. Seton would later move to theGold Coast in 2004 where he currently resides.[1]
(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Peter Jackson Nissan Racing | Nissan Skyline DR30 RS | MNZ | JAR | DIJ | NUR | SPA | BNO | SIL | BAT ovr:2 cls:2 | CLD ovr:5 cls:2 | WEL Ret | FJI | NC | 0 |
† Not eligible for series points
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Peter Jackson Nissan Racing | Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R | BAT Ret | WEL | PUK | FJI | NC | 0 |
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| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Winner of theAustralian Touring Car Championship 1993 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Winner of theAustralian Touring Car Championship 1997 | Succeeded by |
