The 1982 Australian GT Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to Group D GT cars and Group B Sports Sedans. It was the fifth Australian GT Championship, the first to be awarded since 1963 and the first to be contested over a series of races rather than a single race. The 1982 title, which was contested over a nine round series from 16 May to 10 October, was won by Alan Jones driving a Porsche 935/80 entered by Porsche Cars Australia.
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With a number of GT cars appearing on the scene such as the Porsche 935 and Porsche 944, as well as the IMSA GT style Chevrolet Monza (which had already been racing in Sports Sedans since Allan Moffat first drove one to win the 1976 Australian Sports Sedan Championship), CAMS made the decision to discontinue the Australian Sports Sedan Championship at the end of 1981 and revive the GT Championship name.
The championship was dominated by 1980 Formula One World Drivers' Champion Alan Jones who went through the season undefeated. His closest on-track rival was multiple Bathurst winner and Australian Touring Car Champion Peter Brock, driving a Bob Jane owned 6.0L V8 Chevrolet Monza. Brock placed fifth in the championship, having contested four of the nine rounds. Brock and the Monza were often faster in qualifying than the turbocharged Porsche. However, the Bathurst legend was rarely able to maintain his tyres for the entire race duration and subsequently always finished second best. Although Alan Jones won every round, his battles with Peter Brock are regarded by those who witnessed it as some of the closest and best racing seen to that point in Australian motor racing history.
Rusty French placed second in the championship driving a Porsche 935/77A, 45 points behind Jones. Jones' Porsche Cars Australia team mate Colin Bond placed third driving a turbocharged Porsche 944 (the car Jones was to originally drive in the series before it was decided he would have a better chance in the 935), with the 1981 Australian Sports Sedan Champion Tony Edmondson placed fourth in the championship winning Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV-Chevrolet (running a 5.0L Formula 5000 engine) owned by Don Elliot.
Schedule
The championship was contested over a nine round series.
Points system
Points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the top six finishers in each round. Where rounds were contested over two races, points were allocated on a 20-16-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for the first 14 positions in each race. These points were then aggregated to determine the first six round positions for the purpose of championship points allocation.
Championship name
Sources vary as to the actual name of the championship. The 1982 CAMS Manual uses "Australian Sports Sedan Championship" as does the Official Souvenir Programme for the 4th round of the championship at Adelaide International Raceway. Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1982/93 uses "Australian GT/Sports Sedan Championship, as does Racing Car News, November 1982. The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport recognises Alan Jones as the winner of the "1982 Australian GT Championship" in its "Australian Titles" document.