 Bowe became the lead driver of the Volvo team after Francevic was fired from the team shortly by team boss John Sheppard after his refusal to drive a newly built car at the 1986 Castrol 500 (he was also fired for comments made to the media on race morning which Francevic claimed was aimed at the race officials, but Sheppard took as criticising the team).Once again though, the Volvo proved fragile and unable to effectively threaten for the 1986 endurance races, though Bowe was able to qualify the Volvo in fifth place for the 1986 James Hardie 1000.The team closed at the end of the season leaving Bowe without a drive for the 1987 season.