Bathurst 1000: The day the mountain chose its next winner, whilst drama continued to occur around the track.
Bathurst is always both a day to remember for some, but also a day to forget. The mountain is the toughest race to endure, with 161 laps and 1000km of racing. It is an event that the drivers look forward to all season long, pairing up with their co-drivers for one of the coolest races ever.
For Shell V-Power racing, it was another beautiful day as their number 17 car with Brodie Kostecki and co-driver Todd Hazelwood took the big win, stepping on the top step after a major moment that would change the race completely.
Anton De Pasquale and co-driver Lee Holdsworth along with Team 18 were forced to hold their breath, as the car looked to take the checkered flag first before Chaz Mosterts Supra hit the barrier at Forrest’s Elbow on lap 156, bringing out a safety car. Team 18 was confident the car had sufficient fuel, however that quickly changed. On the restart and heading up the mountain straight, the car ran out of fuel. This handed the win over to car 17 and recorded a DNF for the Dewalt Camaro after what looked to be a brilliant day at the mountain.
Finishing P2 after an impressive day at the mountain as the 888 car of Will Brown and co-driver Scott Pye. This duo had a positive weekend at Bathurst, and the p2 finish ensured they also won the enduro cup as well. For Broc Feeney who is chasing for the championship lead, it was a difficult day at the mountain, whilst still gaining a position, it was only P11 for him and co-driver Nick Percat.
In P3 was the brilliant pairing of Zach Bates and Aaron Seton. These two drove a perfect qualifying and shootout lap to secure pole position but with the length of Bathurst anything can happen. Still securing a podium result in the first season is a positive result and one to look towards further achieving more in the coming years. Finishing just behind in P4 was the other Matt Stone Racing car of Jack LeBrocq and Harri Jones. It was an overall great result seeing both cars finishing within the top 4.
P5 and maintaining his current championship lead was Matt Payne and co-driver Will Davison. The Penrite Racing car had started P10 after struggling in the shootout, and ending within the top 5 is a great result despite all odds and unpredictability of what could happen at the mountain.
The Erebus Motorsport car of Cooper Murray and co-driver Lochie Dalton finished P6 showing an impressive finish at the mountain before a shock move for Murray from Erebus to PremiAir Racing on the Monday following the great race, where he is set to replace Declan Fraser for the remaining three rounds.
James Golding and co-driver Richie Stanaway pulled a great result for CoolDrive Racing finishing in P8, after an unfortunate double disqualification for Blanchard Racing at the Bend. This situation was due to a driver tracking error resulted in them not completing the adequate laps between both the driver and co-driver.
Thomas Randle and co-driver Thomas Randle finished in P9 with them having a quiet race at the mountain with very little dramas to worry about. Cam Waters and Mark Winterbottom however struggled to make moves at the race, ending up P15.
The last car within the top 10 was car number 15, driven by Craig Lowndes and co-driver Bayley Hall. Lowndes had officially made 33 consecutive race starts in Bathurst, moving him up to second in the all-time list, representing Supercheap Auto Racing. Bayley Hall is an upcoming young star in the Super2 series, he made a positive impact and helped the team managing to move up 12 positions from the starting grid spot.
This weekend we return to the sunny Gold Coast for the first part of the final’s series. This weekend’s races will decide who from the top 10 will make the top 7 and move through to compete at Sandown. Sessions for the Gold Coast 500 start on Friday with races on Saturday and Sunday.
Comments