Holden Racing Team team-mates Garth Tander and Will Davison claimed victory at Mount Panorama, clawing back vital points in the title race to the 888 car of Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.
The #2 HRT car had been running near the front all race, and clearly had the pace to take the win. However, it was only in the closing laps that Tander retook the lead, after Greg Ritter and Greg Murphy had to make a pitstop under caution.
But it almost went pear-shaped for Tander, when at the restart he was too aggressive passing lapped traffic and lost momentum on the run up the mountain. Rick Kelly capitalised on Tander’s error but was forced wide and was left defending from cars behind for the remaining laps with an ailing Holden Commodore.
HRT’s title rivals, Team Vodafone were initally looking good for victory, but a clutch problem on Lap 25 forced them to pit, dropping them to 4th. They later lost another place after a collision with Jason Bargwanna on Lap 156, letting several cars past.
Jason Richards and team-mate Cameron McConville finished 2nd after jumping from 6th on the second-last restart, but ran out of laps to catch the lead HRT car. The lead Garry Rogers Motorsport car of Michael Caruso and Lee Holdsworth rounded out the podium despite a spin and being 6th with under 10 laps remaining. But they jumped the Bargwanna/Whincup collision and also overtook the Kelly Racing car with 3 laps to go.
On the other hand, Ford Performance Racing had a miserable weekend, the lead car of Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards catching fire and the second car of Dean Canto and Luke Youlden crashing out later on.
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 Results
Pos Drivers Make Time
1. W Davison/G Tander Holden Commodore VE 6:40:02.4884
2. McConville/J Richards Holden Commodore VE + 0.7599
3. Caruso/Holdsworth Holden Commodore VE + 3.3842
4. Murphy/Skaife Holden Commodore VE + 3.3884
5. Lowndes/Whincup Ford Falcon FG + 4.6582
6. Bargwanna/Noske Holden Commodore VE + 5.9490
7. Morris/Slade Holden Commodore VE + 8.0320
8. R Kelly/T Kelly Holden Commodore VE + 10.3412
9. Besnard/Ritter Holden Commodore VE + 10.4702
10. D'Alberto/A Thompson Holden Commodore VE + 10.7202
11. Bright/Reindler Ford Falcon FG + 12.7196
12. Priaulx/Reynolds Holden Commodore VE + 12.8611
13. A Davison/van Gisbergen Ford Falcon FG + 1:09.2833
14. Perkins/Wood Holden Commodore VE + 1 lap
15. Ingall/O Kelly Holden Commodore VE + 1 lap
16. Owen/Price Holden Commodore VE + 1 lap
17. McNally/Ricciardello Holden Commodore VE + 1 lap
18. L Tander/Wall Ford Falcon BF + 1 lap
19. Gaunt/McIntyre Ford Falcon FG + 1 lap
20. Collins/Pretty Holden Commodore VE + 5 laps
21. Baird/Dumbrell Holden Commodore VE + 8 laps
22. Assaillit/Lowe Ford Falcon BF + 10 laps
23. A Jones/B Jones Holden Commodore VE + 16 laps
24. Courtney/Johnson Ford Falcon FG + 30 laps
Not classified/retirements:
Drivers Make Laps
Simonsen/J Thompson Ford Falcon FG 152
Canto/Youlden Ford Falcon FG 139
Coulthard/Patrizi Ford Falcon FG 120
Luff/Webb Ford Falcon FG 84
Douglas/Walter Holden Commodore VE 84
Bayliss/Fiore Holden Commodore VE 59
S Richards/Winterbottom Ford Falcon FG 49
Sieders/Fisher Ford Falcon BF 22
