Chaz Mostert & Paul Morris win dramatic Bathurst 1000 for Ford

Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris have won a sensational Bathurst 1000km at the Mount Panorama circuit for Ford Performance Racing, after starting 25th and last, winning a race which was suspended for more than an hour under a red flag, and taking the win on the final lap as race leader Jamie Whincup’s Triple Eight Holden ran out of fuel.

At the start, the Volvo of Scott McLaughlin rocketed into the lead from third on the grid, with Shane Van Gisbergen dropping from first to third in the Tekno Autosports Holden, behind the Ford Performance Racing Falcon of Mark Winterbottom.

At the back of the grid, of the out-of-place trio of the #1 Triple Eight Holden of Jamie Whincup, the #55 Rod Nash Racing Ford of Dean Canto and the #6 FPR Falcon of Paul Morris, Whincup was the one to watch. Whincup’s start was even investigated by the stewards as he got away faster than other of the cars around him, passing several cars before the first corner, but it was deemed to be a legitimate start.

McLaughlin and Winterbottom shot away from the field while all eyes on were on Whincup, who carved his way up to fifth from 23rd on the grid after just 13 laps, setting the fastest lap and a new lap record of 2:07.7991 in the process.

On lap 26, the first safety car was called after Luke Youlden in the #14 Brad Jones Racing Holden went into the gravel at The Chase, which was struggling with a vibration on its current set of tyres.
The race resumed three laps later with the #33 Volvo still in the lead, now driven by Alexandre Prémat following their stop shortly before the safety car, with Steve Owen second in the #5 Ford and Jonathon Webb in third in the #97 Tekno Autosports car.

There was an incident at Griffins’ Bend, with Cameron Waters in the Charlie Schwerkolt Racing Ford nudging the #360 Nissan of Taz Douglas into the barrier, but Douglas was able to reverse and rejoin the race.

On lap 45, the safety car was called after a kangaroo was spotted on track, triggering another set of pit stops. The safety car period was extended when Paul Morris crashed off at Griffins’ Bend under the safety car, reporting that the track was breaking up.

Soon after, there was further drama when Dale Wood in the Britek Motorsport Holden ran into the back of Andrew Jones’ Brad Jones Racing Holden unsighted as the field was backed up behind the safety car. Wood became the first retirement from the race with heavy front-end damage to his car, with Jones forced to head into the garage for repairs.

Prémat continued to lead the way when the race resumed, while Paul Dumbrell and Greg Murphy pushed their way forwards in the #1 Triple Eight and #22 HRT Commodores respectively, moving into second and third behind the Frenchman.

Steve Owen had just mounted a charge back in the #5 FPR Ford and retook third from Murphy just before the third safety car period of the race, with first Scott Pye in the #16 Dick Johnson Racing Ford, and the Taz Douglas in the Nissan, slid off into the barriers at Griffins’ Bend, both returning to the pits for repairs.

The majority of the field pitted during this safety car, which elevated the #15 Nissan to the lead ahead of the #55 Ford of Dean Canto, when the officials made the call to red flag the race on lap 62 due to the extensive track break up at both Griffins’ Bend and The Dipper.

The race was stopped for 1hr20 minutes whilst repairs were carried out on the track, with the race resuming at 14:10 AEST.

When the race restarted, there were a frenetic few laps, with Russell going wide at Griffins’ Bend, allowing Steven Johnson through into the lead in the DJR Ford. The Ford was now leading ahead of Tim Slade’s Walkinshaw Racing Holden, before he lost control of the car on lap 65 at Reid Park and hit the wall, stopping on the circuit and bringing out the safety car again.

With Slade pitting behind the safety car, the new race leader was Dean Canto in the Rod Nash Racing Ford ahead of Scott McLaughlin’s Volvo, but there was more disaster yet to come for the Dick Johnson Racing team as they would bring out the next safety car on lap 71, when Scott Pye crashed out on the Conrod Straight with suspension failure.

During the next stage of the race the Volvo continued to lead while Shane Van Gisbergen worked his way forward in the #97 Tekno Autosports car.

On Lap 103, Tim Slade brought out the safety car again when he crashed at Reid Park, with the #33 Volvo of Alex Prémat diving straight into the pits to ensure the Volvo would be able to spread out their mandatory stops to the end of the race.

With David Reynolds now aboard the #55 Ford, the Bottle-O entry began to charge forward, passing the Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Holden of Tim Blanchard at The Chase and then getting ahead of the sister FPR car of Steve Owen for second, and was now following the #97 car of Jonathon Webb.

The seventh safety car period of the race came when the #34 Volvo of Robert Dahlgren crashed out at The Cutting and stopped on the way down the hill with broken suspension. At this point, the pack all dived into the pits, with a number of final driver changes taking place.

Triple Eight’s Craig Lowndes got the jump on David Reynolds in the pits but it was to no matter, as the #55 car soon crawled to a halt with alternator failure.

The race restarted with Lowndes leading the #14 BJR Holden of Fabian Coulthard and with Chaz Mostert now third in the FPR Falcon, followed by Scott McLaughlin’s Volvo and Van Gisbergen’s Holden.

Van Gisbergen then got a run down the inside of McLaughlin up the top of the hill, forcing the Volvo driver onto the marbles, who slid into the wall at The Cutting just where his team-mate had a few laps earlier, and also retired with broken suspension.

After the eighth safety car intervention, the race resumed on lap 122, with Van Gisbergen passing both Mostert’s Ford and Coulthard’s Holden on the same lap, and then shooting past Lowndes’ Triple Eight car at Griffins’ Bend for the lead on lap 123.

Van Gisbergen maintained a two second gap to Lowndes as the top two pulled away from Coulthard, who was now having to defend against Mostert, who was shortly joined by Mark Winterbottom, now aboard the #5 FPR Falcon.

Mostert got past Coulthard for third with a late move at The Chase, but nearly lost it again at the following corner, but was able to hold the inside at Murray’s and keep the position.

As the cars was just short of the final pit stop window there was an accident further down the order involving Nissan’s Todd Kelly, LD Motorsport’s Russell Ingall and Erebus’ Lee Holdsworth. Kelly had passed Ingall into Hell Corner, with Ingall trying to get the switchback to the inside at Griffins’, but ran onto the marbles and lost control of his Holden, catapulting into the braking Mercedes of Holdsworth ahead, knocking it onto its roof, but Holdsworth was able to extricate himself from the car and taken to the medical centre.

This ninth safety car saw the majority of the field pit. Triple Eight and FPR were forced to double stack their drivers during the stops, with Whincup now taking over the reins of the #1 car, and Winterbottom now the last car on the lead lap opting to make a second stop behind the safety car to maximise his fuel level.

While Van Gisbergen, Lowndes and Mostert up front knew they’d have to stop again, Whincup and Winterbottom were on a fuel saving run trying to make it to the end of the race.

The top three traded fastest laps, and indeed Bathurst race lap records, while Whincup and Winterbottom tried to save as much fuel as they could, but with 12 laps to go the Lucas Dumbrell car, now driven by Tim Blanchard and having served a drive-through penalty for the incident with Holdsworth, crashed out at The Cutting, bringing out the tenth safety car period of the race.

The top three all dived into the pits, but Van Gisbergen’s car failed to restart, with Lowndes leaving ahead of Mostert in third overall.

Whincup made a mistake at Hell Corner and handed Winterbottom the lead before the restart, which took place on lap 152. Whincup got back ahead at the final corner at Murray’s on the first lap after the restart, but the Ford driver was then spun around by Craig Lowndes’ Holden at the same corner, dropping down to 11th position.

Lowndes was subsequently handed a drive-through penalty, while Winterbottom fought his way back up to sixth position to minimise his championship damage to Whincup.

Whincup held on up front, holding the gap to Chaz Mostert in the FPR Falcon, but on the final lap Whincup began to lose ground fast, now running dangerously low on fuel. The five-time champion defended against the Ford driver off across the top of the mountain, but Mostert took the lead on the way down into the Conrod Straight to claim a sensational victory after starting last on the grid after being excluded from qualifying.

Mostert also took the race lap record of 2:07.4913, while Whincup dropped to fifth, passed by James Moffat and Taz Douglas’s Nissan for second, with Nick Percat and Oliver Gavin finishing third, the best place Holden.

Will Davison finished fourth to ensure there were four different manufacturers in the top four spots, with Whincup finishing just one spot ahead of championship rival Mark Winterbottom with fifth position.