Lowndes & Whincup win Bathurst 1000
Ford’s Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup survived a highly dramatic final dash in the damp to win the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 for a second straight time today.
They led the first Ford trifecta since 1988 and moved to the top of the V8 Supercar Championship lead with Whincup just ahead of his Team Vodafone team-mate Lowndes.
They finished just clear of James Courtney and David Besnard (Jeld-Wen Motorsport Ford) and the Steven Johnson-Will Davison pairing from Jim Beam Racing Ford.
While the pairing of regular V8 Supercar drivers Lowndes and Whincup again proved profitable, it was a disaster for Toll HSV’s Rick Kelly and Garth Tander, who relinquished their 1-2 Championship lead after a troublesome day.
Whincup now assumes the Championship lead just ahead of team-mate Lowndes with Rick Kelly and Tander close behind – the top four only separated by 27 points.
While last year’s victory was emotional for Lowndes, following the death of mentor Peter Brock, he was in no doubt about his third win – becoming the first pair to take the Sandown-Bathurst double since he did it in 1996.
“No matter if you are Ford or Holden, this is Brocky’s Mountain and we’ve done it again,” Lowndes said.
“After we got to the front from then in we just had to knuckle down. It was a whole new experience … and had a few moments everywhere. I was just trying to find those tram-tracks.
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“It’s great to see different Ford teams up the front. It’s not just one or two teams, there’s real depth in the Ford camp now. For us we didn’t have the fastest car here. It’s fantastic to partner Jamie. I said last year he was a whiz kid and he’s done a great job.
“Last year was a memorable win with Peter Brock. This year is great to come back and do it again.”
After a processional first five hours, the final hour became action packed after rain made conditions treacherous, especially over the Mountain.
It accounted for polesetter Mark Winterbottom (Ford Performance) who with co-driver Steven Richards dominated proceedings for most of the day until light rain fell 18 laps from the finish.
Winterbottom speared off across the sand trap at Caltex Chase, and two laps later Jason Bright (Britek Ford), Russell Ingall (Caltex Ford) and Mark Skaife (Holden Racing Team) also went off on the top of the mountain in the damp.
Shortly after the restart Steven Johnson (Jim Beam Racing Ford) passed Lowndes as James Courtney (Jeld-Wen Ford) and Greg Murphy (Tasman Motorsport Holden) closed in.
Lowndes retook the lead as the front pair rubbed door panels while Dancing with the Stars driver Courtney quick-stepped two spots coming into the home straight seven laps from the finish.
The positions remain unchanged as the drivers battled the conditions to complete an extraordinary finish to this extraordinary race.
