The 2009 Bathurst 1000 Preview

This weekend the world renowned Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales hosts the V8 Supercars for the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 kilometer race.

During the past three years, “The Mountain” has been dominated by the driver pairing of Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup.

In each of the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 the pair have been victorious at the wheel of of a TeamVodafone prepared Ford Falcon.

Prior to the Whincup/Lowndes Ford hat-trick, Holden enjoyed a dominant period between 1999 through to 2005. During that time both Mark Skaife and Greg Murphy claimed three wins for Holden at Bathurst, but never as a driver pairing.

The Kelly brothers, Todd and Rick, also enjoyed great success during that period. The family name featured on the podium in three successive years, with Rick winning in both 2003 and 2004 when partnered with Greg Murphy. In 2005 it was Todd’s turn, as he claimed victory alongside Mark Skaife.

Since 2006, the winners of the Bathurst 1000 have received “The Peter Brock Trophy”. The trophy is named in the honour of the late, great Peter Brock who won now fewer than nine races at Bathurst.

Brock was killed in a rally accident shortly before the 2006 Bathurst event, and the trophy was quickly put into place for that year’s running of the race.

Fittingly it was Brock’s protégé, Craig Lowndes, who won that trophy in that year and has held it ever since.

Last year’s Bathurst 1000 provided the motorsport world with one of the most unusual starts in the races history.

Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander, partnered by Mark Skaife, qualified his Commodore on pole position, and during the build up to the race he was confident of securing his second win at Bathurst, and in turn Skaife’s sixth.

However, clutch problems as the car’s sat on the grid waiting for the race to begin ended any chance of a Tander/Skaife win.

As the lights went out Tander’s car limped off the line, allowing the entire field to pass by before the first corner. Cars went either side of his stricken Holden Commodore, missing by a matter of millimeters.

Thankfully no accident occurred as a result of the start, but Tander’s woes were certainly added to.

As his clutch failed on the line prior to the lights going out, the car crept forward. He was adjudged to have jumped the start, and was issued with a time penalty to be served at his first pit stop.

At the L&H Phillip Island 500 last month the TeamVodafone pairing of Lowndes and Whincup lost the race to Tander and Davison, when Lowndes endured tyre problems very late in the race.

The same race in 2008 saw almost exactly the same thing happen, as Whincup ran wide late on allowing Tander through.

Lowndes and Whincup will be hoping for a similar sequence of events leading into Bathurst, which will give them an unbelievably fourth straight victory as team mates.

In terms of the 2009 Driver’s Championship battle it does seem apparent that it will be a straight duel to the end of the season between 2008 champion Jamie Whincup and Holden Racing team new boy Will Davison.

After the Phillip Island race, Jamie Whincup leads the way with 2,254-points, with a 171-point advantage over second placed Will Davison.

Adding to the excitement of the event is the fact that the dominant force of the past three years – Whincup, Lowndes and TeamVodafone are switching to Holden for the 2010 season, ending their long-standing deal with Ford.

Much has been made of the switch, and many fans on both sides of the Red-Blue divide have been very vocal in their opinions. It will be interesting to see the reception the Ford fans give to the team this weekend.

Results from the previous 5 years

2004 – Bob Jane T-Marts 1000
1. Greg Murphy / Rick Kelly (Holden Commodore VY)
2. Craig Lowndes / Glenn Seton (Ford Falcon BA)
3. John Bowe / Brad Jones (Ford Falcon BA)

2005 – Supercheap Auto 1000
1. Mark Skaife / Todd Kelly (Holden Commodore VZ)
2. Jason Richards / Jamie Whincup (Holden Commodore VZ)
3. Steve Ellery / Adam Macrow (Ford Falcon BA)

2006 – Supercheap Auto 1000
1. Craig Lowndes / Jamie Whincup (Ford Falcon BA)
2. Rick Kelly / Todd Kelly (Holden Commodore VZ)
3. James Courtney / Glenn Seton (Ford Falcon BA)

2007 – Supercheap Auto 1000
1. Craig Lowndes / Jamie Whincup (Ford Falcon BF)
2. James Courtney / David Besnard (Ford Falcon BF)
3. Steven Johnson / Will Davison (Ford Falcon BF)

2008
1. Jamie Whincup / Craig Lowndes (Ford Falcon BF)
2. Jason Richards / Greg Murphy (Holden Commodore VE)
3. James Courtney / Davis Besnard (Ford Falcon BF)

Odds
Unsurprisingly the Lowndes/Whincup paring has been made favourite in terms of betting odds, closely followed by the Davison/Tander pairing.

Top 10:
02.75 – #888 – C.Lowndes/J.Whincup
03.50 – #2 – W.Davison/G.Tander
05.50 – #6 – S.Richards/M.Winterbottom
08.00 – #17 – J.Courtney/S.Johnson
08.00 – #51 – G.Murphy/M.Skaife
15.00 – #7 – R.Kelly/T.Kelly
21.00 – #33 – M.Caruso/L.Holdsworth
34.00 – #39 – R.Ingall/O.Kelly
51.00 – #18 – W.Luff/J.Webb
51.00 – #22 – C.Baird/P.Dumbrell

Others of Note to TouringCarTimes.com readers:
101.00 – #88 – A.Simonsen/J.Thompson
251.00 – #15 – B.Collins/N.Pretty
331.00 – #24 – A.Priaulx/D.Reynolds
501.00 – #12 – D.Fiore/T.Bayliss

(Odds from V8bet.com.au)

Weather
As with any motor racing, the weather could play a massive part in the outcome of the weekend. Rain is expected on both Saturday for qualifying and Sunday for race day.

The forecast for Friday is for an averagely warm day, reaching a maximum of 14 degrees Celsius, with a 40% chance of rainfall.

Saturday sees a vast increase in the chance of rain, with a 90% chance being forecast. The day will be overcast, with up to 5mm of rainfall if the showers do arrive.

For the race on Sunday is expected to be slightly warmer than the previous two, with temperatures reaching 17 degrees Celsius. However, there is an 80% chance of showers, but thankfully if they do arrive the forecasters suggest that the rainfall will be minimal.

(Weather forecast from weatherzone.com.au as of 7th October 2009)