GRM hold the lead after two hours at Bathurst

Lee Holdsworth and David Besnard have shown they are a surprise candidate for victory at the Bathurst 1000km race, after moving into the lead early on, and holding onto it throughout most of the first two hours.

Mark Winterbottom held on to his grid position at the start, with the major loser the No.2 Holden Racing Team Commodore of Cameron McConville, who dropped back to 16th after a slip on the clutch when the lights changed.

Also at the start, further bunching in the pack saw Jason Bargwanna make contact with the left rear of Fabian Coulthard in the Bundaberg Red Racing Holden. Later on in the lap, heading down The Chase, the tyre ruptured, forcing the New Zealander into a hard spin and the car was destroyed in a multiple roll through the gravel trap – causing an immediate safety car deployment.

Coulthard became the first retirement of the race with team-mate Craig Baird not even getting the opportunity to drive the car.

Two laps after the restart, the No.33 GRM Commodore of Lee Holdsworth had worked its way into the lead, and kept the position after the first round of pitstops around lap 25, with Will Davison in the HRT car moving past Winterbottom on lap 14.

Things were to get worse for Bundaberg Red Racing, with Andrew Thompson in the second car pitting on lap 12 with a loose bonnet. The car lost a number of laps whilst this was repaired, and to add insult to injury, copped a drive through penalty for an illegal entry into the pit lane.

FPR’s pitstop got the No.5 Falcon back ahead of the HRT at the pitstops around lap 25, but the car, now in the hands of Luke Youlden soon fell prey to the HRT car, now driven by David Reynolds. Shortly after the TeamVodafone Commodore of Craig Lowndes, who had taken over from Mark Skaife, also moved ahead of the Ford driver.

Troubles hit series leader James Courtney early on also, with a loose front splitter requiring attention on his pitstop as he handed over to Warren Luff. The car fell back in the field due to the extra time required to change the front during the stop.

On lap 39, Shane Price in the Centaur Racing Holden Commodore hit the wall, complaining of a dead leg due to the height difference between he and his team-mate Tony D’Alberto and caused irreparable suspension damage to the car.

Craig Lowndes continued to make progress, moving ahead of David Reynolds on lap 40, before pitting eight laps later and handing back to Mark Skaife.

On lap 47, a Kangaroo was reported on circuit, and was narrowly avoided by Garth Tander, the animal making a safe getaway off the circuit just as the HRT driver went past them. The following lap on his pitstop, Tander hit trouble as the door came off as McConville took back over. The team lost valuable time remounting the door on the Commodore.

Lee Holdsworth and David Besnard still leads after two hours from the No.22 HRT car of Will Davison & David Reynolds, with TeamVodafone’s Craig Lowndes & Mark Skaife’s No.888 car in third, with Winterbottom and Youlden in the FPR car the top Ford in fifth.