Photo: TeamVodafone

Building up for the 2011 Bathurst 1000km

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This weekend the endurance spectacle of the V8 Supercars Championship season takes place at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, New South Wales, which is set to play a pivotal role in the championship battle between Triple Eight team-mates Jamie Whincup & Craig Lowndes.

With Lowndes and Mark Skaife taking victory at the first of the ‘enduros’ at Phillip Island, last year’s Bathurst winning pair will also be looking to repeat the feat this weekend to help reduce the 92 point gap to Whincup, and with 300 points available for the victory there’s certainly the possibility to completely reverse it, especially considering Lowndes’ run of form in recent years at ‘The Mountain’.

Unpredictable weather is also set to make the weekend interesting, though Sunday is currently set to be clear, rain is likely to hit the practice and qualifying days.

Bathurst will benefit from an increase in international coverage for this year. With a round confirmed to be taking place in Austin, Texas in 2012, American interest has heightened and the US motorsport channel Speed will be bringing live coverage stateside, whilst in Europe, MotorsTV will carry live coverage into the early hours of Sunday.

29 cars will be competing in this year’s event, with 48 Australians, eight New Zealanders, one Dane and one Northern Irishman in the field.

The race has been won by an Australian driver pairing all the way back to 2004 when New Zealander Greg Murphy shared the spoils with Rick Kelly. You have to look all the way back to 1998 to find the first non-Australasian winner, with Swede Rickard Rydell sharing victory with Jim Richards in the TWR-run Volvo S40.

Since then, it’s been an all Ford and Holden affair as the event became affiliated with the V8 Supercars Championship.

Weekend Schedule

Thursday 6th October
Free Practice 1 – 00:40 BST
Free Practice 2 – 02:55 BST
Free Practice 3 – 05:05 BST
Free Practice 4 – 23:25 BST

Friday 7th October
Free Practice 5 – 01:25 BST
Qualifying – 04:45 BST

Saturday 8th October
Free Practice 6 – 00:25 BST
Top 10 Shootout – 4:45 BST
Warm-up – 21:45 BST

Sunday 9th October
Race – 00:30 BST

Past Winners

2010 – Craig Lownes/Mark Skaife – Triple Eight Race Engineering – Holden
2009 – Will Davison/Garth Tander – Holden Racing Team – Holden
2008 – Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight Race Engineering – Ford
2007 – Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight Race Engineering – Ford
2006 – Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight Race Engineering – Ford
2005 – Mark Skaife/Todd Kelly – Holden Racing Team – Holden
2004 – Greg Murphy/Rick Kelly – Walkinshaw Performance – Holden
2003 – Greg Murphy/Rick Kelly – Walkinshaw Performance – Holden
2002 – Mark Skaife/Jim Richards – Holden Racing Team – Holden
2001 – Mark Skaife/Tony Longhurst – Holden Racing Team – Holden

Entry List

No – Driver 1/Driver 2 – Team – Car
1- James Courtney/Cameron McConville – Holden Racing Team – Holden
2 – Garth Tander/Nick Percat – Holden Racing Team – Holden
3 – Tony D’Alberto/Dale Wood – Tony D’Alberto Racing – Ford
4 – Alex Davison/David Brabham – Stone Brothers Racing – Ford
5 – Mark Winterbottom/Steven Richards – Ford Performance Racing – Ford
6 – Will Davison/Luke Youlden – Ford Performance Racing – Ford
7 – Todd Kelly/David Russell – Kelly Racing – Holden
8 – Jason Bright/Andrew Jones – Brad Jones Racing – Holden
9 – Shane van Gisbergen/John McIntyre – Stone Brothers Racing – Ford
11 – Greg Murphy/Allan Simonsen – Kelly Racing – Holden
12 – Dean Fiore/Michael Patrizi – Triple F Racing – Holden
14 – Jason Bargwanna/Shane Price – Brad Jones Racing – Holden
15 – Rick Kelly/Owen Kelly – Kelly Racing – Holden
16 – David Reynolds/Tim Blanchard – Kelly Racing – Holden
17 – Steve Johnson/David Besnard – Dick Johnson Racing – Ford
18 – James Moffat/Matt Halliday – Dick Johnson Racing – Ford
19 – Jonathon Webb/Richard Lyons – Tekno Autosports – Ford
21 – Karl Reindler/David Wall – Britek – Holden
30 – Warren Luff/Nathan Pretty – Lucas Dumbrell Racing – Holden
33 – Lee Holdsworth/Greg Ritter – Garry Rogers Motorsport – Holden
34 – Michael Caruso/Marcus Marshall – Garry Rogers Motorsport – Holden
47 – Tim Slade/Daniel Gaunt – Stone Brothers Racing – Ford
49 – Steve Owen/Paul Morris – Paul Morris Motorsport – Holden
55 – Paul Dumbrell/Dean Canto – Rod Nash Racing – Ford
61 – Fabian Coulthard/Craig Baird – Walkinshaw Racing – Holden
77 – Grant Denyer/Cameron Waters – Kelly Racing – Holden
88 – Jamie Whincup/Andrew Thompson – Triple Eight Race Engineering – Holden
200 – Russell Ingall/Jack Perkins – Paul Morris Motorsport – Holden
888 – Craig Lowndes/Mark Skaife – Triple Eight Race Engineering – Holden

All Holdens are Holden Commodore VE IIs.
All Fords are Ford Falcon FGs.