Dumbrell and Whincup in good shape for Bathurst glory

Triple Eight Racing Engineering were in good shape to triumph at the 50 year celebration Bathurst 1000 as they held the lead with 61 laps remaining.

At the start of the third hour Dumbrell held a 3.6 second lead from David Reynolds, who was proving his pace around The Mountain in qualifying was by no means a fluke. Craig Lowndes in the other Triple Eight car had made significant progress to seventh after dropping down to 13th, as a result of having to wait behind Whincup in the pits during the third safety car period. He soon brought the car into the pits on lap 77 to hand over to Luff, rejoining the race in 19th.

All the while at the front Dumbrell kept edging away from Reynolds at the front extending his lead lap after lap. Michael Caruso stayed in touch in third behind the wheel of his GRM Holden with the factory backed Holden Racing Team’s James Courtney in fourth.

Lap 81 saw the leader Dumbrell pit and he was followed into the pit lane by fifth placed Mark Winterbottom, Jason Bright, Greg Murphy and Christian Klien, who were all in the top 10. Dumbrell stayed behind the wheel and rejoined the race while Reynolds, who inherited the lead, came into the pits a lap later along with second placed Caruso and Courtney, who was third.

Following the pit stop shake up, Stone Brothers Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen emerged the new leader with Dumbrell rejoining in second ahead of Dean Canto. Courtney dropped to fifth with Cameron McConville at the wheel and Steve Richards, who replaced Winterbottom, was sixth just ahead of Triple Eight’s Luff.

Once leader Andrew Thompson was well down in 21st just behind the recovering pole sitter duo of Will Davison and John McIntyre.

Seven laps later Luff made his move to secure fifth from Richards as the FPR driver reacted to receiving a driving standards flag for blocking. Meanwhile at the front van Gisbergen pitted from the lead handing over to Youlden sacrificing the lead to Dumbrell. Canto’s strong run continued as he maintained second spot behind the Triple Eight racer.

Lap 91 saw the re-emergence of the safety car for a fourth time as David Besnard’s Falcon went off at Skyline becoming trapped in the gravel trap. Leader Dumbrell chose not to pit unlike second placed Canto and Luff, who were hoping to grab an advantage which would prove crucial come the end of the race. Canto rejoined the race in fifth with Luff in 14th position. McConville moved up to second, Richards third and Ritter was fourth.

Racing resumed on lap 95 with Dumbrell leading but with a significantly slimmer advantage. The safety car was almost called upon again when Luke Youlden made contact with polesitter McIntyre at the cutting sending the FPR man into the barriers. Luckily he was able to rejoin the race and prevent another stoppage.

At the end of the hour Dumbrell held a 2.3 second lead from HRT’s McConville, FPR’s Richards, Ritter and Canto.