Dumbrell leads as pressure builds in third hour at Bathurst

Paul Dumbrell has been able to maintain the Triple Eight Race Engineering lead in the third hour at Bathurst, moving back into first on lap 67.

The beginning of the third hour of the Bathurst 1000 saw the Ford Performance Racing Falcon of Will Davison and John McIntyre, which had led the race until a lap 35 lead change, off on the slip road at Hells Corner. McIntyre was able to rejoin but lost a number of positions as a result of the off.

The third safety car of the race was called out for the recovery of the Paul Morris Motorsport Falcon after Steve Owen hit the wall at Griffins Bend on lap 55. This again saw the pit lane fill up with cars as teams sought to take advantage of the safety car period. A number of cars were ‘stacked’ (forced to queue behind their team mate’s car in pit lane) which disadvantaged a number of drivers, including Sandown 500 winner Craig Lowndes who slipped to 13th as a result.

Stone Brothers Racing’s Craig Baird led the field away on the lap 59 restart after electing not to pit under the safety car, but was overtaken by team mate Andrew Thompson before the two Falcons crossed the line. Baird was then overtaken by Ford Performance Racing’s David Reynolds on lap 61. Baird continued to slip back through the field as his tyres began to fade and was forced to pit for new ones.

Shane van Gisbergen also had tyre problems, pitting with a left rear issue. Van Gisbergen’s team mate and race leader, Thompson, pitted on lap 67 promoting Paul Dumbrell back into the race lead. Will Davison, who was making his way back up the order after the earlier off, was forced to tour the pit lane after being given a drive through penalty for a pit lane infringement.

After three hours of racing Paul Dumbrell leads for Triple Eight Race Engineering ahead of David Reynolds. Garry Rogers Motorsport driver Michael Caruso is in third with James Courtney up to fourth for the Holden Racing Team and Brad Jones Racing’s Jason Bright in fifth.