FPR maintain lead after first hour of Bathurst 1000

Pole sitters Will Davison and John McIntyre have held onto the lead in the first hour of the Bathurst 1000, while a number of other contenders were plagued by tyre issues.

Rick Kelly and Warren Luff were the first of these, pitting on lap ten with a left rear issue and a left front issue respectively. They were followed by Dean Fiore two laps later who pitted with a left front issue but had to be pushed into the garage after being stranded in the pit lane.

The Commodore of Jonny Reid was the first retirement of the race on lap 21 after stopping at the exit of the Cutting. This brought out the first safety car of the race and saw a flurry of activity in pit lane as the leaders and most of the field pitted.

Those who had stopped early in the race benefited from including Warren Luff, who had taken over driving duties in the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Commodore. John McIntyre lead the field away in the Ford Performance Racing Falcon, with Warren Luff overtaking Luke Youlden at Griffins on lap 25 to move into second. This was how they finished after the first hour and 25 laps of the 161 lap race.