Photo: Supercars

Scott McLaughlin and Alex Premat win Bathurst 1000 in one-lap dash to the flag

A one-lap sprint to the flag has seen Scott McLaughlin take out the Bathurst 1000 after a late race safety car meant the Supercars Championship field was released at the start of lap 161.

Leading to the green flag to start the last lap, the DJR Team Penske driver held on despite being under immense pressure to take his and co-driver Alexandre Premat’s first victory at Mount Panorama.

The win came off the back of a last stint which was going to come down to fuel economy over pace until a handful of safety car interventions changed the strategy towards the end.

With the field being release from the control of the safety car on lap 130, Jamie Whincup led the way in the #888 Triple Eight Holden, enjoying the lead on track but on a slightly more compromised fuel strategy compared to the DJR Team Penske Mustangs of Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard behind him.

In fourth place and holding his own, Andre Heimgartner kept up with the leaders early on, driving the Kelly Racing Nissan Altima while James Golding’s Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden sitting behind him. Heimgartner’s team-mate and boss Rick Kelly was doing a valiant job of holding down sixth, fending off Shane van Gisbergen in the #97 Triple Eight car.

Whincup started to hold McLaughlin up as the wait for the next round of pit stops became shorter and shorter. van Gisbergen had taken a splash of fuel under the previous safety car, sacrificing track position for a better fuel strategy, allowing the #97 to stay in the pits for a shorter amount of time than the leaders.

The next round of stops were triggered on lap 135 when Alex Rossi buried the #27 Walkinshaw Andretti United wildcard in the gravel trap at Murray’s Corner, forcing the safety car to come out again.

As Whincup and McLaughlin streaked away to come in for their stops, Coulthard slowed massively on the in-lap to avoid double stacking, massively affecting those behind who weren’t allowed to pass the #12 car.

A faster stop from the Triple Eight crew meant Whincup came out ahead of McLaughlin with two lapped cars of Macauley Jones and Simona De Silvestro between the leaders. Taking on their fuel two laps short of the critical lap number, the economy fight was on for the field to make it home.

Coulthard was hit with a drive-through penalty for holding the pack up when the safety car was deployed, taking him out of tenth place to and harming him more than what a double stack would have.

Golding jumped out of the lead battle from third place on lap 141, opting to come in and take on fuel to the end while those out front rolled the dice, McLaughlin applying maximum pressure to the #888 car of Whincup.

After causing a crash with his team-mate Cam Waters a few laps earlier, Chaz Mostert put himself into the mix between the leaders, unlapping himself in the #55 car from McLaughlin and then eventually Whincup.

Whincup opened up a gap to McLaughlin, being told by his team to go for broke while McLaughlin was instructed to conserve fuel, assuming the race would run green to the flag without another safety car and that fuel conservation would get them to the end.

Fourth and fifth place runners Andre Heimgartner and Mark Winterbottom came in for their splashes of fuel on lap 147, not confident that the Kelly Racing and Team 18 cars would make the finish.

With twelve laps to run, Golding suffered a vibration in the GRM car, coming out from possibly the best position to challenge for the win in the fuel run to ending up out of contention for a strong result.

As just ten laps remained, a safety car finally appeared as Garry Jacobson and Richie Stanaway came together at Turn 1, burying Jacobson’s Kelly Racing car. Whincup came in for fuel after pushing hard over the last stint, giving the lead over to McLaughlin from van Gisbergen and James Courtney.

McLaughlin held control over the field as the race restarted on lap 153 of 161, van Gisbergen trying to stay close to the rear of the DJR Team Penske Mustang but the championship leader gapped him coming to the line.

The top three of McLaughlin, van Gisbergen and Courtney all had question marks over whether they could make it to the end on fuel whereas Whincup in fourth had pitted under the safety car, taking on enough to make it to the end without question.

A late attempt from Mostert saw the Tickford man take the race’s fastest lap, a 2:04.7602 which was over half a second faster than McLaughlin’s new race lap record earlier in the day.

Andre Heimgartner’s brilliant day came to an end on lap 158, putting the Nissan Altima into Forrest’s Elbow and forcing safety car to come out for the last time. Picking up McLaughlin on Mountain Straight, the safety car slowed massively to try and get the Kelly Racing car recovered as quick as possible.

With the green flag waving at the start of lap 161, van Gisbergen went with McLAughlin at the start of the lap but couldn’t keep up with the DJR Team Penske car, allowing the championship leader to come home for his first win in the 1000.

McLaughlin heads the championship on 3308 points, with van Gisbergen second on 2686 and Coulthard third on 2521.

The next Supercars Championship race takes place on October 26-27th with the Gold Coast 600.