Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!
On the weekend of 5-8 October 2023 was the Repco Bathurst 1000. It was round 10 of the 2023 Supercars Championship.
Mount Panorama was first opened on March 17, 1938. The track is actually a street circuit so outside of race dates it is a public road. Yes! That is the answer to your question, “Can I actually drive around the Bathurst track?” just remember it is a 60 zone.
The first event held at Mount Panorama was a motorcycle race on the 16th of April 1938, the Australian Tourist Trophy. Two days later the Australian Grand Prix took place (a motor car race).
Before becoming known as The Bathurst 1000 the race was called the Armstrong 500. The first few years it ran at Phillip Island and was then moved to Bathurst in 1963. In those days it was a 500 mile race (approx. 804Km) and was done with only a single driver. A few years after Australia changed to metric measurements the race was increased to 1000kms.
It has become the most well-known race in Australia and is also internationally revered. It’s the race that stops the nation and creates legends.
The legend of the King of the Mountain, Peter Brock was earned through this event. Peter Brock won his first Bathurst in 1972 in the days without a co-driver. He then went on to win again in 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1987. No other driver has beaten his record of 9 Bathurst 1000 wins.
This year was the 60th running of the Repco Bathurst 1000. An incredible milestone for any race event.
This year the event kicked off under almost perfect weather conditions. A surprise to all as Bathurst is known for some pretty challenging conditions at this time of the year.
The pre-race sessions kicked off on the Thursday and went through to Sunday morning. The results were:
- Will Brown was fastest in Practice 1
- David Russell was fastest in Practice 2
- David Reynolds was fastest in Practice 3
- Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 4
- Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying
- Richie Stanaway was fastest in Practice 5
- Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 6
- Brodie Kostecki was fastest in the Shootout
- Brodie Kostecki and co-driver David Russell were fastest in the warm up
In Race 24 Brodie Kostecki earned pole position but his co-driver David Russell was behind the wheel of car 99 for the start. Alongside them was co-driver Jamie Whincup after main driver Broc Feeney scored second place on the front row of the grid. There were 16 out of 28 co-drivers who started the race behind the wheel. So, it was quite a common strategy.
As the lights went green, they took off and Jamie Whincup led into turn 1 for the first of 161 laps. Pole sitter David Russell was right under his rear wing only 0.174 seconds behind.
The cars further back in the pack were dicing for places outside the top 10.
Early on Will Brown had gained 5 places up to 12th. James Golding had gained 1 spot after starting 4th on the grid.
Jamie Whincup had a hard time getting some space between himself and David Russell in 2nd place. By lap 4 Jamie Whincup managed to increase his lead to only 0.498 seconds. It was another 1 second back to James Golding in 3rd.
On lap 5 James Courtney ran wide on the exit to the final corner but didn’t lose any places.
Thomas Randle got up the inside of Lee Holdsworth exiting Forest Elbow for 10th place.
Jamie Whincup had managed to increase his lead to around 1 second over David Russell.
Richie Stanaway finally got up the inside of Garth Tander to move into 5th place. His next target was Cameron Waters sitting in 4th position.
The first car to pit in this race was car 96 of Macauley Jones and Jordan Boys on lap 10.
Between lap 4 and 10 Jamie Whincup managed to extend his lead 1.525 seconds over David Russell.
Further back Will Brown was on the charge. He was up 10 spots after starting 17th on the grid. He now smoothly passed Garth Tander moving into 6th place and was only 2.8 seconds away from the lead.
On lap 17 Craig Lowndes started slowing down due to a broken gear lever mount and was forced to pit.
James Golding in 3rd was the first of the front runners to pit on lap 18.
Car 3 driven by Todd Hazelwood and Tim Blanchard pitted on lap 21. Soon after they were investigated for a pit stop infringement and issued a 15 second time penalty to be served on their next stop. Although disappointing it was still early in the race. They had another 5 hours to catch up.
On lap 24 Dean Fiore co-driver to Bryce Fullwood made contact with Simona de Silvestro at The Chase. Simona de Silvestro who returned from her homeland, Switzerland especially for this race was pushed off the road onto the grass. There was no damage to speak of and she re-joined the race easily. Race officials took no further action on the incident.
Kevin Estre (co-driver to Matt Payne) had a big lockup at turn 1 and ended up in the sand trap. He couldn’t get out on his own and the first safety car was deployed so the recovery vehicle could assist.
While the Yellow flag was out (indicating drivers to slow down and stay in formation behind the safety car) all drivers except 2 took the opportunity to pit.
David Reynolds was under investigation for jumping ahead in the safety car line. He was later issued a pit lane drive thru penalty. That didn’t go down too well and David Reynolds started to argue the case when told by his race engineer Alistair McVean. After the restart he was reluctant to give back 3rd place to Broc Feeney and even refused to take the drive thru penalty on the next lap. Race Director James Taylor had to warn him that he still did have to take it.
The restart which was on lap 30 saw Shane Van Gisbergen immediately took the race lead off Dylan O’Keeffe (co-driver to James Golding).
Broc Feeney was in 3rd place (after Reynolds let him pass) and then managed to get by Dylan O’Keeffe for 2nd place.
The 2 Red Bull cars were now running 1st and 2nd on the track, followed by O’Keeffe and then Reynolds.
Bryce Fullwood made contact and pushed Aaron Love off the track at The Chase. Bryce Fullwood was later issued a penalty for his actions.
On lap 39 Scott Pye made contact with Dale Wood who then went off track into the gravel trap. The safety car was sent out while Dale Wood’s car was pulled out and luckily able to return straight to the race.
When they restarted Mark Winterbottom was out front followed by Fabian Coulthard and Brodie Kostecki.
Meanwhile car 6 driven by James Moffat was under investigation for an unsafe pit release. It was later on lap 43 when he was issued a 5 second time penalty.
Brodie Kostecki soon passed Fabian Coulthard to take 2nd position.
Then Richie Stanaway got up the inside of Declan Fraser for 4th place. His next target was Fabian Coulthard in 3rd place. It wasn’t long after that Richie Stanaway made his move pushing Fabian Coulthard down another spot to 4th.
The 2 Brad Jones Racing cars with Jack Smith and Macauley Jones in the driver’s seat made contact with each other at The Chase. They both went off the track and both had minor damage that required a visit to the pits ASAP.
Not long after Macauley Jones received a 15 second time penalty for the driving infringement.
On lap 71 Dean Fiore co-driver to Bryce Fullwood was under investigation for a pit lane infringement and was issued a time penalty.
James Moffat hit the wall coming out of The Dipper and came to a stop in a dangerous part of the track. Officials thought he would not be able to get out of the predicament on his own and sent out the 3rd safety car of the race. Before help could arrive, James Moffat was able to get going again. Unfortunately, it was only to get back to the pits in his smashed up car to then find out he would not be returning to the race.
Car 888 driven by Craig Lowndes had to serve a pit lane penalty after he turned off the ‘pit limiter’ to early while in the pit lane.
Richie Stanway clocked the best lap time of the race on lap 92. He had also moved up to 2nd place after passing Tony Dalberto.
Jamie Whincup rounded up Garth Tander which took him from 5th up to 4th place. “The Goat” was now only 7.9 seconds away from the lead. He then pitted on lap 93 to hand the wheel over to Broc Feeney who would race all the to the end.
Richie Stanaway pitted soon after on lap 97 from the number 1 position and Shane Van Gisbergen took the driver’s seat for the final stage of the race.
Once these two Red Bull Ampol Racing Team cars came out of the pits, Shane Van Gisbergen returned to the number 1 spot with his team mate Broc Feeney not far behind.
On lap 137 of 161 (25 laps remaining) Broc Feeney was slowing due to a gearbox issue stopping him from changing gears. He slipped from 2nd to 3rd allowing Brodie Kostecki to pass him. Broc Feeney had to head to the pits. It was unlucky timing being so close to the end of the race.
The team were able to repair the issue, but Broc returned to the track in 24th position. Unfortunate for him to go from a podium contender to the back of the pack.
It was later revealed that all 3 of the 888 Engineering cars had the same issue (the 2 cars of Gisbergen and Feeney driving for Red Bull Ampol Racing and also the Craig Lowndes/ Zane Goddard duo driving under the Super Cheap Auto banner. It’s surprising any of them finished.
With 18 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen was still out front with a good lead of 15.010 seconds over Brodie Kostecki.
In the last laps Shane Van Gisbergen controlled the race and was too far ahead for Brodie Kostecki to challenge him for the win.
It was incredible to watch as Shane Van Gisbergen kept edging ahead to finally cross the line with a 19.9 seconds lead over Brodie Kostecki.
Shane Van Gisbergen is now a 3-time winner of the Bathurst 1000.
It puts him in striking distance of the season leader Brodie Kostecki for the remaining two events. Can he now become a 4-time Supercars Champion before he heads to the US in 2024? Its going to be fun finding out.
Results for Race 24
1st Shane Van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Brodie Kostecki and David Russell – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Anton de Pasquale and Tony Dalberto – Shell V-Power Racing Team
Out of the 28 starters only 24 cars finished the race. 4 cars got a DNF.
Brodie Kostecki still leads the championship by 131 points over Shane Van Gisbergen. With 2 events to go (4 races) in the 2023 championship it is going be an exciting finish to the year,
The next event is the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on the 27th – 29th October 2023.
I hope you will join me.