Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, Mount Panorama 10th - 13th October 2019
MCLAUGHLIN MASTERS THE MOUNTAIN
Ford introduced the Mustang model in 2019 and had dominated the Supercars Championship leading up to Bathurst. Shell V-Power Racing star Scott McLaughlin had done the majority of the winning so headed to 'The Mountain' as the hot favourite, paired with French co-driver Alex Premat. Lapping in the 2 minute 03s during Thursday practice and topping Friday's wet qualifying session did little to dampen expectations. However, controversy would court the weekend thereafter with McLaughlin's DJR Team Penske outfit at the centre of it. Running last in the top 10 shootout on Saturday afternoon, McLaughlin went round in a record-breaking 2 minutes 03.3783 seconds to secure pole position, pipping the #55 Supercheap Auto Tickford Mustang of Chaz Mostert/James Moffat but, two weeks after the race weekend, an irregularity with the cams on McLaughlin’s engine that he qualified with was discovered so the time was struck from the record books, which mattered not on the bright and sunny race day. McLaughlin, with a fresh engine installed, converted pole at the start to lead the field away for the first of the 161 laps, with the #6 Monster Energy Tickford Mustang, started by co-driver Michael Caruso, jumping the sister Mostert/Moffat car to run second and third in the brief early exchanges, a safety car intervention being required before a racing lap had been completed - a rub with the #2 Scott Pye/Warren Luff WAU Holden sending the #14 Brad Jones Racing version of Tim Slade/Ashley Walsh into the wall on the way up the hill to Reid Park.
Ford introduced the Mustang model in 2019 and had dominated the Supercars Championship leading up to Bathurst. Shell V-Power Racing star Scott McLaughlin had done the majority of the winning so headed to 'The Mountain' as the hot favourite, paired with French co-driver Alex Premat. Lapping in the 2 minute 03s during Thursday practice and topping Friday's wet qualifying session did little to dampen expectations. However, controversy would court the weekend thereafter with McLaughlin's DJR Team Penske outfit at the centre of it. Running last in the top 10 shootout on Saturday afternoon, McLaughlin went round in a record-breaking 2 minutes 03.3783 seconds to secure pole position, pipping the #55 Supercheap Auto Tickford Mustang of Chaz Mostert/James Moffat but, two weeks after the race weekend, an irregularity with the cams on McLaughlin’s engine that he qualified with was discovered so the time was struck from the record books, which mattered not on the bright and sunny race day. McLaughlin, with a fresh engine installed, converted pole at the start to lead the field away for the first of the 161 laps, with the #6 Monster Energy Tickford Mustang, started by co-driver Michael Caruso, jumping the sister Mostert/Moffat car to run second and third in the brief early exchanges, a safety car intervention being required before a racing lap had been completed - a rub with the #2 Scott Pye/Warren Luff WAU Holden sending the #14 Brad Jones Racing version of Tim Slade/Ashley Walsh into the wall on the way up the hill to Reid Park.
At the resumption of racing, a train of four Mustangs headed the field with the #23 Davison brothers’ Milwaukee Tools example running in fourth from the works Red Bull Holdens, started by co-drivers Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander. After taking over the #17 Mustang at the first round of pit stops, Premat was reeled in by full-time drivers Cam Waters (replacing Caruso in the #6 Monster Mustang), Mostert and Jamie Whincup (in for Lowndes) and the battle would come to a head around the 2-hour mark. Waters took a look at Premat into The Chase, a move which the Shell Mustang defended strongly. A slow exit for Waters saw him gobbled up by both Mostert and Whincup. A couple of laps later, Premat locked up heavily under pressure at The Chase again, flat-spotting a tyre and running wide which allowed both Mostert and Whincup to move in front. Premat soon pitted to replace the vibrating, flat-spotted tyre and McLaughlin was put back in to chase down the leading duo James Moffat (in for Mostert) and Whincup, the trio running in close company until the end of the stint when Premat jumped back aboard. Lowndes followed suit a lap later in the #888 Commodore, whilst Moffat stayed aboard the #55 Mustang but stalled leaving his pit box, which dropped him behind the #17 and #888 pair. Up ahead, Premat was piling the pressure onto Lowndes and the Red Bull Holden soon ran wide at Murray's Corner. Premat took full advantage to force his way up the inside into Hell Corner as they started the 93rd tour. The race was neutralised shortly after passing the 100 lap mark, having run under greens since restarting from the Tim Slade lap 1 off, when Todd Hazelwood slammed into the Reid Park wall to bring out the safety car. Everyone headed into pit lane, reshuffling the top five with the second Shell V-Power Mustang #12 of Fabian Coulthard/Tony D'Alberto moving up to third and the impressive #7 Nissan Altima of Andre Heimgartner/Bryce Fullwood climbing up to fifth, behind the #6 Waters/Caruso Mustang. The unfortunate Mostert/Moffat Ford and the #97 Shane van Gisbergen/Garth Tander Red Bull Holden fell to the bottom reaches of the top ten, having been forced to complete a lap behind the safety car.
Nine laps after the restart, Reid Park again had a car kissing concrete when the wildcard #56 Kostecki family Holden Commodore terminally found the wall to force the return of the safety car. The top runners all dived into the pits, where the Red Bull Holden team short-fuelled the #888 car to gain Whincup track position over the formerly leading McLaughlin Mustang. Soon after the restart, controversy would come calling again. As an out-of-sequence #5 Lee Holdsworth/Thomas Randle The Bottle-O Mustang led the duelling Whincup and McLaughlin, so a hungry Mostert was drawing up to teammate Waters. The 2014 Great Race winner looked up the inside at The Chase before losing the rear switching sides, clattering into the Monster entry and taking both off into the gravel - broken suspension ending Waters/Caruso's race. Out came the safety car once more and SvG pitted the #97 Holden for fuel at the same time. "Safety cars breed safety cars" the saying goes, and so it proved on the restart as a sticking throttle sent the #99 Anton De Pasquale/Will Brown Erebus Commodore into the wall at Reid Park. Racing resumed with the strategically critical lap 138 approaching, so the leading runners were told to save fuel but, at the end of lap 135, the wildcard #27 Walkinshaw Andretti United entry of Indycar stars Alexander Rossi/James Hinchcliffe slithered into the Murray's Corner gravel trap to signal another deployment of the safety car and trigger the biggest controversy of all.
As the leading cars of Whincup and McLaughlin continued at racing speed to pitlane, DJR Team Penske instructed the sister Shell Mustang #12 of Fabian Coulthard, running in third place, to slow for possible 'debris' on the circuit and drive at reduced speed to the pits. Coulthard lost 45 seconds to the front pair, thus negating the double-stack pit stop delay and subsequent loss of positions - enraging the closely following Andre Heimgartner and stopping the non-pitting #97 Red Bull Holden from likely gaining the lead. The #12 Mustang received a drive-through penalty, which dropped the car to 14th before recovering to 6th on-the-road at the flag. At a later hearing, Coulthard/D'Alberto were reclassified 21st, last of the finishers, plus DJR Team Penske were deducted 300 team points and fined AU$250,000 - AU$100,000 suspended until the end of 2021. With 20 laps to go, the chasing McLaughlin is told to stay behind Whincup and use his slipstream to save fuel, which the leading Holden also wants to do, with both likely to need more fuel to make it home. Meanwhile, after benefitting from the Coulthard incident, the #34 James Golding/Richard Muscat Holden pitted out of third place and would run non-stop to the end, which put them in the pound seats for at least a podium should the race stay green. Golding immediately set about reducing the gap to those saving fuel ahead but heartbreak was soon to follow when an issue with one of the wheel retaining clips forced them pitwards.
With 10 laps remaining, the Garry Jacobson #3 Nissan and Richie Stanaway #33 Holden engaged in a spot of panel bashing along the pit straight, firing the pair off into the awaiting Hell Corner gravel trap to cause another safety car period. Race leader Whincup darted in for fuel but McLaughlin stayed out with DJR Team Penske believing he wouldn't have to stop again if he kept saving the e85, a fuel-safe SvG moved the #97 Holden up to second and the #22 WAU Holden of James Courtney/Jack Perkins, who'd been suffering from flu, filled the podium positions. With racing underway again, van Gisbergen shadowed McLaughlin but was unable to have a real go at passing the lead Mustang so it looked like the #17 would hold on with three laps remaining but, wait, Andre Heimgartner in the #7 Nissan Altima clipped the apex wall at Forrest's Elbow, which launched him across into the outside wall and forced one last safety car. Rapid work from the recovery crews sets up a dramatic one-lap dash for the biggest prize in Australian motorsport. SvG was right on McLaughlin's bootlid as the field was unleashed, taking a good look into Griffin's Bend and at The Cutting. McLaughlin eked out a small advantage across the top to see off the challenge by 0.68 seconds, taking his and Premat's first Bathurst 1000 victory and, with it, the Peter Brock Trophy. SvG/Tander crossed the line a close second from Courtney/Perkins in third and Whincup/Lowndes in fourth. A great recovery drive rewarded the #9 Erebus Holden of David Reynolds/Luke Youlden with fifth, having started 21st after Reynolds struggled throughout Friday's wet qualifying session in a rebuilt car, the repairs necessary as Youlden found the wall during Thursday's co-driver practice.
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As well as the 1000, there was a top-notch supporting cast that included the Dunlop Super2 Championship for slightly older-spec V8 Supercars. The smart black and gold #5 Tickford Racing Ford Falcon FG/X of Thomas Randle was credited with the victory of the 250 km race on Saturday after weekend dominator Bryce Fullwood was handed a 15-second time penalty, earned after setting a new lap record on the final lap whilst yellow flags were waving at The Chase for Ashley Walsh's beached Holden. A huge entry of the very cool Touring Car Masters muscle cars tackled the circuit four times, the field bolstered by 16 visiting New Zealanders, from which former V8 Supercar drivers Angus Fogg (three times) and Steven 'Junior' Johnson (son of Australian motorsport icon Dick Johnson) emerged triumphant in their Ford Mustangs. A great-looking field of Porsche Carrera Cup Australia 911 GT3s, which seemed louder than our GB Cup counterparts, as well as the mad SuperUtes and the popular Toyota (GT)86 Racing Series completed the support race package. One of the Toyota 86 competitors, Peter Vodanovich, suffered a multiple barrel roll at The Chase on Saturday afternoon, fortunately emerging unscathed.
