The 2011 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 came down to the most thrilling finish in the event?s 49 year history with Garth Tander crossing the line just 0.2 of a second in front of Craig Lowndes, handing Nick Percat ? a Bathurst 1000 victory in just his second attempt. Third across the line and first Castrol car was pole-sitter Greg Murphy and Allan Simonsen after a busy day on the Mountain.
Mark Winterbottom and Steve Richards put in a spirited drive to finish fourth, Winterbottom passing Jason Bright on the second last lap. Richards had a bobble from the start and dropped back to 17th position. The pair had the circuit come to them, however a lack of rear grip ultimately cost them a potential podium. The next two Castrol cars home fought their way through from lowly qualifying positions. The Supercheap Auto car of Russell Ingall and Jack Perkins came across the line in eighth despite an incident with the IRWIN Tools machine of Alex Davison and David Brabham. They were followed by the Wilson Security racer of Tony d?Alberto and Dale Wood ? who hung tough all day to cross the line in ninth. The V.I.P. Petfoods racer of Steve Owen and Paul Morris could consider themselves very unlucky to finish outside the top five after a late race blown tyre coming into the Chase. They were able to salvage an 11th placing. Will Davison and Luke Youlden were one of the stories of the early part of the race. Davison putting in an outstanding first stint to lead. Youlden was unfortunate to spear off the circuit on a restart. The pair were able to salvage 18th placing. The Stratco racer of David Reynolds and Tim Blanchard finished in 19th after an up and down day ? whilst the Jack Daniel?s cars of Rick and Owen Kelly (22nd) and Todd Kelly and David Russell had less than memorable days. Both cars being involved in the wars ? either mechanically or via a number of offtrack excursions. The Bottle-O Team of Paul Dumbrell and Dean Canto ran consistently in the top five for much of the day, but a late race collision with the Forrest?s Elbow fence put pay to their day. Shannon?s Supercar Showdown winner ? Cameron Waters and Grant Denyer had a baptism of fire on the Mountain. Waters ? who had impressed many with his maturity during race week ? tagged the wall at Forrest?s Elbow early in the race. The team were able to get the car back into running condition and send him out for a number of laps to gain additional experience around the Mountain, before retiring the car. In the Championship battle, Lowndes has taken a 100 point lead over Whincup in the standings after Whincup had a torrid day ? including an electrical fault which saw him stop and start on his way around the mountain, causing a safety car ? he would finish 21st.
RESULTS
1. #2 Tander/Percat
2. #888 Lowndes/Skaife
3. #11 Murphy/Simonsen
4. #5 Winterbottom/Richards
5. #8 Bright/Jones
6. #9 Van Gisbergen/McIntyre
7. #1 Courtney/McConville
8. #200 Ingall/Perkins
9. #3 d?Alberto/Wood
POINTS TABLE
1. Craig Lowndes ? 2329 points
2. Jamie Whincup ? 2229
3. Shane Van Gisbergen 1920
4. Garth Tander 1848
5. Mark Winterbottom 1687
6. Rick Kelly 1663
7. Will Davison 1646
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After 161 laps - that's all there was in it!
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