The Great Race: This is your one-stop guide for information on the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000
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6:00 AM Tue 4 October, 2011
Source: BigPond Sport
Event: Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, Race 20 of the 2011 International V8 Supercars Championship
Circuit: Mount Panorama, Bathurst
Length: 6.213-kilometres
Direction: Anti-Clockwise
Support Categories: Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series, Porsche City Index Carrera Cup Australia, Auto One V8 Utes Series, Touring Car Masters Presented by Autobarn, Vodka O Australian GT Championship.
Event Format:
Thursday October 6
10.40am
Practice 1
12.55 pm
Practice 2
3.05pm
Practice 3
Note: All times are Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time (AEDST)
Friday October 7
9.25am
Practice 4
11.00am
Practice 5
2.45pm
Qualifying
Saturday October 8
10.25am
Practice 6
3.45pm
Top 10 Shootout
Sunday October 9
7.45am
Warm-Up
10.30am
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 (161 laps)
TV/Broadcast Coverage:
Seven Network
Friday October 7
1.00 – 4.00pm
(Qualifying and Fujitsu Series Race 1) on 7
Saturday October 8
12.00 – 5.00pm
(Top 10 Shootout, Fujitsu Series Race 2, V8 Utes Race 2, Carrera Cup Race 2) on 7
Sunday October 9
7.00am – 6.00pm
(Warm-Up, Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, V8 Utes Race 3, Carrera Cup Race 3, Touring Car Masters Race 3) on 7 and simulcast all day on 7mate in HD.
BigPond Sport
BigPond Sport will show the entire Seven feed on all three days at Bathurst in the same timeslots.
SPEED TV
SPEED’s regular SPEED News Australia program will be at Bathurst on Thursday October 6 at 7.00pm. In a special extended one-hour show, Jessica Yates and Aaron Noonan will catch up with all of the stars of V8 Supercars racing as things get underway at Mount Panorama.
SPEED will show a race replay on Sunday October 9 at 10.00pm and again at 3.30pm on Monday October 10.
Technical
Tyre Allocation:
32 new Hard tyres, 8 Pre-Marked Hard tyres,
Final Drive Ratio Used:
3.15:1 (Only circuit that uses this final drive ratio).
Notes and Numbers:
All drivers are racing for the Peter Brock Trophy at Bathurst again this year. First established in 2006 shortly after the nine-time Bathurst winner’s death, the trophy has been won by Triple Eight/TeamVodafone four times and the Toll Holden Racing Team once.
They’re the form team of endurance racing and following their victory in the L&H 500 at Phillip Island, Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife are chasing a very important back-to-back endurance double at Bathurst.
Having won both endurance races last year at Phillip Island and Bathurst, the TeamVodafone duo are trying to become the first men since Peter Brock to clean sweep the traditional endurance races in two successive years.
Brock in fact won the Sandown and Bathurst endurance race double three years in a row in 1978, 1979 and 1980, making for a record difficult to beat in the modern era of V8 Supercars.
Skaife is making his 25th Bathurst 1000 start in 2011, moving him to 11th on the all-time list of Bathurst 500/1000 race starters.
Not only is Lowndes the fastest man in history around Mount Panorama in a V8 Supercar, he’s also won four of the past five Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000s. Only Brock has done that before.
Jack Daniel’s Racing’s Todd Kelly will celebrate his 32nd birthday on race day (Sunday October 9) at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 – and that may be an omen.
The last time Kelly’s birthday fell on the actual race day at Bathurst – he won! Kelly teamed with Mark Skaife in 2005 to win his first – and so far only – Bathurst crown for the Holden Racing Team, leading home Tasman Motorsport’s Jason Richards and Jamie Whincup to take victory.
This year he teams up with Fujitsu Series regular David Russell, who dominated last year’s development round at Bathurst and won both races. The duo finished 14th in the L&H 500 at Phillip Island.
A total of 13 co-drivers at this year’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 will be performing ‘double duty’ and also compete in one of the support categories at Mount Panorama.
Seven drivers – Andrew Thompson, David Russell, Nick Percat, Tim Blanchard, David Wall, Jack Perkins (right) and Paul Morris – will also compete in the Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series round at Bathurst.
Four drivers – Steve Richards, Craig Baird, Daniel Gaunt and Michael Patrizi – will also compete in the Porsche City Index Carrera Cup Australia round at Bathurst.
And two drivers – Cameron McConville and Nathan Pretty – will be part of the Auto One V8 Utes field.
This year sees a range of important anniversaries in Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 history.
It’s 30 years – 1981 – since Dick Johnson took his first Bathurst win alongside John French in the accident-shortened race that year. Three decades on and his son Steven is still searching for his first victory in the race.
It’s 20 years – 1991 – since the mighty Nissan GT-R dubbed ‘Godzilla’ became the first Japanese car to win the Great Race. The win was Mark Skaife’s first Bathurst crown and he and Jim Richards set a race record that took until last year to be broken.
It’s 40 years – 1971 – since the Phase Three of the Ford Falcon GT-HO first rumbled around the Mountain to take victory with Allan Moffat. Four decades on and his son James is lining up for his second start in the race.
Glory at Bathurst continues to elude Ford Performance Racing, despite qualifying on the front row four times in the last five Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000s.
Mark Winterbottom has taken two pole positions (2007 & 2010) but is yet to record a podium finish with a best of fourth place in 2008 with Steve Richards.
The team’s other three drivers – Richards, Will Davison and Luke Youlden – have all stood on the podium at
Bathurst given Richards is a two-time winner, Davison the 2009 champ and Youlden finished third in 2003.
FPR’s best results at Bathurst remain runner-up finishes in both 2003 and 2004 with Craig Lowndes and Glenn Seton driving.
Experience is always a factor in a race such as the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and it’s no surprise that reigning champs Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife have the most of it with 41 starts between them - but there are a range of combinations who also take a pile of Mount Panorama experience into battle this year.
Outside of the #888 Commodore, surprisingly, it’s the Steve Owen/Paul Morris combination that has the next most combined starts (30), clear of Steven Johnson/David Besnard (28), Mark Winterbottom/Steve Richards (26), Greg Murphy/Allan Simonsen (25) and four teams with 24 starts between them - James Courtney/ Cameron McConville, Warren Luff/Nathan Pretty, Russell Ingall/Jack Perkins and Paul Dumbrell/Dean Canto.
The leading Ford driver in the V8 Supercars Championship – Shane van Gisbergen – may have won two races this year and sit third in the point score, but he’s yet to deliver a result at Bathurst.
The SP Tools Falcon driver has made four starts in the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with a best finish of 13th in 2009 with Alex Davison.
Stone Brothers Racing hasn’t won at Bathurst since 1998 and, for the first time in its history, all three of its cars missed the Top 10 Shootout last year.
Bathurst Practice Lap Record: Craig Lowndes, Holden Commodore VE II, 2m06.8012s, 2010
Bathurst Qualifying Lap Record: Greg Murphy, Holden Commodore VY, 2m06.8594s, 2003
Bathurst Race Lap Record: Jamie Whincup, Ford Falcon BF, 2m08.4651s, 2007
Drivers Championship after Race 19 of 28
1. Jamie Whincup (TeamVodafone), 2145 pts
2. Craig Lowndes (TeamVodafone), 2053 pts
3. Shane van Gisbergen, (SP Tools Racing), 1716 pts
4. Rick Kelly (Jack Daniel’s Racing), 1585 pts
5. Garth Tander (Toll HRT), 1548 pts
6. Will Davison (Trading Post FPR), 1544 pts
7. Mark Winterbottom (Orrcon Steel FPR), 1447 pts
8. Steven Johnson (Jim Beam Racing), 1411 pts
9. Alex Davison (IRWIN Racing), 1334 pts
10. Jason Bright (Team BOC), 1280 pts
Teams Championship after Race 19 of 28
1. TeamVodafone, 4223 pts
2. Stone Brothers Racing, 3100 pts
3. Ford Performance Racing, 3016 pts
4. Toll Holden Racing Team, 2583 pts
5. Jim Beam Racing, 2471 pts
6. Jack Daniel’s Racing, 2467 pts
7. Fujitsu Racing/GRM, 2419 pts
8. Brad Jones Racing, 2279 pts
9. Kelly Racing, 2037 pts
10. Paul Morris Motorsports, 1951 pts
Bathurst 500/1000 Race Wins By Driver
9 – Peter Brock
7 – Jim Richards
6 – Larry Perkins, Mark Skaife
5 – Craig Lowndes
4 – Allan Moffat, Greg Murphy
3 – Dick Johnson, Jamie Whincup
2 – Harry Firth, Bob Jane, John Goss, Allan Grice, John Bowe, Russell Ingall, Tony Longhurst, Steven Richards, Rick Kelly, Garth Tander
1 – George Reynolds, Midge Bosworth, Rauno Aaltonen, Barry Seton, Bob Holden, Fred Gibson, Bruce McPhee, Colin Bond, Barry Mulholland, Tony Roberts, Ian Geoghegan, Kevin Bartlett, Brian Sampson, Bob Morris, John Fitzpatrick, Jacky Ickx, John Harvey, John French, Graeme Bailey, Armin Hahne, David Parsons, Peter McLeod, Tomas Mezera, Gregg Hansford, Jason Bargwanna, Win Percy, Geoff Brabham, David Brabham, Rickard Rydell, Jason Bright, Todd Kelly, Will Davison
Bathurst 500/1000 Pole Positions By Driver
6 – Peter Brock
5 – Mark Skaife
4 – Allan Moffat
2 - Ian Geoghegan, Kevin Bartlett, Dick Johnson, Glenn Seton, Craig Lowndes, Garth Tander, Mark Winterbottom
1 – Bruce McPhee, John Goss, Colin Bond, Allan Grice, George Fury, Tom Walkinshaw, Gary Scott, Klaus Ludwig, Klaus Niedzwiedz, Larry Perkins, Paul Morris, Rickard Rydell, Mark Larkham, Wayne Gardner, Marcos Ambrose, Greg Murphy, Steven Richards
