Rating the Chances of the Entries of the Bathurst 1000

Note: This article was written before the #9 crashed in practice.

The Bathurst 1000 is upon us! And, while some cars are so much more likely to win than others, it is one of the very few races that anyone can win. Today, I’m taking a look at most of the cars in the field and looking at their chances, while ranking them. Let’s start with my favourites and then move down the grid.

1st- #888 (Whincup/Lowndes).

This is an obvious favourite and I have picked it as mine. This is because the car is prepared by a team that has clearly mastered Bathurst, with two drivers who are either Bathurst greats in Whincup, or Bathurst immortals in Lowndes. It’s not a race where they are certain to win, but they are the favourites.

2nd- #17 (McLaughlin/Premat).

This is the car that many people are tipping to be the winner, but for me the only issues with the car are that McLaughlin has never finished higher than third at Bathurst, and that the Mustang has never been to Bathurst and will probably need aero tuning to get perfectly in the zone. I think they are the second favourites.

3rd- #9 (Reynolds/Youlden)

This car always seems to be strongest at Bathurst and I think that will continue this year because of the settled nature of the team and the continuity of Reynolds’ new deal.

4th- #55 (Mostert/Moffat)

The 2018 Enduro Cup champions are also a favourite for this race. Mostert has good and bad form (2014 and 2015 respectively) in this race previously.

5th- #97 (van Gisbergen/Tander)

SVG hasn’t been quite as good as Whincup or Lowndes in Bathurst, but they have one of the best co-drivers in the field in the shape of 2007 Supercars champion Garth Tander as well as the same engineering force behind the #888 and they are another favourite.

6th- #6 (Waters/Caruso)

Tickford have so many good cars for this race, but I think the #6 car could be a good smokie for this race. Waters is a very good endure driver in particular, with his one Supercars win so far coming in the 2017 Sandown 500.

7th- #12 (Coulthard/d’Alberto)

Fabian is in a top team but he is horrendously out of form at the moment. Tony D’Alberto is a solid co driver though.

8th- #99 (de pasquale/Brown)

In #99 we have a team that has monstered Bathurst with the #9 over the last few years, two in form drivers and a driver in De Pasquale who has absolutely monstered the Top 10

Shootout before. My smokie for the race.

9th- #2 (Pye/Luff)

Another good team. WAU have had a tough year but the consecutive runners-up have a good history at Bathurst and Warren Luff is a old hand around Bathurst.

10th- #23 (Davison/Davison)

The only family entry in Bathurst is quite a good entry, with a team on form. However, Alex Davison’s recent S5000 crash may play on his mind.

11th- #18 (Winterbottom/Richards)

Mark Winterbottom hasn’t been as far up the field as they were tipped to be at the start of the year but they have a Triple 8 run car, a reigning Bathurst winning co-driver in Steven Richards, and a decent chance.

12th- #5 (Holdsworth/Randle)

Lee has been quite unlucky this year, particularly in Pukekohe with the safety car fiasco, but he has the brilliant rookie Randle as a codriver and the backing of Tickford.

13th- #8 (Percat/Blanchard)

While I’m sure Nick would take Macauley Jones rather than Tim Blanchard as a codriver, he has been in form this year and can surely be considered a good chance.

14th- #7 (Heimgartner/Fullwood)

Andre and Kelly are at least a Top 10 combination if not for the rubbish Altima. Fullwood is a good young co-driver and is the leader of the Super2 series ahead of drivers such as Brown, Kostecki, and Randle all of whom are in higher teams in this list.

15th- #27 (Rossi/Hinchcliffe)

Despite their unfamiliarity with the cars and with the track, Rossi and Hinchcliffe are two of the best Indycar drivers and in a top motorsport category, their pedigree and skill is undoubted. Maybe a smart bet for a good result.

The rest of the contenders, in my opinion, can be positioned as follows:

16th- #22 (Courtney/Perkins)

17th- #15 (Kelly/Wood)

18th- #14 (Slade/Walsh)

19th- #35 (Hazlewood/Smith)

20th- #78 (de Silvestro/Rullo)

21st- #34 (Golding/Muscat)

22nd- #3 (Jacobson/Fiore)

23rd- #56 (Kostecki/Kostecki)

24th- #33 (Stanaway/Pither)

25th- #21 (Jones/Canto)

26th- #19 (Le Brocq/Webb)