The Bathurst 1000s of Recent Years Rated- Part One

The Bathurst 1000 is a race with a long and storied history. It’s had several massive moments of recent years, such as Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes’ emotional win in 2006, the manic last few laps in 2016 and several highlights from this year including unexpected charges for victory from Andre Heimgartner and James Golding that unfortunately just fell short. What are the best races of late? In this two part feature I take a look at every race between 1999 and 2019 and analyse the key moments. This first part focuses on 2013-2019.

2019: B+

In terms of racing quality, heartwarming (and heartbreaking) stories and pure drama, this race was an A. A fairly dour opening hundred laps (lit up by Tim Slade’s first lap crash and a four car battle for the lead between Mostert, Waters, McLaughlin and Whincup) exploded after Todd Hazlewood had one of the biggest crashes in recent memory at the grate on lap 102. Six more safety cars followed, but unfortunately so did the blight of the race, Fabian Coulthard ruining races for David Reynolds, Shane Van Gisbergen etc as he held the pack up under Full Course Yellow conditions. Still, McLaughlin broke through for his first ever Bathurst win and DJR’s first in 25 years, James Golding and Andre Heimgartner performed massively and James Courtney didn’t let Coulthard affect his race as he pulled a third from the fire.

2018: C

There was less of everything but the drama last year. James Courtney’s race was ruined by his engine expiring up Mountain Straight on Lap 33, Cameron Waters and Chaz Mostert began their annual tradition of crashing into each other, and Caruso’s Nissan and de Pasquale’s Erebus Holden crashed over the top. In a record-pace race, the speed proved too much for David Reynolds who collapsed of exhaustion late in the race, handing the win to Craig Lowndes and Steve Richards.

2017: B-

2017 signalled the decisive point in the championship as well as a monumental race. Both Jamie Whincup and Scott McLaughlin suffered major failures within their engines, but Whincup was just barely classified unlike McLaughlin, and the points he gained allowed him to win the championship. In a race with the usual manic ending, the only talking points before the last quarter of the race were failures for McLaughlin, Whincup and Lee Holdsworth. However, James Moffat hit the same wall twice, Simona and Percat crashed and Mark Winterbottom got stuck in the Elbow tyre wall in the last 20 laps. David Reynolds took a cavalier victory which proved to be key in Erebus’ history, as the team vaulted forward on the grid following the race. Dale Wood took a surprise fourth in his final ever start at Bathurst as a main game driver.

2016: B+

2016 was another race like 2019 where the result remained provisional for some time following due to controversy. As usual, a quiet start to the race (despite Lee Holdsworth having another engine failure on the first lap) exploded into life when Jason Bright body-slammed the wall at the grate on lap 89. James Moffat’s Volvo had a spectacular engine failure with flames belching out of the #34 up Mountain Straight, while Andre Heimgartner and Mark Winterbottom both had assorted mechanical failures end their day. But, the last 10 laps, as usual, were big talking points. Garth Tander, Scot McLaughlin and Jamie Whincup battled for the lead through the Chase on lap 151 and, as Whincup tried to redress after forcing McLaughlin off the track, Tander tried to overtake on the outside, hitting McLaughlin and causing his retirement and McLaughlin to lose two laps. Whincup was given a 15 second penalty for instigating the incident, which he could make as a gap, but then both Kelly brothers had their own accidents, with Rick in the wall at the Elbow (which has become popular for last 5 lap accidents with Winterbottom and Heimgartner also crashing late there recently) and Todd deep in the sandtrap. This left the win to Wil Davison after a fierce attack by Shane Van Gisbergen was fought off.

2015: C+

2015 is more notable for Chaz Mostert’s monster accident at Forrest Elbow in qualifying, with the car being torn to shreds, and him and a marshal being injured when he cleared the catchfence. The Garry Rogers #34 had an engine fail, but this year accidents and incidents were spread more liberally. The Super Black car of Andre Heimgartner crashed on Lap 35, the #3 LDM car on lap 78 and Ash Walsh on lap 135. However, the fourth and biggest accident was immediately on the restart as Scott Pye nailed the wall at the grate. The Supergirls, in their first appearance, finished 40 laps down after a spin, while only two other cars finished off the lead lap. Craig Lowndes won his sixth Bathurst by 1.4 seconds from championship victor Mark Winterbottom.

2014: A

A famous Bathurst after Chaz Mostert won for last place with a last moment pass on Jamie Whincup who ran out of the fuel on Conrod Straight. What’s not often shown is that Whincup was 23rd on the grid, and either winning would have been seen as a Bathurst miracle. Garth Tander didn’t start after a monumental stack at Griffins in practice. There were many safety cars. Luke Youlden beached his car at the Chase on Lap 26. Youlden then collected a kangaroo on Lap 45, while his two teammates ran into each other under safety car eliminating both cars. After the track begun to break up at Griffins Bend, a red flag was thrown with cars #360, #3 and #6 all having hit the barriers. However, the emergency repairs weren’t brilliant with Steve Johnson and Scott Pye hitting the fence in a more serious way than any of the other crashes. AS the estimated finish time ballooned towards sundown due to the red flag, Tim Slade smashed the wall at The Cutting on Lap 102. Dahlgren crashed ten laps later, and then contender Reynolds had his alternator (and therefore battery) expire under safety car conditions. McLaughlin, also in contention for the race win, fenced at the Cutting and lost eleven laps fixing the damage. Todd Kelly tried to pass Ingall on Lap 137 at Griffins, which took out Lee Holdsworth at the same time and flipped the Mercedes. Ingall’s car was fixed and then crashed again by Tim Blanchard five laps later. Van Gisbergen pitted from the lead and then his car died after the pitstop was complete. Lowndes and Winterbottom were taken out of contention when they hit each other, dropping Winterbottom back in the order and drawing a black flag for Lowndes, leaving the famous last lap pass to happen.

2013: B

Chaz Mostert had a start to his race similar to 2014 after his car pitted at the end of the warm up lap and then wasn’t jacked for refuelling. David Russell hit a kangaroo on track, leading to his and Todd Kelly’s retirement. Issues began to pop up in the mid portion of the race. Steven Johnson’s cool suit froze, Jonathan Webb lost a window, Van Gisbergen and Mostert both lost a lap in the pits and Tony D’Alberto had a rear suspension failure and was put in the garage. Greg Murphy crashed just into the second half of the race at Griffins leading to just the second safety car in the race. Tim Slade nearly collected McLaughlin when he was pushed out of the garage after a steering issue was fixed. Alex Premat was given a black flag for a leaky seal dripping fuel over the track. Dean Fiore retired on Lap 145 with a gearbox issue. Ultimately, Mark Winterbottom beat both Triple 8 cars who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.