This was one of the closest race finishes i have ever seen, In my opinion, Craig won that race, and he would of done had it not been for Whincup slowing him down slightly. Great job with the article, you kept the thrill of the race alive for the people who weren't lucky enough to witness it
| Bathurst 2011: V8 Supercars’ Great Race Lives Up To Reputation |
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| Wednesday, 12 October 2011 08:55 |
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After six hours, twenty-six minutes and fifty-two seconds on track the difference between the leading two V8 Supercars came down to just 0.29 seconds. It was the Toll Holden Racing Team pairing of Garth Tander and Nick Percat who crossed the line first after 161 laps of the Mount Panorama Circuit. They were closely followed across the line by the Team Vodafone pairing of Bathurst veterans Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife. Pole-sitter Greg Murphy and his Danish co-driver Allan Simonsen finished third in the Pepsi Max Racing Commodore to make it an all Holden podium. Murphy led the V8 Supercars field for the opening laps of the 161 lap race until he was overtaken by Trading Post Racing’s Will Davison. It was a case of history repeating for Bundaberg Racing’s Fabian Coulthard who again became Bathurst’s first casualty after making contact with the wall in his efforts to avoid the slowing car of Jason Bright. Cameron Waters was another early victim of the Mountain after hitting the wall at Forrest's Elbow on only the fifth lap of his first stint. The Shannons/Mars Racing Commodore was able to be repaired but did not complete a sufficient amount of laps to be classified. The first of the front runners to be involved in an incident was the Trading Post Racing Falcon. As the field was readying for the restart after a safety car period for kerb repairs the front running Davison’s co-driver Luke Youlden ran off track at the last corner. The safety car periods for these and other on track incidents saw queuing in pit lane, with the decision to stay out often being more costly than to queue. One of the cars that paid the highest price was Team Vodafone’s #888 Commodore, with Lowndes and Skaife having to wait behind the race leading #88 car on safety car instigated stops on lap 40, 63 and 86. In an attempt to remedy this the Triple Eight Race Engineering outfit split strategies and bought the #888 car in again on lap 97 when the safety car was called so the medical car could assist a marshal. However they and the other teams that took the same gamble saw no payout after the biggest incident of the race occurred on lap 113, bringing all the lead lap runners into pit lane. The incident in question saw David Besnard involved in a heavy impact at the end of Mountain Straight. The Jim Beam Racing Falcon’s fuel cell was ruptured on impact, spilling fuel over the track which soon caught alight and engulfed the car in flames. Besnard was still in the car at the time but thanks to the effort of two marshals who rushed onto the track to put the flames out he was able to walk away from the incident unscathed (albeit with stinging eyes from the extinguisher foam). Up until that point the #88 Team Vodafone Commodore of Jamie Whincup and Andrew Thompson had been leading the race since taking the lead on lap 29. However after this restart it was the Toll Holden Racing Commodore of Garth Tander and Nick Percat that emerged in front. Debris from Besnard’s crash caught out Steve Owen, who had been behind Besnard at the time of the incident, who suffered from a puncture on lap 122 to bring out the seventh safety car of the race. The eighth and final safety car of the race was called out on lap 138 for the car that had lead for so much of the race, the Team Vodafone Commodore of Whincup and Thompson. As the car suffered from an alternator issue while running in second Whincup struggled to keep the Commodore going, holding up a number of cars behind him including his own team mate Lowndes. With 21 laps to go Lowndes was running in seventh, but by lap 148 the seasoned competitor had made his way into second. This setup a thrilling finish for fans trackside and watching at home as the four time Bathurst winner continued to shave time off Tander’s leading margin. As the race entered its final laps Lowndes had caught Tander but with scarcely a mistake from the Toll Holden Racing driver he was not able to make a move stick. The finishing margin of 0.2917s between the two competitors was the closest in the race’s history (excluding form finishes). This result saw Lowndes take the lead of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship from his Team Vodafone team mate Whincup over whom he now has an 100 point lead. The next round of the V8 Supercars Championship, the Armor All Gold Coast 600, will be held on the streets of the Gold Coast on 21-23 October. By Chelsea Woods Worth checking - Motorsport news - F1 news
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