BATHURST 1000
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THE greatest race of all.
That was the view of many at Mount Panorama in the twilight yesterday afternoon as Chaz Mostert miraculously guided his Ford Performance Racing Falcon past Jamie Whincup in the dying stages of a gruelling Bathurst 1000.
It was a remarkable last-to-first victory that will go down in folklore at Mount Panorama during a race where eight cars retired, and three cars suffered a crash or breakdown while leading.
Seventeen years after he was stripped of victory along with Craig Baird in the Super Tourers edition of that year’s race, co-driver Paul Morris was only too happy to accompany the Ford young gun on the top step of the podium.
They defeated Nissan pair James Moffat and Taz Douglas with the Holden duo Nick Percat and Englishman Olly Gavin in third.
The Erebus Motorsport Mercedes Benz of Will and Alex Davison was next, meaning different manufacturers filled the top four spots. The fifth, Volvo, was unlucky not to be in the mix also.
There was heartbreak for Whincup who had to settle for fifth as he just made it across the line with no fuel left in his tank.
The race was drama-charged from the earliest stages as unexpected backmarkers Mostert, Whincup and David Reynolds began to charge through the field.
After things settled down, the field began to sort themselves out, but the action hadn’t even begun, and from the time Luke Youlden left the track at The Chase on lap 24, the big moments did not stop.
With pit strategies playing a huge role after a red flag period halted the race for over an hour due to track repairs, and with safety car after safety car interrupting the 161-lap slog, it looked like the cards had fallen into place for Championship leader Whincup.
He had put three seconds on Mostert during a final eight-lap dash to the finish.
But with less than one and a half laps remaining, Mostert closed to within a second as it became apparent that his rival was dangerously low on fuel.
They duelled for the entire final lap before Mostert made the decisive move coming into Conrod Straight.
Whincup ran out of fuel altogether and spluttered across the line in fifth, just ahead of Mark Winterbottom with whom he had staged a big battle earlier.
“To even be up the front of the Bathurst 1000 after coming off last year with damage is unbelievable,” Mostert said.
“I don’t know if you could hear me on the radio but I was just screaming ‘cough you bastard, cough’ [at Whincup’s car] and he started to slow in the last couple of laps.
“It was the best feeling ever to cross that line, all the Ford fans ... Words can’t describe how I’m feeling right now.”
It was the second consecutive win for FPR after their victory with Mark Winterbottom 12 months ago and it sent a clear message to Ford that even after announcing that they would pull their factory support from the category, there is still life in the blue oval.
Almost unnoticed to some degree were Moffat and Douglas, the latter of whom was pushed into the fence at Griffin’s Bend once before running off the track at the same spot later in the race.
Their result highlighted the value of persistence, while Percat and Gavin managed to avoid trouble and stayed in the top 10 virtually throughout the day.
Morris’ appointment as Mostert’s co-driver surprised many, but the 46-year-old did exactly what was required of him even though he, like Douglas, was a victim of the deteriorating track at turn two.
Fortunately he was able to extricate the vehicle from the wall and proceed.
“It’s my third win in the series too, we’ve got something in common now,” Morris joked with his off-sider.
“It was one of those days where you had to stay out of trouble and I knew that if I gave Chaz a car with all four wheels on it he was going to take it to the front.
“I did what I had to do and handed it over and away he went.
“I got up to turn one and there was a gravel trap in the middle of the road.
“I went through the pothole and onto the marbles and straight into the fence.
“Luckily the marshalls were on the case and got it back out and there was no real damage to the car,” he said.
