The top achievers of the season were recognised at Monday night’s 16th annual V8 Supercars Gala Awards and Bathurst’s Great Race was among them, picking up the Fans’ Choice Best Event gong.

It was not the first time the 161-lap endurance epic had been recognised – having won in 2006, 2012 and 2013 – but certainly this year’s Bathurst 1000 rates as one of the most dramatic in the history of the event.

Before the drivers even buckled up for Sunday’s race, Fabian Coulthard had clocked a new lap record with a two minutes, 5.608 seconds flier in his Lockwood Racing Commodore.

One of the favourites for the race, the Holden Racing Team Commodore of Garth Tander and Warren Luff, had a horror opening two days. 

Tander crashed in practice on Thursday at the entrance to The Dipper and his pit crew had to pull an all-nighter to get it back on track on Friday.

Tander then qualified for the top 10 shootout, but Luff was involved in a massive crash at turn two during Saturday morning practice. The damage was so extensive the car did not make it to the starting grid on Sunday.

But even those moments paled in comparison to what unfolded on Sunday.

With the resurfaced track breaking up at turn two, a number of cars went into the fence. Scott Pye, Paul Morris and Taz Douglas (twice) all hit the wall at Griffins Bend.

“As soon as I was on those marbles, I was just a passenger,” Douglas said.

The deteriorating surface led to officials taking the remarkable step of red-flagging the race after 61 laps to allow for repairs. Cars sat on the grid for over an hour.

When racing recommenced with Nissan driver David Russell in the lead, the dramas continued.

Dick Johnson Racing driver Pye hit the wall at 237 kilometres on lap 70, triggering one of what would eventually number 10 safety car periods.

When Swede Robert Dahlgren hit the wall in his Volvo at The Cutting on lap 114, it saw the safety car in action once again, but that did not trouble David Reynolds.

The Bottle-O Racing Ford driver was sitting second and looked in prime position to better his runners-up effort from 2012.

However, three laps later an alternator failure ended his chances.

“I came out of turn one behind the safety car and it just died,” Reynolds said. “It was running faultless until that split second and it died. Every electrical piece turned off.”

Volvo young gun Scott McLaughlin, who was awarded the Barry Sheene Medal as the sport’s best and fairest on Monday night, soon shared Reynolds’ pain.

He looked on track for a podium finish, but hit the fence in a dice with fellow Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen at The Cutting. He ended up 17th.

There was another crash on lap 132 – again at turn two – when Russell Ingall tried to pull off an over-ambitious passing move. The incident left Lee Holdsworth’s Mercedes on its roof.

The final safety car period came five laps later and at that stage it was van Gisbergen who looked a winner. However, as he ducked into Pit Lane for a fuel top up, disaster struck.

His car stalled and he could not restart it. The Holden driver did get back on track, but his chance of a maiden Great Race crown was gone. He placed 16th.

That incident had defending champion Mark Winterbottom in the frame for another podium, as was five-time winner Craig Lowndes, but the pair made contact as they raced up Mountain Straight and lost track position.

On the final lap it was Jamie Whincup – the man who went on to win the 2014 championship – who led. But as the Red Bull Racing driver ran out of petrol, Ford Performance Racing’s Chaz Mostert pulled off a passing move on his inside at Forrest’s Elbow.

Not only had Mostert come from the rear of the grid to win, but his co-driver Morris had crashed along the way.

“It was the best feeling ever to cross that line,” Mostert said as he claimed the chequered flag after seven hours, 58 minutes, 53.2052 seconds.

It was little wonder fans gave the nod to Bathurst’s Great Race.