BATHURST 1000
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IF Michael Patrizi could have ordered any sort of build up to October’s visit to Mount Panorama he wanted, his fictional wish list would no doubt have very closely mirrored what he actually got.
The Carrera Cup driver will head to Mount Panorama for the seventh round of the all-Porsche motor sport series on the back of his best results of season 2014.
When Patrizi arrived at for round six of this year’s Carrera Cup championship at Sandown, he boasted with one race win for the season and seven top-10 placings.
It had him inside the top 10, but it was the series’ big guns in Warren Luff, Steve Richards and Craig Baird who were expected to battle it out for the round podium.
However, Patrizi proved he is not a man to dismiss as no-one could match his efforts on the 3.1 kilometre circuit.
He finished with a pair of wins – race two having been declared a non-race following a massive crash – as well as the Carrera Cup race lap record at Sandown.
His best circuit of the track was a one minute, 10.8528 seconds effort. That flying lap bettered the quickest lap of eight of the V8 Supercars co-drivers during the first qualifying race.
The only thing that Patrizi missed that would have been on his fictional wish list was pole position, but it took an overall series lap record from Luff to nudge him out.
“I was really disappointed not to get pole position and make it a perfect weekend, but after that it was our weekend,” the Onsite Rental Racing driver said.
In the opening race of that round, Patrizi start in position two and after running wide in the first corner, dropped back to third.
However, he had the lead by the end of the 10th lap and held his nerve through the seven circuits that followed to claim the chequered flag ahead of Richards.
That win gave him pole position for race two, but an incident at turn one which involved five cars saw officials declare it a non-race.
Patrizi still retained pole for the third and final race of
the Sandown round and after making a better start this time around, dominated.
He went on to win by three second to claim the round win – his first since Winton last year.
“Dominant weekend for us and it’s bring on the next one, the big Bathurst, the mountain,” he said.
That effort at Sandown points to Patrizi being one of the frontrunners at Bathurst as he looks to improve on his current seventh placing in the series.
What will also help him at Mount Panorama is his past experience on the 6.213 kilometre track.
When winning the Carrera Cup round at Bathurst in 2011, he picked up a pair of wins and a fourth placing, while last year Patrizi placed in the top five for each of the three races conducted.
As an ex-V8 Supercars full-time driver, Patrizi has also contested five editions of the Bathurst 1000.
His best finish was an 11th placing with Fabian Coulthard in 2009 while in 2012, the Tekno Autosport Holden Commodore he shared with Jonny Reid led the endurance epic at one point.
“I’ve won at Bathurst in the Porsche and I’ve led the race in the V8 Supercar, so it gives me a lot of confidence going into the next round,” Patrizi said.
“What also gives me a lot of confidence is that the team was so fast there last year with Nick Percat.”