ONE of the most thrilling battles of Sunday's Bathurst 6 Hour saw Tim Slade trying his hardest to hold onto his race lead from the charging Cameron Hill inside the last 60 minutes of racing.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
While defending the lead looked like an exercise in futility against Hill's faster machine it still showcased Slade's top notch driving ability as he kept his rival stuck on his bumper for several laps.
Hill ultimately made the pass at Skyline with 22 minutes in the race remaining but there was plenty of praise from all corners for the way Slade made life difficult for the eventual winner.
As several early front runners suffered major setbacks there were no such dramas for Slade and his co-driver Brad Carr who finished exactly where they started the race - second.
Hill would go on to win the race by eight seconds.
Slade said holding the lead was almost going to be an impossible task with the way Hill's car was performing.
"It would have been hard to hold him out. I was actually wondering if I was going to get a bad sportsmanship flag for blocking in some areas," he said.
- READ MORE: Qualifying incident impacts Brad Shiels' TCR Australia Series round at Bathurst
- READ ALSO: Perthville's Grant Denyer claims dominant class success in 2022 Bathurst 6 Hour alongside Tony Quinn
- READ ALSO: Nick Percat survives close call at Reid Park to steer defending 6 Hour champion entry to third place
"We obviously had a decent gap there but they were quite a bit faster than us. We only took a right front tyre during the race so we struggled a lot for rear grip at the end, and that ended up being our biggest problem."
Slade had held a 51 second advantage over Hill after the last round of compulsory pit stops inside the last hour but a safety car would bring the field back together and put his rival in striking distance.
Slade was naturally disappointed not to hold onto first place but said it was nice to complete some of last year's unfinished business at the Easter enduro.
"I tried my hardest to hold him off and I certainly didn't expect him to go for it there at Skyline, but fair game to him. He was in there. You can't go through there alongside each other so I had to bail out," he said.
"I'm really happy for Brad and the team. It's cool for us to come here second around and do this after just missing the podium last year with some late tyre troubles.
"Compared to last year the car ran faultlessly from start to finish and we only had the drive-through penalty during this race, which was a bit questionable, so it was an enjoyable race, for sure."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.westernadvocate.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News