A quick run down on Bathurst's most likely in this years race
Who will win the Bathurst 1000? It’s hard not to go past the usual suspects, the teams that year after year rise to the top of the greatest challenge in Australian motorsport. And that means Team Vodafone and the Toll Holden Racing Team. Between them they have won the last six races – four to Team Vodafone and two to Toll HRT – and the most dominant pairing has been Team Vodafone’s Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup, who won three on the trot from 2006-2008.
Five times 1000 winner Lowndes won again last year, paired with Mark Skaife, who has won six Bathursts, and the pair recently won the first enduro of the year at Phillip Island. They are red-hot favourites. The same probably can’t be said for the team’s other car games driven by three-time 1000 winner Whincup and young Andrew Thompson; on paper it is not as balanced a pairing.
But HRT is in a similar situation. Reigning champion James Courtney is partnered with the highly experienced and quick Cam McConville and they should be strong all day, but Tander’s co-driver is another young gun, Nick Percat, and while he acquitted himself well at Phillip Island with Tander, Bathurst is a bigger stage.
Others to watch for: Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards are quietly confident; Steven Johnson and David Besnard are another balanced pairing in a car that’s now on the pace; Lee Holdsworth and Greg Ritter have speed and experience; Alex Davison and David Brabham are on the money at the right time; and you can’t discount the polesitter, four-times winner Greg Murphy and Allan Simonsen.
To win the 1000 a team needs a fast car with good fuel consumption, two equal drivers, fast problem-free pitstops and good strategies for the many complex situations that can be thrown up over 161 laps of Mount Panorama, including safety cars for crashes and rain, which is possible in the afternoon. Anything can happen at Bathurst, that's what is so great about The Great Race, so all of the above could be fiction by 4:30pm Sunday night.
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