Bathurst 1000 Preview & Analysis: Your Essential Guide

The biggest and best weekend on the Supercars calendar has arrived. Drivers and co-drivers have already hit the track at Mount Panorama, with four driving faster than the previous lap record.  900 points are on the line for the winner: it could make or break a driver’s 2019 championship.

It’s the race everyone wants to win, but few survive the 161 laps to cross the line first. Seven pit stops, inevitable safety cars and potentially the fastest Top Ten Shootout the Mountain has ever seen but only one thing is guaranteed: the Mountain will decide who wins.

Here is everything you need to know about the 2019 edition of the Great Race.

THE TRACK

Mount Panorama is arguably the most famous racetrack in Australia and, in the words of seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes, is one of the top three racetracks in the world. It is a unique purpose-built track built into the side of the mountain, measuring 174 metres from top to bottom and at an altitude of 862 metres above sea level. The circuit itself is 6.213 kilometres long. The longest section of the track, Conrod Straight – where the Supercars will reach speeds of 300km/hr – is 1.916 kilometres long. The circuit consists of 23 corners and is split into three sectors – the first from the starting line, up Mountain Straight, through Griffins Bend and the Cutting to Reid Park; the second from Reid Park, to Skyline at the top of the Mountain and through the Esses to Forrest’s Elbow; and the third from Forrest’s Elbow, down Conrod Straight, then through the Chase and Murray’s Corner to the finish line.

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FORM GUIDE

Practice: Former Supercars driver Mark Skaife has predicted the cars could drive as fast as 2 minutes and 2 seconds around the mountain this weekend, but with engine changes for the 2020 season and beyond, any speed records made this weekend could potentially last for a very long time. Scott McLaughlin broke the Supercars lap record in Practice 3 on Thursday, clocking a time of 2:03.77 and breaking his own record of 2:03.83, which was set during the Top Ten Shootout in 2017. Until Thursday, no other driver had posted a sub-2:04 time, but shortly after McLaughlin’s blistering lap came Jamie Whincup at 2:03.937, Cameron Waters at 2:03.94 and Will Davison at 2:03.99.

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Qualifying

If form were anything to go by, the Mustangs would have been the favourite to secure Pole Position on Saturday afternoon. Ford have 20 had pole positions this season, shared between championship leader McLaughlin, his teammate Fabian Coulthard, and Chaz Mostert. Holden have 4 pole positions – 3 for Shane van Gisbergen and one for Whincup, while Nissan is still to win its first for the year. In 2018, it was the reigning champion David Reynolds who won Pole Position. He finished 13^th, while Lowndes and co-driver Steven Richards won after starting from 9^th.  Qualifying at the front of the grid would certainly put the race off to a good start, but when strategy plays its part and the inevitable safety cars arrive, it’s hard to predict who will emerge on the top step of the podium. The last time a car on pole position won the race was in 2009 with Garth Tander and Davison.

The race

In the history of the Great Race, form can mean very little. A change to the scheduling of the season this year means the Bathurst 1000 is the first endurance race of the season, so drivers and co-drivers have had very little race-simulated practice. Therefore, the chance of error is much greater, and those who have raced together in previous years could have a crucial advantage. McLaughlin has won four out of the last five races, and 17 races overall this year. The next best is van Gisbergen, who has won three.

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THE FIELD

#2 Scott Pye, Warren Luff – Walkinshaw Andretti United

#3 Garry Jacobson, Dean Fiore – Kelly Racing

#5 Lee Holdsworth, Thomas Randle – Tickford Racing

#6 Cameron Waters, Michael Caruso – Tickford Racing

#7 Andre Heimgartner, Bryce Fullwood – Kelly Racing

#8 Nick Percat, Tim Blanchard – Brad Jones Racing

#9 David Reynolds, Luke Youlden – Erebus Motorsport

#12 Fabian Coulthard, Tony D’Alberto – DJR Team Penske

#14 Tim Slade, Ash Walsh – Brad Jones Racing

#15 Rick Kelly, Dale Wood – Kelly Racing

#17 Scott McLaughlin, Alex Premat – DJR Team Penske

#18 Mark Winterbottom, Steven Richards – Team 18

#19 Jack LeBrocq, Jonathan Webb – Tekno Autosports

#21 Macauley Jones, Dean Canto – Brad Jones Racing

#22 James Courtney, Jack Perkins – Walkinshaw Andretti United

#23 Will Davison, Alex Davison – Tickford Racing

#27 Alexander Rossi, James Hinchcliffe – Walkinshaw Andretti United (wildcard)

#33 Richie Stanaway, Chris Pither – Garry Rogers Motorsport

#34 James Golding, Richard Muscat – Garry Rogers Motorsport

#35 Todd Hazlewood, Jack Smith – Matt Stone Racing

#55 Chaz Mostert, James Moffat – Tickford Racing

#56 Brodie Kostecki, Jake Kostecki – Kostecki Brothers Racing (wildcard)

#78 Simona De Silvestro, Alex Rullo – Kelly Racing

#97 Shane van Gisbergen, Garth Tander – Triple 8 Race Engineering

#99 Anton De Pasquale, Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport

#888 Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes – Triple 8 Race Engineering

THE WEATHER

Friday forecast: The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting a partly cloudy day with a top of 17 degrees Celsius on Friday, with a 70 percent chance of 3-6mm of rain. This may affect Qualifying, which is scheduled for 4pm (AEDT).

Saturday forecast: A cooler day is expected, with a top of 15 degrees. Overcast conditions will continue, with a 40 percent chance of 0-1mm of rain predicted. Such small falls might seem insignificant, but could prove the difference if drops happen to fall between 5 o’clock and 6pm, when the Top Ten Shootout takes place.

Sunday forecast: Sunday will bring similar, partly cloudy conditions, but a slightly warmer day with the mercury predicted to reach 18 degrees. Rain is not expected to interrupt the day with only a 10 percent chance of a light shower.

WHAT THE DRIVERS SAID

Craig Lowndes:

“This is a completely different circuit. The elevation change, the fast flowing corners, and then you’ve got the tight corners, it really does through everything at you and that’s something that we’ve got to get our head around, getting the car balanced right. I think the good thing about Jamie and I is, for me, I’m going to be focusing on a race car, getting comfortable, getting up to speed and let him focus on the qualifying side of it, which is really important.”

Jamie Whincup:

“In this era, the aero era, it’s good to do a 2.03 for sure. I wanted to get it in before we get all our wings clipped.”

Cameron Waters:

“If it rains, I’ll drive around in the rain, if it’s dry I’ll drive around in the dry. It doesn’t really matter. The car’s usually pretty quick in both. It is what it is.”

David Reynolds:

“I’ve done this race many times, it was just a very, very hard core race last year. There were lap records broken all the time, the pace was very, very hot. If it’s dry this year I assume it’s going to be a similar pace race. It’s going to be very hard fought, fast, everything ferocious, whatever words you want to use. It’s going to be a similar type race. It’s not a six-hour endurance race; it’s a six-hour sprint race.”

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OUR PICK:

The old pairing of Whincup and Lowndes is back together again. They won three consecutive Bathurst 1000’s together in 2006, 2007 and 2008. With Whincup’s qualifying strength and Lowndes’ endurance strength, the Holden pair could be tough to overtake.

Betting information

• Bet Now With Ladbrokes
• Bet Now With Neds   (We Recommend)
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