Australia's two biggest football codes have both just celebrated their Grand Finals. In the case of the AFL, twice. For
V8 Supercars this weekend sees their Grand Final held, with the running of the
Super Cheap Bathurst 1000. It is save to say there can be no draw here, so the teams won't have to worry about coming back next week!Bathurst is the main event on the Australian v8 calendar and no one even attempts to say this is just another round of the Championship. The Mountain is the one bit of road every racer, including quite a few overseas drivers, want to conquer. However that pull of the Mountain means this race in particular is two races in one. There is the stand alone quest for the Peter Brock Trophey and there is the ongoing Championship fight and points on the line. By no means do those two goals always line up.
Thankfully for race fans, on the whole the drivers would rather risk it all for the Bathurst win than take the safety first option of the Championship points. That does change if the win is out of reach and then the drivers will focus on ensuring they come away with the best points all possible, until then though the fierce desire to win will hold sway.
This year sees a new rule banning teammates from racing with each other. It means all teams need to use part time drivers and makes the Championship chase a more pure fight. By and large the rule has been welcomed, especially by the midfield teams who struggled to match the front running cars when say a Lowndes and a Whincup combined. Often running only one car, they had no full time second driver and for many years have resorted to part timers. Many see the change giving them a real shot at Victory.
Jason Bright for one is happy with the change “I hate to say it, but I’ve been here on a number of occasions when, looking at the driver pairings we were up against, it was always going to be a big challenge to get a win. On some of those occasions we had a better run than we could have expected.
"Now that you're not allowed to team up your lead drivers it's certainly the best opportunity that I've had since 2006 with Frosty and before that since 1998. The pace of the car is certainly as good as any car in the field and we're still improving."
Perhaps the best known co-driver is David Brabham who will join Alex Davison in driving the Irwin Racing Falcon, fresh from his second American Le Mans Series title with Patron Highcroft Racing. The Le Mans winner is certainly not looking to just make up the numbers “My goal was to get in the top ten at Phillip Island, this was the first step, the next step is to get on the podium at Bathurst,” said IRWIN Racing’s David Brabham.
“At Phillip Island I had to focus a lot on myself and not worry about what was happening around me and just plug away at it.
“The thing I took away from that weekend was confidence, which I’ll take with me to Bathurst.”
He also feels he has settled quicker into the car this time “I don’t think it’s actually taken me that long to feel comfortable again, which is really good, this comes from the support of everyone at IRWIN Racing,” said Brabham.
“The transition (from sportscars) has been fast, it was just a quick question of me working on myself to be honest.
“It was just prior to the (Phillip Island) race that I felt ‘yeah I can now contribute to the team’ in terms of my pace and feedback.
“We started to make some set-up changes based on what I was saying and we had a pretty good race car, I was pleased that what I was saying had some accuracy to it.”
Though it is at the front end of the field, where the title fight is on in earnest that the biggest gain or indeed the biggest loss could be made this weekend. The Championship leader James Courtney is certainly not about to let the title fight impact him chasing the win "Bathurst is the biggest race in V8 Supercars so you don't hold back for anything," said the Jim Beam Racing Ford Falcon driver.
"The championship is also very important for different reasons, but I'm not going to Bathurst just to cruise around and protect my lead in the points.
"I'm going there to win. I've been on the podium three times (from five starts) at Bathurst, but never on the top step, and that's something I want to change!
"It's hard to split which is the most important between Bathurst or the championship. If you win either it's a great year, but if you win both it's a fantastic year!"
It is a big weekend for Dick Johnson Racing as they commerate the 30 year anniversary of the famous rock incident. With the support of proud partner Jim Beam, Dick Johnson has handpicked three original donators, all of whom donated (or have a connection to loved ones who donated) their hard earned cash and pocket money following the accident which grabbed the attention of the entire nation, to treat them to the ultimate Bathurst VIP experience.
As a way to personally thank the donators for their generous support shown thirty years ago, the VIP experience will include money-can’t-buy opportunities such as a meet and greet with Jim Beam Racing, a tour of their a pit garage, corporate hospitality (Paddock Club) tickets, a helicopter ride over Bathurst and the iconic Mt Panorama, and the chance to get on the track in a Safety Car Ride.
“The guests we have invited represent the thousands of people who donated money off their own backs to get Dick Johnson Racing back on the track the following year and to win Bathurst and the Championship Series . As my special guests for the weekend, we’ll be able to give them an experience they’ll never forget and to show them the very best of what Bathurst has to offer”, says Johnson, who is still humbled by the experience 30 years ago.
Courtney's main title rival Team Vodafones Jamie Whincup is likewise focused on the win after for him a disappointing Phillip Island race “We’ve got high expectations of the endurance races but it didn’t start the way we would have liked.” Whincup said.
“We’ve had four weeks between events to work on the car. The front bumper bar was bashing around a fair bit so the guys have changed the front end of the car.
“We’re going into the biggest race of the year and we need to drive as quickly as we did at Phillip Island because we want a solid result. Everything’s looking good so we’re going to go hard and see what happens.”
Indeed his big threat comes from the same garage where Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife are fresh from their L&H 500 win "Coming away with a win at Phillip Island obviously gives us great motivation for Bathurst and for Mark and I to be able to work together again is absolutely sensational,” Lowndes said.
“Testing gave opportunity to work on the car. We’ve run all the Bathurst drive line through it now and it’s feeling great.”
Semi-retired Skaife said a decade has changed nothing for the pair and he believes they will only improve at Bathurst.
“Driving together at L&H 500 was great and it didn’t really seem like anything had changed, besides a few more grey hairs,” Skaife laughed.
“Bathurst is a much bigger event but we are confident, between us we have won the race nine times, so we’re both looking forward to it.”
Another Ford driver in with a great shot at Victory is the man currently third in the Championship Mark Winterbottom, who will team up with Luke Youlden in the Ford Performance racing Falcon “It sounds like a cliché but I don’t think I’ve ever looked so forward to a Bathurst 1000,” Frosty said.
“This year feels really different … we’re heading into the weekend on a high, great momentum … everything is coming together at the right time so everyone’s pretty pumped,” he added.
Meanwhile the official Holden team Toll Holden Racing, will be looking for a improved effort from Phillip Island where both cars struggled. The defending winners from 20090 are turning the clock back with both cars to run in 1990 retro-livery. Garth Tander is looking forward to defending the crown “I consider driving for Holden’s official factory team a great honour and I am quite proud that we will be defending our Bathurst crown while celebrating the 20th anniversary of the beginning of HRT’s winning heritage,” Tander said.
“It is a fitting tribute – the cars look fantastic, the driving suits and team uniforms are retro cool and I know our fans will love it.”
Of course Bathurst being Bathurst, the winner could come from anywhere. The Mountain provides a gruelling test of man and machine and the best laid plans can come apart in the blink of a eye. Russell Ingall for one was making it clear at a press event earlier in the week that the predicted weather and the change to the drivers pairings, may see a wildcard winner. Ingall of course hopes that he and co-dirver Paul Morris are just the men to do it. One this is for sure the Enforcer and the Dude won't take a step backwards and will either "…win it or bin it…" as Ingall joked with the press.
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