Saturday’s race in Newcastle saw Triple Eight’s Jamie Whincup enter the day with a points buffer over McLaughlin but the six-time champions suffered a puncture on the opening lap, dropping to 21st at the end of the race while the Dick Johnson Racing driver won the penultimate race, setting himself up for an easy day on Sunday. With the title race down to Jamie Whincup and Scott McLaughlin, the battle for the trophy went down to the last few laps of a thrilling season. No championship decider in Australia has ever been as close as the inaugural event in Newcastle at the end of 2017. With a healthy margin in hand, Courtney went into Sunday’s race with breathing space, winning the title and breaking Whincup’s run of six titles in seven seasons. Although Whincup recorded one lap after getting patched up, his pace was too slow to reach the minimum allowed time, resulting in no points for his efforts. The fight didn’t last for long as they all aquaplaned into Turn 4, almost ending the title race then and there.Ī mammoth repair effort from DJR, Triple Racing and Ford Performance Racing to get their cars fixed and classified resulted in Courtney scoring points in a badly damaged Falcon. Race 30 was the penultimate outing of the year and a late race shower saw Courtney, Whincup and distant title contender Mark Winterbottom all hunting for grip on slick tyres. James Courtney went into the round leading the title race for Dick Johnson Racing ahead of two-time champion Jamie Whincup, driving a Triple Eight Holden Commodore. The 2010 title showdown was held at the Homebush circuit around Sydney Olympic Park, a concrete canyon lined with walls and providing no margin for error. Ingall/Skaife 2003Īs the old saying goes if you want to make something exciting, just add water. What followed was an exchange of words which are still known to only Murphy and Ambrose Murphy only won one more race in his Supercars career while Ambrose left the category at the end of 2005, moving to America to pursue a dream of driving in NASCAR. As Ambrose turned in, Murphy didn’t, resulting in the Stone Brothers Racing Falcon nearly ending up over the concrete wall, blocking the track in the process. After Ambrose was penalised for not wearing a balaclava under his helmet earlier in the race, the two-time series champion was fuming while fighting through the pack with the race drawing to a close.Īs the race was restarted on lap 145 after a safety car period, Ambrose and Murphy found themselves fighting for position heading up to The Cutting. Wherever Marcos Ambrose and Greg Murphy went, controversy seemed to follow closely behind. Repairs to the Lowndes/Yvan Muller entry meant they had to complete the cold October day with no front or rear windows. Ambrose/Murphy 2005Īs one of the strangest races in Supercars history, the 2005 Bathurst 1000 will be remembered for a clash between two of the championship’s main protagonists in the closing laps which took the attention off a hotly contested battle up front.Įarly on in the day, Craig Lowndes was leading in the #888 Falcon until contact with the wall saw him break a Watts Link in the rear suspension, putting the car out of contention.Ĭontinuing to circulate for points, disaster struck when a runaway wheel from Paul Dumbrell’s Perkins Engineering Commodore came across the path of Lowndes, striking the Triple Eight entry’s windscreen and shattering the glass. Lowndes and Whincup went on to win the next three Bathurst 1000’s, joining Brock, Jim Richards and Larry Perkins as the only drivers to take a hat-trick at the Mountain. Setting up an intense fight to the flag, Lowndes came home by 0.5 seconds, taking his first Bathurst victory since 1996 and farewelling his great friend and mentor Brock in the best way possible. Skaife’s day was done.Īs the long race wore on, the #888 car of Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup emerged as the leaders ahead of the #15 Toll HSV Dealer Team entry of brothers Rick and Todd Kelly. As Skaife left the start line, the clutch burnt out, resulting in him getting hit up the rear on the run to Turn 2. Going at a scintillating pace all weekend, the #2 Holden Racing Team car was at the shortest odds in the history of the race to win. With the Peter Brock Trophy unveiled for the winners of the race from 2006 onwards, the Bathurst 1000 took on another level of meaning on that weekend.Ī record crowd came to see the race that weekend with the lead factory Holden car of Mark Skaife and Garth Tander starting from pole. As the first race after the passing of Australian motorsport legend and nine-time winner of the Bathurst endurance event, Peter Brock, the round was a massive grieving process for fans, drivers and teams alike. Hollywood couldn’t have scripted this weekend much better.
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