2011 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000: Delivers On-The-Edge Racing Again!

The holy grail of Australian motorsport was on offer as fifty-eight drivers tackled the mountain that gives no mercy when it comes to mistakes - Mt. Panorama. For Will Davison and his partner Luke Youlden, the racing Gods smiled at them after Lee Holdsworth was penalised in after Friday's qualifying, moving the Trading Post FPR racers into the top ten shootout where Davison grabbed second spot. However, the mountain truned cruel as it sand trapped the Trading Post Falcon at the last corner, sending them back to 18th position.

As the race progressed to the 161 lap deadline, the mountain caused fire to end Steven Johnson and David Besnard's day. However, for many it was a hard luck story; Cameron Waters found the wall, Dean Fiore was the third driver sand trapped at the last corner, Steve Owen blew a tyre and many were, later, caught off guard to the oil left down Conrod Straight causing many to fly off the road down at the chase.

It was in year 2011, that the classic rivalry was revived between the Toll Holden Racing Team and TeamVodafone as they battled right through to the final lap for the chance to stamp their names as the 2011 Bathurst champions. Luckily, earlier, Nick Percat escaped a brush with the wall to hand the car back to his teammate Garth Tander to finish the race. Later, he found himself in a thrilling battle with, new championship leader, Craig Lowndes.

Tander held on by point ninth of a second to win the race, making Percat the first rookie on thrity years to win the most respected and historic race in all Australian motorsport.

The final results are as followed:

1. Garth Tander/Nick Percat (Toll HRT)
2. Craig Lowndes/Mark Skaife (TeamVodafone)
3. Greg Murphy/Allan Simonsen (Pepsi Max Crew)
4. Mark Winterbottom/Steve Richards (Orrcon Steel FPR)
5. Jason Bright/ Andrew Jones (Team BOC)
6. Shane van Gisbergen/John McIntyre (SP Tools Racing)
7. James Courtney/Cameron McConville (Toll HRT)
8. Russell Ingall/Jack Perkins (Supercheap Auto Racing)
9. Tony D’Alberto/Dale Wood (Wilson Security Racing)
10. Michael Caruso/Marcus Marshall (Fujitsu Racing GRM)
11. Steve Owen/Paul Morris (VIP Petfoods)
12. Tim Slade/Daniel Gaunt (Lucky 7 Racing)
13. Jonathan Webb/Richard Lyons (Mother Energy Racing Team)
14. Karl Reindler/David Wall (Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing)
15. Warren Luff/Nathan Pretty (Gulf Western Oil Racing)
16. Alex Davison/David Brabham (Irwin Racing)
17. Lee Holdsworth/Greg Ritter (Fujitsu Racing GRM)
18. Will Davison/Luke Youlden (Trading Post FPR)
19. David Reynolds/Tim Blanchard (Stratco Racing)
20. Dean Fiore/Michael Patrizi (Triple F Racing)
21. Jamie Whincup/Andrew Thompson (TeamVodafone)
22. Rick Kelly/Owen Kelly [no relation] (Jack Daniel’s Racing)
23. Jason Bargwanna/Shane Price (Jana Living Racing)
24. Todd Kelly/David Russell (Jack Daniel’s Racing)
25. James Moffat/Matt Halliday (Jim Beam Racing)

• DNF: Paul Dumbrell/Dean Canto (Bottle-O Racing Team)
• DNF: Steven Johnson/David Besnard (Jim Beam Racing)
• DNF: Grant Denyer/Cameron Waters (Shannons Mars Racing)
• DNF: Fabian Coulthard/Craig Baird (Bundaberg Racing)

Source:

V8 SuperCars