At the time of writing, the leaders have chalked up 100 laps in just over three and a half hours without a single Safety Car period.

It’s on target to be the quickest Bathurst 1000 in history.

The race at the front is a two-team battle between Triple Eight and Erebus Motorsport.

Brodie Kostecki/Todd Hazelwood lead Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup, Will Brown/Scott Pye and Jack Le Brocq/Jayden Ojeda.

The top Ford is the Anton De Pasquale/Tony D’Alberto Dick Johnson Racing Mustang, which sits almost a minute adrift of the lead.

Triple Eight went off-strategy with its Feeney/Whincup car, clearing all of the seven-time champion’s minimum laps in a double-stint.

“A double stint around here when you’re not a main driver, I genuinely just feel like I’ve been bashed to be honest, I’m just sore all over,” he said.

“But I was really happy with the stint, I kept it clean the whole time, tried to conserve a bit of fuel to get one more lap but couldn’t quite get there.

“I made a [set-up] change for Broc, I’m unsure whether it’s better or not. It’s made the balance better but I think it’s lost grip over all.”

It’s currently a race devoid of dramatic action – commentator Mark Skaife even admitting that the race “desperately needs a Safety Car”.

Whincup disagrees.

“I’m a motorsport enthusiast so I’d rather it’s just green the whole way, no artificial Safety Cars or anything like that,” he said.

“I doubt we’re going to go green the whole way, something will come up.”

Whincup is searching for his fifth Bathurst 1000 victory and first since 2012.