Paul Dumbrell leads the way at the halfway mark of the 2012 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 in Jamie Whincup’s #1 TeamVodafone Commodore VE
David Reynolds sits in second place ahead of Michael Caruso, James Courtney, Mark Winterbottom, Jason Bright, Greg Murphy, Tony D’Alberto, Todd Kelly and Austrian Christian Klien.
Lap 54 produced the biggest incident of the race so far when Steve Owen crashed at Griffins Bend. After a pit stop, the car had no front brakes at the end of Mountain Straight, slamming the tyre wall. Owen emerged from the car unhurt.
Pole-sitter Will Davison’s day has gone from bad to worse, with the car copping a drive-through penalty for having its wheels spinning while on the jacks during one of its pit stops.
CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s quarter race distance report
See below for Speedcafe.com’s live tweets of the first half of the 1000km race from Mount Panorama.
CLICK HERE for live tweets of the race from Speedcafe.com.
– Order Lap 40 under SC: Whincup, McIntyre, Canto, Youlden, Lowndes, Ritter, Jones, McLaughlin, Simonsen, McConville #V8SC
– The Safety Car was reportedly called for debris #V8SC
– Several lost time queuing behind their team-mates. Thompson is one of the biggest losers, dropping from fifth to 18th #V8SC
– Race will restart next time by, which is Lap 42 #V8SC
– Whincup has dipped into the 2:09s for the first time on Lap 43. He leads McIntyre by 1.7s #V8SC
– Alex Davison says the Tru-Blu Falcon is intermittently cutting out. “Understood” is the reply. #V8SC
– Whincup’s lead is now out to 5.7s as McIntyre holds off Canto, Youlden and Lowndes #V8SC
– Lowndes has taken Youlden for fourth #V8SC
– Whincup continues to pull away from the field at over 1s per lap. McIntyre is struggling in this stint #V8SC
– Meanwhile at Lockwood Racing, Besnard remains buried in 19th after losing out queuing behind the sister Team BOC entry in the last stops #V8SC
– Lap 49 Percat rejoins the race in car #2. #V8SC
– Lap 50 order: Whincup, McIntyre, Canto, Lowndes, Youlden, RItter, Jones, McLaughlin, McConville, Simonsen #V8SC
– Whincup leads by 12s. Train behind McIntyre consists of Canto, Lowndes, Youlden, Ritter, Jones and McLaughlin #V8SC
– Alex Davison is still pressing on in Tru-Blu. Car is currently 19th #V8SC
– Lap 54 Gap from 1st to 2nd now 16s. Gap 2nd to 14th is also 16s #V8SC
– Lap 54 Owen had just left the pits in car #49 and has crashed at Griffins Bend #V8SC
– Safety Car is called as McIntyre runs off at Hell Corner and rejoins 17th #V8SC
– Owen appeared to have no front brakes and made heavy side-on contact with the outside wall #V8SC
– Owen is talking to his team on the radio and is waiting for the medical staff to help him out of the car #V8SC
– Whincup leads the pack to the pitlane. He had enjoyed a 18s lead. Owen is not out of his car and walking away #V8SC
– Baird and Thompson file to the front having elected not to stop #V8SC
– Order under SC: Baird, Thompson, Dumbrell, Waters, Reynolds, Bright, Caruso, Courtney, Van Giz, Winterbottom #V8SC
– Lowndes is down to 13th after queuing behind Whincup. Davison is back in #6 and is 21st #V8SC
– Waters now pits to extract himself from the lead pack #V8SC
– Safety Car will pull in this lap, leaving the race to restart on Lap 59 #V8SC
– Lap 61 Dumbrell takes second from Baird. Thompson leads by just 1.5s #V8SC
– Reynolds has now also made his way around Baird. #V8SC
– Murphy on the radio demanding to know who’s driving the #66. Answer is Klien. Sounds like fun in the battle for 14th! #V8SC
– W.Davison is 18th and complaining of his brakes: “It’s really not pulling up and then it’s locking fronts on turn-in because I can’t slow down.”
– Lap 63 Van Gisbergen pits from eighth. Screens show that Van Giz had a tyre problem on his left-rear #V8SC
– Bright has lost position to Caruso and Courtney since the restart but now passes Baird for sixth #V8SC
– Lap 65 Baird has fallen to ninth on his fading tyres #V8SC
– Baird to pit this lap for a driver change #V8SC
– Lap 67 Thompson pits from the lead. Slade to climb aboard #V8SC
– Davison has been given a drive-through penalty for a pitlane infringement #V8SC
– Replays confirm that the #6 car’s wheels had been spinning while on its jacks in pitlane. Davison pits from 13th to serve penalty #V8SC
– “You’ve got to be kidding me don’t you? Oh mate, can this day get any worse,” says Davison #V8SC
– “It’s bloody disgraceful mate, that’s what it is,” Davison continues as he rejoins in 20th #V8SC
– The Caruso/Ritter car was being investigated for an unsafe release but has been cleared of rule breach #V8SC
– Order on Lap 70: Dumbrell, Reynolds, Caruso, Courtney, Bright, Winterbottom, Johnson, Webb, Lowndes, Murphy #V8SC
– Lap 74 Johnson pits from 10th after an 18 lap stint. Brake pad and driver changes underway #V8SC
– Webb pits from 7th after a 19 lap stint. McLaughlin in. #V8SC
– Winterbottom has been on the tail of fifth placed Bright for several laps and is told his brakes need air #V8SC
– Lap 76 Winterbottom takes fifth from Bright at Griffin’s Bend #V8SC
– Gaps at the front: Dumbrell 3.7s Reynolds 1.3s Caruso 3.1s Courtney 8.9s Winterbottom #V8SC
– Lap 77 Lowndes pits from seventh. Coulthard pits from 10th. Luff and Besnard get in #V8SC
– Lap 80 order: Dumbrell, Reynolds, Caruso, Courtney, Winterbottom, Bright, Murphy, D’Alberto, T.Kelly, Klien #V8SC
