Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris took a thrilling last-lap victory in a chaotic eight-hour marathon at Mount Panorama.
Mostert, who had not previously led the race during the day, overtook Jamie Whincup down Conrod straight on the final lap as the Red Bull driver began to run out of fuel.
The result marks maiden Bathurst wins for Mostert and Morris and the second consecutive mountain triumph for Ford Performance Racing.
The winning duo started last and made a total of 13 pitstops, including one to fix damage from a crash at Griffin’s Bend, throughout the tumultuous race.
The event was stopped for an hour after 61 laps while officials repaired a broken track surface at the troublesome Griffin’s.
James Moffat and co-driver Taz Douglas had two trips into the Griffin’s wall before recovering to second aboard their Nissan.
Nick Percat and Bathurst rookie Oliver Gavin also benefited from Whincup’s demise to salvage a podium from a horror weekend for Walkinshaw Racing.
Whincup rolled over the line fifth behind the Erebus Mercedes of Will and Alex Davison.
The race was full of drama from its outset, with 10 Safety Cars required throughout the day.
The timing of the interventions dictated the fuel strategies and led to a delicate economy equation for all teams over the final stints.
A final yellow with 11 laps to go brought the leading three drivers – Shane van Gisbergen, Craig Lowndes and Chaz Mostert – to the pits.
Van Gisbergen, who had been among the front-runners all day, stalled on exit and was subsequently out of the race, seemingly handing the lead to Whincup.
The Red Bull Holden driver ran wide under the Safety Car, however, reverting the lead to Mark Winterbottom.
The FPR driver proved unable to hold out Whincup after the restart and was soon turned around by Craig Lowndes; earning the latter a drive-through penalty.
That left Whincup and Mostert at the front and while the former’s team repeatedly urged their driver to save fuel, he eventually ran dry.
Whincup and co-driver Dumbrell had fought back from a lap down after a mid-race collision between Whincup and Todd Kelly sent the Holden to the pits for repairs.
Fabian Coulthard and co-driver Luke Youlden had also clawed back from problems to be contenders in the final stints, only to fall out of contention once more with an scheduled tyre stop in the closing laps.
CLICK HERE for more on how the race unfolded throughout the day.
Result: V8 Supercars Race 30, Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000
1 | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | C.Mostert/P.Morris | Ford Falcon FG | 161 | 07:58:53.21 |
2 | Norton Hornets | J.Moffat/T.Douglas | Nissan Altima | 161 | 07:58:57.30 |
3 | Walkinshaw Racing | N.Percat/O.Gavin | Holden Commodore VF | 161 | 07:59:01.73 |
4 | Erebus Team Beko | W.Davison/A.Davison | Mercedes E63 AMG | 161 | 07:59:03.59 |
5 | Red Bull Racing Australia | J.Whincup/P.Dumbrell | Holden Commodore VF | 161 | 07:59:05.08 |
6 | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | M.Winterbottom/S.Owen | Ford Falcon FG | 161 | 07:59:09.95 |
7 | Jack Daniel's Racing | T.Kelly/A.Buncombe | Nissan Altima | 161 | 07:59:10.04 |
8 | Jack Daniel's Racing | R.Kelly/D.Russell | Nissan Altima | 161 | 07:59:21.31 |
9 | Lockwood Racing | F.Coulthard/L.Youlden | Holden Commodore VF | 161 | 07:59:23.98 |
10 | Red Bull Racing Australia | C.Lowndes/S.Richards | Holden Commodore VF | 161 | 07:59:35.73 |
11 | Super Black Racing | A.Pedersen/A.Heimgartner | Ford Falcon FG | 161 | 07:59:51.15 |
12 | Team JELD-WEN | J.Perkins/C.Waters | Ford Falcon FG | 161 | 08:00:29.87 |
13 | Holden Racing Team | J.Courtney/G.Murphy | Holden Commodore VF | 160 | 07:59:11.70 |
14 | Team BOC | J.Bright/A.Jones | Holden Commodore VF | 158 | 07:59:06.57 |
15 | Norton Hornets | M.Caruso/D.Fiore | Nissan Altima | 158 | 07:59:13.77 |
16 | Team Tekno VIP Petfoods | S.Van Gisbergen/J.Webb | Holden Commodore VF | 158 | 07:59:40.10 |
17 | Valvoline Racing GRM | S.McLaughlin/A.Premat | Volvo S60 | 150 | 07:59:14.35 |
DNF | Repair Management Aust Racing | R.Ingall/T.Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 137 | 07:26:22.47 |
DNF | Erebus Motorsport V8 | L.Holdsworth/C.Baird | Mercedes E63 AMG | 132 | 06:43:01.64 |
DNF | The Bottle-O Racing Team | D.Reynolds/D.Canto | Ford Falcon FG | 117 | 06:04:10.49 |
DNF | Valvoline Racing GRM | R.Dahlgren/G.Ritter | Volvo S60 | 114 | 05:55:10.68 |
DNF | Supercheap Auto Racing | T.Slade/T.D'Alberto | Holden Commodore VF | 102 | 05:24:03.66 |
DNF | Wilson Security Racing | S.Pye/A.Walsh | Ford Falcon FG | 70 | 04:04:02.85 |
DNF | Wilson Security Racing | D.Wall/S.Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 64 | 03:45:57.64 |
DNF | Team Advam/GB | D.Wood/C.Pither | Holden Commodore VF | 45 | 01:43:37.53 |
V8 Supercars Championship after Race 30
1 | Jamie Whincup | 2547 |
2 | Mark Winterbottom | 2250 |
3 | Craig Lowndes | 2208 |
4 | Shane Van Gisbergen | 2096 |
5 | James Courtney | 2096 |
6 | Fabian Coulthard | 2024 |
7 | Chaz Mostert | 1994 |
8 | Scott McLaughlin | 1785 |
9 | Garth Tander | 1662 |
10 | Will Davison | 1542 |
11 | Nick Percat | 1494 |
12 | James Moffat | 1463 |
13 | Jason Bright | 1455 |
14 | Michael Caruso | 1448 |
15 | Rick Kelly | 1448 |
16 | David Reynolds | 1402 |
17 | Scott Pye | 1323 |
18 | Russell Ingall | 1188 |
19 | Lee Holdsworth | 1117 |
20 | David Wall | 1094 |
21 | Tim Slade | 1074 |
22 | Jack Perkins | 1043 |
23 | Todd Kelly | 1031 |
24 | Dale Wood | 936 |
25 | Robert Dahlgren | 663 |
26 | Paul Dumbrell | 522 |
27 | Paul Morris | 492 |
28 | Greg Murphy | 408 |
29 | Steven Richards | 396 |
30 | Steve Owen | 360 |
31 | Oliver Gavin | 336 |
32 | Alex Davison | 324 |
33 | Jonathon Webb | 318 |
34 | David Russell | 312 |
35 | Luke Youlden | 312 |
36 | Alexandre Premat | 288 |
37 | Alex Buncombe | 282 |
38 | Taz Douglas | 276 |
39 | Warren Luff | 258 |
40 | Cameron Waters | 258 |
41 | Ashley Walsh | 222 |
42 | Dean Fiore | 222 |
43 | Dean Canto | 168 |
44 | Andre Heimgartner | 144 |
45 | Ant Pedersen | 144 |
46 | Tony D'Alberto | 138 |
47 | Tim Blanchard | 126 |
48 | Andrew Jones | 126 |
49 | Steven Johnson | 114 |
50 | Greg Ritter | 108 |
51 | Chris Pither | 96 |
52 | Craig Baird | 0 |