Van Gisbergen/Stanaway win Bathurst 1000 in tense conclusion

Shane van Gisbergen/Richie Stanaway have won the 2023 Bathurst 1000 in an ultra-tense finish after heartbreak for their Red Bull Ampol Racing team-mate Broc Feeney.

Mechanical issues affected all three of the cars which had vied for victory for most of the day, being the two full-time Triple Eight Race Engineering Camaros, and the #99 Erebus Motorsport Camaro which Brodie Kostecki had put on pole position.

Feeney was running a fairly comfortable second with 25 laps remaining, and still an outside chance of victory, when his gear lever mount failed after Triple Eight’s #888 Supercheap Auto wildcard entry had gone through two of them earlier in the race.

Almost as soon as the #88 Camaro had its drama, it developed that Kostecki’s Coca-Cola machine had a steering problem.

Just as second place looked a best-case scenario for the pre-race favourite, van Gisbergen, who had already managed a period with a long brake pedal during his penultimate stint, reported a steering deadspot in Car #97.

Despite enjoying a 23-second lead with 10 laps to go at the time, it made for a nervous conclusion for the Kiwi duo.

However, van Gisbergen was essentially able to maintain his margin back to the #99 Camaro in those final 62.13km around Mount Panorama.

Kostecki, too, survived, taking the chequered flag 19.9326s back to record runner-up finishes in both enduros for himself and co-driver David Russell.

Third went to the #11 Ford Mustang of Dick Johnson Racing/Shell V-Power Racing Team duo Anton De Pasquale and Tony D’Alberto at another 13.1241s behind.

Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth took fourth in the #25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang, from Grove Racing’s David Reynolds/Garth Tander in the #26 Penrite Mustang, and James Courtney/Zak Best in the #5 Tickford Racing Mustang.

Bryce Fullwood/Dean Fiore combined to claim seventh in the #14 Middy’s Electrical Camaro on what was otherwise one of the roughest of days for Brad Jones Racing.

Rounding out the top 10 were Erebus’s Will Brown/Jack Perkins (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro), Matt Stone Racing’s Jack Le Brocq/Jayden Ojeda (#34 Truck Assist Camaro), and PremiAir Racing’s James Golding/Dylan O’Keeffe (#31 Nulon Camaro).

The opening hours of the race had, as expected, been a battle for supremacy between Erebus and Triple Eight, although the latter’s #88 Camaro had already been set back once by a double stack.

It happened a second time when the third Safety Car period of the race was called on Lap 71 after James Moffat crashed at The Dipper in Cam Waters’ #6 Tickford Mustang.

Triple Eight opted to call in both Stanaway from the lead and Jamie Whincup from third in Car #88, despite neither being more than 10 laps into their stint.

Russell had only hopped into Brodie Kostecki’s #99 Camaro eight laps earlier and he was left out to inherit the lead.

Second was the #11 Mustang of De Pasquale/D’Alberto, from Team 18’s #20 Toyota Forklifts Camaro of Scott Pye/Warren Luff and MSR’s #35 Truck Assist Camaro of Cameron Hill/Jaylyn Robotham.

Stanaway resumed in fifth, from the #26 Mustang of Reynolds/Tander, the #55 Tickford Mustang of Thomas Randle/Garry Jacobson, the #34 Camaro of Le Brocq/Ojeda, Whincup, and the #25 Mustang of Mostert/Holdsworth.

Moffat, who accepted blame for the crash, was able to drive the badly crabbing #6 Mustang back down to the pit lane entry road but then failed to proceed.

Once that was cleared and the race restarted on Lap 74, Robotham passed Luff at Griffins and Stanaway rounded up the #20 Camaro for fourth on the run to The Cutting.

Stanway had cleared Robotham and D’Alberto to run second by the end of Lap 81, two seconds behind Russell.

Whincup and Tander were also making their way forward and the former passed the latter for fourth on Lap 86 at Murray’s Corner, by which time Stanaway had closed to within a second of Russell.

Russell pitted on Lap 90 and vacated for Kostecki as the primary drivers began to resume their seats for the duration of the 161-lap contest.

That left Stanaway leading D’Alberto by five seconds, with Whincup third, before the latter two of those pitted on Lap 92 and Feeney jumped De Pasquale in the lane.

Stanaway pressed on until Lap 96, at which point van Gisbergen got back into the #97 Camaro, and the pit cycle was essentially done once Tander stopped on Lap 99 and made way for Reynolds.

Van Gisbergen led by five seconds from Kostecki, with Feeney another 7.5s back in third, then De Pasquale, Brown, Golding, Tim Slade (#23 Movember Camaro), Jacobson, Mostert, and Courtney.

Brown pitted on Lap 105 and ceded fifth position, which was taken over by Mostert on Lap 108 when he passed Golding at Hell Corner.

Van Gisbergen had broken away to a 10-second lead on Lap 113, before Kostecki came into the lane again on Lap 115 for fuel, tyres, and brakes.

Feeney stopped a lap later, as did De Pasquale, and the #88 Camaro got out ahead of the #99 Camaro of Kostecki for an effective gain of second position.

Van Gisbergen was onto the lane on Lap 119 and took brakes for the second time in the race, resuming in second place but effectively still leading.

It all seemed straightforward enough until he reported a low brake pedal on his out lap.

A not fully mated pad set on the reused rotor set was raised as a possibility but, whatever the reason, pumping the pedal was not helping.

The 2022 Bathurst 1000 winner committed to managing the drama, although Feeney was catching the #97 Camaro.

After several laps, the pace between the two Triple Eight entries stabilised and van Gisbergen set his sights on Reynolds.

The 2017 Great Race winner was still leading and trying to stretch to just one more stop but, being 20 laps deeper into his stint than #97, it was showing in the splits.

Van Gisbergen passed Reynolds up Mountain Straight on Lap 127 and cleared out to a 1.9985s lead when they next reached the control line, with Feeney just over two seconds further back.

After another lap, it was 4.1s back to Reynolds and 4.4s to Feeney, and then #88 also passed #26.

Kostecki was about three seconds further back, from De Pasquale, Brown, Mostert, Courtney, Randle, Golding, and Fullwood in 11th in a #14 Camaro which ran in the top five earlier in the race before Fiore attracted a drive-through for prematurely switching off the pit lane speed limiter.

Van Gisbergen’s gap over Feeney was briefly beyond five seconds on Lap 130, when Reynolds pitted 31 laps after he had hopped back aboard Car #26 and with 31 laps to go.

Brown pitted from fifth on Lap 133 to set up his run home, but his chances of a podium were slipping away.

The same could be said of his team-mate’s hopes of victory when van Gisbergen led Feeney by 4.3s and Kostecki by 11.0s on Lap 135, but then the pole-sitter gained a position due to devastation for the second of the Triple Eight entries.

Feeney slowed when a gear lever mount failed in the #88 Camaro, the third of the day in total for the team.

Almost immediately, there was another twist when it became apparent that Kostecki was managing some sort of steering issue in the #99 Camaro, while De Pasquale ran about 10 seconds further back in the third place which he had inherited due to the #88 drama.

The final pit stop cycle was on in earnest too, with Mostert pitting on Lap 140 but rejoining behind Reynolds, who was in fuel-save mode to ensure he got home.

The WAU pilot picked off his fellow Great Race winner at Hell Corner on Lap 142 to take over fourth position, in actual and effective terms.

De Pasquale pitted from almost 24 seconds behind the leader on Lap 143 and remained third on the rejoin, with about 14 seconds’ margin to Car #25.

Meanwhile, Feeney had been sent back out at six laps down, but was straight back into the garage with the problem persisting.

Kostecki had drifted to 17 seconds behind van Gisbergen by the time he pitted on Lap 145, with Erebus tweaking the ride height in a bid to make up for the steering issue and even applying duct tape to the #99 Camaro’s gear lever tower.

The championship leader emerged with a six-second margin to De Pasquale as van Gisbergen pressed on.

Car #97 was into the lane on Lap 148, where green tyres were waiting, and where it appeared that the Triple Eight crew looked over his gear lever mount too.

It was a clean stop and van Gisbergen resumed in the lead, his margin almost 25 seconds to Kostecki at the end of the out lap and nearly five more to De Pasquale.

However, then it was van Gisbergen reporting a steering drama, specifically some sort of deadspot, although he had the benefit of still enjoying a 23-second margin over Kostecki.

That was largely where it remained for the balance of the race, although there was another nervous moment when it appeared Car #97 would lose radio transmission and Triple Eight readied a pitboard in order to notify SVG of the final lap.

He started that last 6.213km with a 21.8649s margin over Kostecki, who ragged the #99 Camaro to a 2:07.8841s on the final lap.

It was not enough, of course, to usurp van Gisbergen, who is now a three-time Great Race winner while Stanaway has his first Bathurst 1000 triumph.

De Pasquale finished a distant third and Mostert almost 10 seconds further back after he and Holdsworth ground their way to fourth.

Fifth for Reynolds/Tander came after a drive-through penalty during the second hour for passing under Safety Car, and hence the stretched run home.

In the sister Grove entry, Matt Payne took the chequered flag in 11th after the #19 Penrite Mustang had dropped a lap when Kevin Estre ran off at Hell Corner, drawing the Safety Car which caught out Reynolds.

Last on the lead lap in 16th was the #17 Shell V-Power Mustang of Will Davison/Alex Davison, while Feeney/Whincup were classified 19 laps down in 23rd, and Craig Lowndes/Zane Goddard 20 laps down in 24th in Car #888, ahead of the four DNFs.

The #18 Irwin Tools Camaro of Mark Winterbottom/Michael Caruso was a late DNF, as was the #3 CoolDrive Mustang of Todd Hazelwood/Tim Blanchard.

The #6 Tickford Mustang did not reappear after Moffat’s crash, while BJR’s #8 R&J Batteries Camaro, piloted by Andre Heimgartner/Dale Wood, had an engine expire a moment earlier.

In the drivers’ championship, Kostecki leads by a reduced 131-point margin to van Gisbergen, with Brown back up to third but 390 points off the pace, and Feeney fourth at 18 further in arrears.

The next event is the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on October 27-29.

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Drivers’ championship

Teams’ championship