Bathurst 2012: Whincup wins Bathurst 1000

Jamie Whincup held off a fast-finishing David Reynolds to win his fourth Bathurst 1000, his Triple Eight Commodore crossing the finish line just 0.313sec – the second-closest non form-finish at Bathurst – ahead of the Rod Nash Racing/FPR Falcon.

It was another thrilling finish to an event that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Great Race in 1963. Bathurst is never dull.

Whincup and co-driver Paul Dumbrell led for most of the 161 laps after Dumbrell passed pole man Will Davison after a spirited battle at the start of the race. For Dumbrell it was a magic way to end his V8 Supercar career.

Reynolds and co-driver Dean Canto ran in the top five all day and with 20 laps to go Whincup led Reynolds. But behind him the Holden Racing Team’s James Courtney was making a late-race charge.

Courtney passed Reynolds and set off after Whincup, but he had used up his tyres and was soon re-passed by Reynolds in a brave move at The Chase. The HRT car fell back into the clutches of Michael Caruso’s Garry Rogers Motorsport Commodore.

But while everyone was absorbed by the nail-biting Whincup and Reynolds battle Craig Lowndes, in the second Triple Eight car (painted in the ‘cigarette’ colours of Peter Brock’s Bathurst-winning HDT cars), was closing in on Caruso.

With five laps to go Whincup led Reynolds by just 0.4sec, Lowndes passed Caruso soon after to be fourth and then latched onto the bumper of Courtney’s car. He quickly dispensed with the struggling Commodore and Courtney and Cam McConville would finish fourth.

Reynolds was now the meat in a Triple Eight sandwich but held his nerve. Whincup had obviously kept something in reserve and was able to hold off
Reynolds, with Lowndes around eight seconds further back. It was another magic Bathurst moment.

It was a miserable day for most of the other front runners. Pole-sitter Will Davison was crushed after he lost his FPR Falcon at the Chase and hit the wall on lap 131, breaking the Watts linkage. He and John McIntyre – who was tapped into a spin at the Cutting earlier in the race and dropped to the back of the field – had been very quick but eventually finished 24th, 28 laps behind.

Garth Tander’s race went pear-shaped when his young co-driver Nick Percat hit the wall at Skyline, breaking the steering on the HRT Commodore, and they lost 22 laps while the car was repaired and were the last classified finishers in 25th.

The Mark Winterbottom/Steven Richards FPR Falcon, like many of the top teams’ cars, had problems with delaminating rear tyres and neither driver could push as hard as their Ford could go. Two extra pitstops took them out of contention. They finished 11th.

Fifth-placed qualifier Fabian Coulthard’s chances went out the window when co-driver David Besnard understeered into the gravel trap at McPhillamy, they finished 23rd.

It was a dream day for the youngest team at The Mountain, the Shannons/carsales Commodore crew of 2012 Supercar Shootout winner Jesse Dixon and 2011 winner Cam Waters. Dixon, who has had only six races in the last two years, and Waters who competed in the 1000 last year and has raced in the V8 Supercar Development Series this year, drove consistently all day to finish 20th, only three laps behind the winner.

But the 2012 Bathurst 1000 was all about the team at the other end of pitlane, the new ‘Empire’, the slick professional Queensland-based Triple Eight Racing squad, which won its fifth Bathurst in seven years. Triple Eight has raised the bar higher even than the Holden Racing Team did in the early ‘noughties’, because the competition is even stronger than it was back then. How many more Bathurst 1000s and championships can they win?

See more pics of 2012 Bathurst at motoring.com.au

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