MOTORSPORT: Bathurst 1000 bursting with stories

You can’t say there isn’t plenty to talk about leading into this weekend’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

The race will recognise the 10th anniversary of the death of the legendary Peter Brock, who still has the most wins at the mountain with nine.

The Supergirls' entry (controversially dubbed the ‘Pussy Wagon’ in 2015) will return, although this time it’s a Nissan Altima rather than a Ford Falcon FG X, with Simona De Silvestro and Renee Gracie aboard.

One of the all-time legends of motorsport, Roger Penske, will be at Mount Panorama for the first time ever, watching his team DJR Team Penske trying and crack it for a win.

And of course, around the time the 27-car field is out on the track qualifying on Friday afternoon the Broadmeadows assembly line will shudder to a halt, signaling the end of 56 years of continuous Falcon production and more than 90 years of Ford manufacturing in Australia.

So no doubt, there would be something oh-so-right about a Falcon sitting atop the timesheets at the end of the session. Even more so if it was Prodrive Racing Australia’s Chaz Mostert.

That’s not only because Mostert crashed out in qualifying last year, suffering injuries that put him out for the rest of the season. But also because, in a weird anomaly, he has never actually managed to qualify for the Great Race.

In 2013, driving for Dick Johnson Racing, Mostert crashed in practice and started the repaired car from second last on the grid without setting a qualifying time. In 2014, his 14th fastest time was scrubbed and he was sent to the back of the grid for passing under red flags.

He still went on to win perhaps the greatest race of them all with Paul Morris, passing Red Bull’s Jamie Whincup on the last lap as the Commodore ran short of fuel.

And we all know what happened to Mostert in 2015…

“Obviously after last year I'm going to try and redeem myself for this year,” Mostert, who shares with Steve Owen, said in a team statement.

“We've had pretty good top five form for the last couple of rounds so we want to try and keep that going at Bathurst, keep bringing this car along and keep trying to keep the momentum rolling.

“You never know. You've got to be there for the last 40 laps at Bathurst but this year I'd just like to try and get to the race. We'll see how we go.”

Truth be told, Mostert and Owen are on the second or third line of favouritism for the event.

Triple Eight’s championship leading threesome – Shane van Gisbergen and co-driver Alex Premat, Whincup/Paul Dumbrell and Craig Lowndes/Steven Richards must start favourites and rank as a chance to become the first team to sweep the podium at Mount Panorama.

The Holden Racing Team’s Sandown 500 winners Garth Tander/Warren Luff and teammates James Courtney/Jack Perkins will also be strong chances, as HRT is finally showing signs of emerging from the slump that cost it its factory backing and name for 2017.

Tander, having been sacked by the team, will maybe have a point to prove. But then the hard-nosed West Australia always drives that way…

Then come the PRA cars, not only Mostert/Owen but also defending champion Mark Winterbottom and his co-driver Dean Canto, the latter one of many to make a mistake in Sandown’s tricky conditions. Trouble was, his off also derailed Winterbottom’s championship defence even further than it already was.

From outside that lot – remembering only these three teams have won the race for the last 10 years -- it’s hard to see a winner popping up unless luck plays a role – lessened if good long-range weather forecasts pan out.

The best of them is definitely the Scott McLaughlin/David Wall GRM Volvo. It would be interesting to see what would happen if they did win considering the team has taken the manufacturer to court…

Maybe the Tim Slade/Ash Walsh Brad Jones Racing Commodore can shine, or one of the DJTRP Falcons (motoring.com.au’s Luke Youlden shares the #12 with Fabian Coulthard). Maybe it’s a chance for Nissan 25 years after Mark Skaife and Jim Richards last won in 1992 in a GT-R.

Naturally we’ll be barracking for the carsales.com.au entry of Todd Kelly/Matthew Campbell. Todd turns 37 on raceday so it won’t be hard to guess what present he’ll be wishing for!

Meanwhile here's what to look out for at Bathurst this weekend:

>> The Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 is the 11th round and 21st race of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. It includes practice on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and qualifying on Friday and Saturday, the latter for the Top 10 only. On Sunday the 161-lap classic kicks off at 11.10am after an 8.05am warm-up.

>> All qualifying and racing will be conducted on the Dunlop soft tyre.

>> All cars will have to make at least seven stops. The co-drivers must complete one-third distance.

>> The anti-clockwise 6.213km track has a top speed of 300km/h (theoretically anyway, thanks to new taller gearing introduced last year). Average speed is 178km/h. The public road circuit is rated as one of the world’s great motor racing venues, combining flat-out drags up and down the mountain with a fast, swooping series of corners across the top that challenge the driver’s skill and bravery and the car set-up.

>> Jamie Whincup owns the practice/qualifying lap record at 2m 04.9097 sec and the race lap record at 2m 07.1226 sec.

>> Seven different drivers have taken pole potion in the last seven years. Garth Tander in 2009 is the only one of those seven to have followed up with the race win, which he achieved with Will Davison.

>> This is the 56th running of Australia’s most famous race, including the two 2.0-litre Super Tourer races held in 1997 and 1998. A total of 55 drivers have won the race and 19 of them are multiple victors.

>> The late, great Peter Brock has the most wins with nine, with Jim Richards on seven and Craig Lowndes the leading active driver with six.

>> Holden has won Bathurst outright 30 times and Ford 19. Nissan, which is also on the grid this year, has won twice.

>> James Courtney and Cameron McConville will both celebrate their 150th VASC round start at Bathurst, the latter making his first start in the 1000 since 2012 when he and Courtney finished fourth.

>> Bathurst will be Jamie Whincup’s 400th VASC race while it will also be 2011 Bathurst winner Nick Percat’s 100th championship race.

>> Fox Sports and Channel 10 will telecast the action live.

Watch out for our Top 10 form guide later today

Declaration: Bruce Newton is a paid contributor to the official v8supercars.com.au website.