Motorsport: Holden 1-2-3 breaks Bathurst drought

Garth Tander wraps up the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama. Photo / Getty Images

BATHURST - Garth Tander and Will Davison broke Holden's four-year drought and ended Ford's chance at history with a thrilling Bathurst 1000 victory yesterday.

Tander and Davison overcame difficult and ever-changing weather conditions and won a game of pit-stop roulette to conquer the 1,000km, 161-lap race around Mt Panorama.

Ford duo Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes failed in their bid for an unprecedented fourth successive Bathurst - clutch problems cruelling them late in the race as they limped into fifth place.

Instead, it was a Holden 1-2-3, with Jason Richards and Cameron McConville second, and Lee Holdsworth and Michael Caruso third.

It is Holden's first win at Bathurst since 2005.

For Tander, 32, it was his second win to add to his 2000 victory, while Davison, 27, won at Mt Panorama for the first time.

"What a race for Holden and what a way to come back," Tander said.

"We had a really fast car and did a really good job in the pit stops.

"To finally come here and have everything go to plan, it was fantastic and shows just what a great and capable team we have.

"To have a car which could go fast in the dry and the wet, it was a credit to them."

The Great Race lived up to its billing, as crashes and intermittent showers and sunshine turned the six-and-a-half-hour event into a virtual 20-lap sprint, then a three-lap dash to the wire.

Strategies changed like the weather - and Tander and Davison's Holden Racing Team, who started from pole and led the majority of the race, made the right calls at the right times.

Two decisions proved pivotal.

One was making Davison drive several laps on slick tyres in pouring rain midway through the race to get their fuel strategy right.

The next was calling Tander in for a refuelling stop with 23 laps to go.

For three laps, it looked like they had effectively handed the race to either bolters Greg Ritter and David Besnard, or sentimental favourites Mark Skaife and Greg Murphy.

Then they had a late slice of luck to go with the great driving.

Ford driver Dean Canto crashed, sparking a safety car period with 20 laps remaining.

That elevated Tander from third to first as the two leading cars were forced to pit and lose track position.

He managed to hold his advantage despite another safety car period with three laps remaining, and kept his nerve from the restart to win.

Richards fought his way up to second as Jason Bargwanna fell off the podium tangling with Whincup late in the race.

Holdsworth held off a late-charging Murphy to keep a podium finish.

Murphy and Skaife eventually finished fourth, with Ritter and Besnard sliding to ninth.

Davison's win also helps his V8 Supercar championship aspirations.

It cuts the margin between second-placed Davison and series leader Whincup to 93 points.

Ford Performance Racing drivers Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards were the highest-profile casualties, out in lap 50 when their car spectacularly caught fire while on track.

Winterbottom was in the blazing car, which only made it part-way along pit lane before stopping.

Rival team fire crews helped put out the blaze and escorted Winterbottom from the car uninjured.

FPR said a battery which came loose and ruptured a fuel line was to blame for the car's demise.

Nearly 180,000 attended the weekend's racing.

- AAP