The Mount Panorama circuit in New South Wales gets its annual wakeup call this weekend for the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and the twist this year is in the driver pairings.
Teams have been prohibited this year from pairing their regular championship series drivers in the same car. Each co-driver
now has to come from outside the V8 Supercar competition.
Picking a winner will be hard with this format, but here goes. Top of the list would have to be the only car with two former winners in it: Mark Skaife and Craig Lowndes.
Skaife proved he still had that Bathurst magic when he and Greg Murphy finished a close fourth last year.
Defending champion Garth Tander has the experienced Cam McConville with him this year and McConville will be determined to improve on last year's second-place finish with Kiwi driver Jason Richards.
Series champion Jamie Whincup knows his way around the mountain and has with him former Fujitsu V8 series winner Steve Owen. It will be interesting to see how Owen will do; he is regarded as the best V8 driver without a full-time main game gig.
Of the Kiwis, you'd have to put a lazy fiver on Jason Richards and Andrew Jones.
They have a great record at Bathurst and Richards must be getting sick and tired of being so close yet so far away from standing on the top of the podium.
2009 WINNERS
1st: Will Davison and Garth Tander, Toll HRT
2nd: Jason Richards and Cameron McConville, BJR
3rd: Lee Holdsworth and Michael Caruso, Garry Rogers Motorsport
Tander and Davison overcame their rivals to take Holden's first Bathurst win since 2005 to claim the Peter Brock Trophy for the first time. The pair started from pole and never looked like relinquishing the top spot.
Nine of the top 10 finishers were Holdens and there was a season-best performance from Team BOC with Kiwi driver Jason Richards and Cameron McConville in second.
Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup finished fifth in their attempt to win a fourth successive Bathurst crown, while Kiwi Greg Murphy and Mark Skaife starred for Sprint Gas Racing, finishing fourth.
PAST WINNERS
2009 Garth Tander/Will Davison, Holden VE
2008 Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup, Ford BF
2007 Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup Ford BF
2006 Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup Ford BA
2005 Craig Mark Skaife/Todd Kelly Holden VZ
2004 Greg Murphy/Rick Kelly Holden VY
2003 Greg Murphy/Rick Kelly Holden VY
2002 Mark Skaife/Jim Richards Holden VX
FASTEST LAPS
Current qualifying record
2003 Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VY 2:06.86
Current Lap Record
2007 Jamie Whincup Ford Falcon BF 2:08.47
ENTRY LIST
At the time of going to press, all teams will have had to nominate what the exact pairings would be.
1 Team Vodafone Jamie Whincup, Steve Owen or Mark Skaife
2 Toll Holden Racing Team Garth Tander, Cameron McConville or David Reynolds
3 Centaur Racing Tony D'Alberto, Shane Price
4 Irwin Racing Alex Davison, David Brabham or John McIntyre
5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon Mark Winterbottom, Luke Youlden or James Moffat
6 Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon Steven Richards, Luke Youlden or James Moffat
7 Jack Daniel's Racing Todd Kelly, Dale Wood or Owen Kelly
8 Team BOC Jason Richards, Andrew Jones or Matt Halliday
9 SP Tools Racing Shane van Gisbergen, David Brabham or John McIntyre
10 Bundaberg Red Racing Team Andrew Thompson, Ryan Briscoe or Craig Baird
11 Rock Racing Jason Bargwanna, Glenn Seton or Taz Douglas
12 Bing Lee/Panasonic Racing Dean Fiore or Michael Patrizi
14 Trading Post Racing Jason Bright, Andrew Jones or Matt Halliday
15 Jack Daniel's Racing Rick Kelly, Dale Wood or Owen Kelly
16 Stratco Racing Tony Ricciardello, Glenn Seton or Taz Douglas
17 Jim Beam Racing Steven Johnson, Marcus Marshall or Warren Luff
18 Jim Beam Racing James Courtney, Marcus Marshall or Warren Luff
19 Dick Johnson Racing Jonathon Webb or David Russell
21 Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Karl Reindler or David Wall
22 Toll Holden Racing Team Will Davison Cameron, McConville or David Reynolds
24 Bundaberg Red Racing Team Fabian Coulthard, Ryan Briscoe or Craig Baird
27 Fujitsu Racing Damian Assaillit or Ant Pedersen
30 Gulf Western Oil Racing Mark Noske or Nathan Pretty
33 Fujitsu Racing/GRM Lee Holdsworth or David Besnard
34 Fujitsu Racing/GRM Michael Caruso or Greg Ritter
39 Supercheap Auto Racing Russell Ingall, Paul Morris or Allan Simonsen
44 National Directory Distribution Geoff Emery or Marcus Zukanovic
47 Wilson Security Racing Tim Slade or Jack Perkins
51 Castrol Edge Racing Greg Murphy, Paul Morris or Allan Simonsen
55 The Bottle-O Racing Team Paul Dumbrell or Dean Canto
888 Team Vodafone Craig Lowndes, Steve Owen or Mark Skaife
RACE SCHEDULE
Thursday: Practice 50 min, 1015-1105
Thursday: Practice 45 min, 1230-1315
Thursday: Practice 50 min, 1440-1530
Friday: Practice 50 min, 0930-1020
Friday: Practice 45 min, 1055-1140
Friday: Qualifying 40 min, 1435-1515
Saturday: Practice 50 min, 1000-1050
Saturday: Top 10 Shootout 1 lap, 1545-1630
Sunday: Warm Up 20 min, 0800-0820
Sunday: Race 1000km, 1030-1745
* Additional information BathurstV8Supercars.com
Motorsport: New rules add twist to Bathurst
Defending champion Garth Tander will have Cam McConville as co-driver. Photo / Alan Gibson
The Mount Panorama circuit in New South Wales gets its annual wakeup call this weekend for the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and the twist this year is in the driver pairings.
Teams have been prohibited this year from pairing their regular championship series drivers in the same car. Each co-driver
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