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Bathurst is calling for V8 supercar drivers |
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Tuesday, 02 October 2007 |
Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series drivers will have one
all-important final fling during the Super Cheap Auto Bathurst 1000
this weekend, before aiming up for a return to the single driver format
at this year’s Lexmark Indy 300 on the Gold Coast a fortnight later.
Two-driver pairings will tackle the famous Mount Panorama circuit in
the hope of capturing the holy grail of Australian motorsport.
The Mount Panorama circuit is steeped in tradition and has long
been the scene of many historic moments that have become folklore in
Australian sport.
The 6.213 kilometre anti-clockwise track is normally a public road
and was first used as a racing venue during an Easter Sunday motorcycle
meeting in 1938. World War II intervened, and racing didn't resume
until 1947, with the Australian Grand Prix which was again held in
Bathurst in 1952 and 1954.
Since 1963 the feature event for touring cars has continually been
held in the traditional October timeslot. Originally known as the
Armstrong 500, the first endurance race saw Bob Jane and Harry Firth
victorious when campaigning a Ford Cortina GT.
Over the past 43 years the event has evolved into something more
than just a motor race, it is now an iconic Australian tradition. It is
the race which placed drivers such as Jane, Firth, John Goss, Allan
Moffat, Jim Richards, Colin Bond, Dick Johnson and of course the late
Peter Brock as household names.
During the period 1963 to 1972 the race was run over 500 miles with
the first 1000 kilometre race, the Hardie Ferodo 1000 held in 1973. It
was won by Allan Moffat/Ian Geoghegan in a Ford Falcon GT.
Throughout the years 50 drivers have etched their names in history
by claiming the ‘holy grail’ of Australian Motorsport. The defending
champions for this year’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 are Craig
Lowndes and Jamie Whincup.
The Triple Eight Race Engineering pair claimed an emotional victory
in last year’s race ahead of Toll HSV pair Rick and Todd Kelly.
Lowndes and Whincup will debut a brand new TeamVodaphone Falcon
this weekend and on the strength of their more recent Just Car
Insurance 500 win at Sandown they’ll be looking to snare an elusive
endurance race double.
If successful the duo will also become the first drivers to have
successfully defended their Bathurst title since Greg Murphy and Rick
Kelly won back-to-back races in 2003 and 2004.
In this year’s field of 31 cars, driven by 62 drivers from 17 teams, there are no less than 12 former winners.
While the Super Cheap Auto Bathurst 1000 is the tenth round of the
2007 Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series, the focus is more on
becoming the King of the Mountain as opposed to an all-out points
chase.
That being said, a solid result by Rick Kelly and Garth Tander of
Toll HSV will enable the pair to maintain their stranglehold at the top
of the points standings ahead of Whincup and Lowndes.
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