DICK Johnson Racing has celebrated its first Bathurst 1000 podium in four years after leading the Ford charge at Mount Panorama.
It was a tough week for the Blue Oval brigade, which vowed to fight tooth and nail despite having proposed aero upgrades rejected on Thursday just hours before main game practice began.
DJR did just that, getting its regular two Mustangs into the Top 10 Shootout.
It was from there that the #11 pairing of Anton De Pasquale and Tony D’Alberto consistently lurked inside the top five on race day, putting themselves in a position to inherit third when disaster befell second-placed Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup.
That prevented a Chevrolet sweep of the podium, as four different Ford teams finished third through sixth.
DJR’s last visit to the Great Race rostrum had been 2019, when Scott McLaughlin and Alex Premat took victory.
“We’re proud to be the first Ford home. The podium was great for everyone in the team,” said DJR team principal Ben Croke.
“It’s never easy at Bathurst, but the week flowed really well. It was pretty trouble-free.
“The crew on the #11 executed really well today and that was the key to putting the car on the podium. Anton and Tony both did an incredible job.
“We’re going to enjoy this for a few days. Then we’ll turn our attention to the Gold Coast.”
For D’Alberto, it’s his second Bathurst podium, having also placed third for DJR in 2017 (with Fabian Coulthard).
It was a far tougher run for the Davison brothers, who brought the Shell V-Power #17 home in 16th.
“All in all a frustrating day, we had to overcome many obstacles throughout the day, so to still be able to finish another race around Mount Panorama is a good accomplishment,” said Will Davison.
“The team worked really hard to get us to this point, we had good clean pitstops and I’m proud of all of our efforts.
“We added some more points to the team and driver championships, and now our focus turns to Gold Coast.”
Wildcard pairing Kai Allen and Simona De Silvestro finished 20th, the latter having twice been spun; first by Dean Fiore at the Chase and then by Tyler Everingham at Forrest’s Elbow.
“Good day, ended up finishing the Great Race, which is a bonus,” said Allen.
“Grateful to all the team for giving me the opportunity and it was great to have Simona by my side, she did a great job in all of her stints.
“We had a few little issues throughout the race, but finishing P20, I’m pretty happy with that.”
De Pasquale is now seventh in the championship while Davison holds 11th.
