WELCOME to V8 Sleuth’s live coverage of all the Supercars action on Race Day for the 2020 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.
Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander took a nailbiting victory, surviving a pair of late-race restarts to secure a triumph for Holden in its final Bathurst 1000 as an active marque.
Here at V8 Sleuth we’ve commemorated the marque’s history on the racetrack with our new book Racing the Lion: An Illustrated History of Holden in Australian Motorsport, a 400-page hardcover book paying tribute to the marque’s rich competition history spanning over seven decades.
It’s now in stock in the V8 Sleuth Bookshop – click HERE to order!
van Gisbergen held off a feisty Cameron Waters after an intense duel with he and co-driver Will Davison through much of the race, with Chaz Mostert and Warren Luff rounding out the podium in third place.
The two DJR Team Penske Mustangs came home fourth and fifth, Fabian Coulthard/Tony D’Alberto heading Scott McLaughlin and Tim Slade, the newly-crowned Supercars champion enjoying a series of smoky burnouts around Mount Panorama to celebrate his 2020 title.
The Safety Car came out twice in the final 10 laps; the first after two separate incidents that saw Bryce Fullwood crash at the top of the Mountain and a puncture that sent Jack Smith spinning deep into the gravel at the Chase.
The race restarted with six laps to go, only for the Safety Car to return straight away when Zane Goddard crashed at Sulman Park.
The race resumed with three laps to go, but van Gisbergen was quick enough to hold off all challengers to the chequered flag.
The sister Triple Eight car of Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes was the first car out of the race, an uncharacteristic mistake from the seven-time Supercars champion while battling Brodie Kostecki seeing the #888 crash into the barriers at the Cutting on the 33rd lap.
Whincup’s early exit also allowed Waters to sneak past him into second place in the championship standings, and secured the Teams Championship for DJR Team Penske.
Other cars to strike trouble included the #14 of Todd Hazelwood/Jordan Boys, the latter crashing on the exit of Murray’s Corner on lap 50, while the wildcard entry of Tyler Everingham/Jayden Ojeda went to the garage after the latter crashed on the exit of the Chase.
The Garry Rogers Motorsport crew rebuilt the car to allow Everingham to finish the race, the all-rookie duo classified as finishers in 19th and last place.
2003/04 winner Rick Kelly struck trouble off the start with clutch problems that saw the #15 Ford he shared with Dale Wood lose 17 laps in the garage on the way to 17th place.
2017 winner David Reynolds was similarly luckless; the engine in the #9 Holden dropping onto seven cylinders in the penultimate stint, consigning he and Will Brown to 15th place.
Boys’ crash headlined a disastrous day for Brad Jones Racing. Persistent power steering problems for the #8 Holden of Nick Percat and Thomas Randle were compounded by electrical issues that saw them finish 28 laps off the pace.
Adding to the Albury team’s woes were an early penalty for the #3 Holden of Macauley Jones/Tim Blanchard whose door kept opening – as it had in practice – with the day capped by contact between Jones and Jack Smith that left the team’s #4 car bunkered by Murray’s Corner.
Despite pre-race predictions of dismal weather throughout, a shower in the early stages was the only instance of rain across the 161 laps.
Relive all the action as it happened with our live blog below.
RESULTS – 2020 Bathurst 1000
| Pos | Car # | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Time/Gap/Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Garth Tander | Holden | 6hr10m56.1143s |
| 2 | 6 | Cameron Waters | Will Davison | Ford | +0.8663s |
| 3 | 25 | Chaz Mostert | Warren Luff | Holden | +1.6089s |
| 4 | 12 | Fabian Coulthard | Tony D’Alberto | Ford | +2.1617s |
| 5 | 17 | Scott McLaughlin | Tim Slade | Ford | +2.7113s |
| 6 | 20 | Scott Pye | Dean Fiore | Holden | +3.9690s |
| 7 | 5 | Lee Holdsworth | Michael Caruso | Ford | +4.7338s |
| 8 | 18 | Mark Winterbottom | James Golding | Holden | +6.1381s |
| 9 | 99 | Anton De Pasquale | Brodie Kostecki | Holden | +7.6448s |
| 10 | 44 | James Courtney | Broc Feeney | Ford | +7.7157s |
| 11 | 7 | Andre Heimgartner | Dylan O’Keeffe | Ford | +8.0904s |
| 12 | 19 | Alex Davison | Jonathon Webb | Holden | +9.1442s |
| 13 | 3 | Macauley Jones | Tim Blanchard | Holden | +9.4580s |
| 14 | 55 | Jack Le Brocq | James Moffat | Ford | +11.4712s |
| 15 | 9 | David Reynolds | Will Brown | Holden | 160 |
| 16 | 22 | Chris Pither | Steve Owen | Holden | 159 |
| 17 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Dale Wood | Ford | 144 |
| 18 | 8 | Nick Percat | Thomas Randle | Holden | 133 |
| 19 | 40 | Tyler Everingham | Jayden Ojeda | Holden | 121 |
| NC | 34 | Jake Kostecki | Zane Goddard | Holden | 155 |
| NC | 4 | Jack Smith | Jack Perkins | Holden | 149 |
| NC | 2 | Bryce Fullwood | Kurt Kostecki | Holden | 147 |
| NC | 35 | Garry Jacobson | David Russell | Holden | 62 |
| NC | 14 | Todd Hazelwood | Jordan Boys | Holden | 50 |
| NC | 888 | Jamie Whincup | Craig Lowndes | Holden | 32 |
Relive all the Supercars action across the day with our live updates in the console below!
