ZANE Goddard will take an important dose of confidence into his biggest Bathurst 1000 yet.
Goddard combined with Craig Lowndes in Triple Eight’s wildcard to finish 10th in the recent Sandown 500.
Having started a lowly 23rd, it was a result set up by a stellar opening triple stint by Lowndes before Goddard withstood pressure on the run to the chequered flag.
The 23-year-old lost eighth position to Anton De Pasquale on Lap 114 and was jumped by Tim Slade in the final round of pitstops, but kept Mark Winterbottom at bay for the final 30 laps – with just 0.3092s separating them at the end.
It was a nice turnaround from Darwin, where Goddard qualified and started well before getting beaten up in the pack.
“It was hard work at the end, had ‘Frosty’ breathing down my neck for the last however long,” he told V8 Sleuth.
“That Safety Car, I saw the flags and was like ‘oh no’ but I hung onto 10th which was great.
“It’s definitely good for the confidence.
“I think Darwin, it was all just the tyre thing; at the start you could definitely say we made up a lot of positions but I guess just phasing it wrong, getting a little bit too excited.
“I definitely took a lot of that learning into (Sandown). Even the first stint I was probably a little bit too excited and struggling the second half, but I think I phased it better in the last one.
“I could probably still phase it a bit better to be honest but learning along the way.
“I don’t think tyre deg should be as bad at Bathurst – it could be famous last words, but it should be better.”
Everything about the 2023 Great Race is enormous for Goddard.
The chance to tackle the Mountain with Triple Eight; to rebound from his infamous 2022 mistake; and to position himself well for the future, given all full-time 2024 seats appear to be sewn up.
Lowndes will be quite the asset for the Bathurst campaign, especially given the vintage form he showed at Sandown.
“He was hustling hard. Every position he kept making I was like, ‘there’s a bit more pressure!’ He was insane,” Goddard beamed.
“I’m just looking forward to Bathurst, I think it could be a really good result if we play our cards right. But yeah, he driving like a mad man.”
