The cursed Bathurst 1000 grid position

WINNING the ‘Great Race’ at Bathurst has been done more often from pole position than any other spot on the grid, however there’s one relatively high starting spot that has proven to be a curse.

No car has ever won the Bathurst 500/1000 from eighth place on the grid in the 60-year history of the race.

The best result any car that has started eighth has been able to muster is second – five times.

The last duo to achieve it was David Reynolds and Dean Canto in 2012 at the wheel of The Bottle-O Falcon FG in its 1967 XR GT Falcon retro livery. Reynolds hunted down Jamie Whincup in the closing stages but was unable to get by.

Whincup and Craig Lowndes took victory in 2007, the latter at the wheel leading home the Stone Brothers Falcon of James Courtney and David Besnard that had started eighth on the grid that morning.

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Ten years prior to that – in the 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 for Super Tourers – Brad Jones and Frank Biela were classified as runners-up after starting eighth in their Audi.

They had crossed the line third on the road but were elevated in the final results in the wake of the exclusion of the BMW of Paul Morris and Craig Baird.

A BMW – 635 CSi driven by Johnny Cecotto and Roberto Ravaglia – finished second in 1985 after starting eighth on the grid and the 1980 runner-up Commodore of Peter Janson and Larry Perkins also started from P8.

Last year Jack Le Brocq and Zak Best started eighth and finished 15^th in Tickford’s Truck Assist Mustang.

This year’s Repco Bathurst 1000 will be held on October 6-9 at Mount Panorama.

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