Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards claimed Ford's first win at Bathurst since 2008, beating the charging Holden of Jamie Whincup in a last lap dash for the checkered flag.Winterbottom, who drove the final stint in the #5 Ford Performance Racing Ford, edged ahead of the #1 Red Bull Holden of Whincup and Paul Dumbrell after a crash for Greg Murphy on lap 86 out of 161. Whincup challenged for the lead at turn two on the final lap but couldn't find the grip to make the pass come off.
The other Red Bull Holden of Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff finished third after an epic battle in the closing stages with Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander and Brad Jones Racing's Jason Bright. Bright looked set to secure the final podium position after emerging from the pits ahead of Tander and Lowndes. Tander had the upper hand on Lowndes and fought hard with Bright before a move from the HRT driver forced both onto the dirt allowing the #888 car of Lowndes to capitalise and steal third. Tander held onto fourth whilst Bright came home fifth, seven seconds adrift of Tander.
Scott Pye/Paul Morris took sixth with Will Davison/Steve Owen making it two out of two in the top ten for FPR with a seventh placed finish. Scott McLaughlin/Jack Perkins took eighth whilst a late fuel stop for David Reynolds/Dean Canto meant that they could finish no higher than ninth despite leading at one point earlier on.
The top ten was rounded out by the wildcard entry of Andy Priaulx and Mattias Ekstrom. The DTM stars racing in their fourth and first Bathurst 1000 respecively qualified 18th in the 29 car field both led the race at stages as pitstops took place.The win was Winterbottom's first and Richards' third as well as being the first win for the works ford team since 1977.
The V8 Supercars series now moves on to Surfers Paradise in two weeks time for a pair of 302 km races on the legendary gold coast street circuit. Read a review of last year's event HERE.
Images - V8 Supercars
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