Bathurst 1000 Fast Facts
- It’s finally time for the big one! Although experience can count for very little over 161 laps of Mount Panorama, the fact that this year all four of our drivers are Bathurst winners will hopefully work in our favour. They’ve got 13 wins between them, but do you know how many each driver has? Comment below if you do!
- The 2014 Bathurst 1000 brings up not only Craig’s 10th start with Triple Eight, but also the 20th anniversary of his Great Race debut. Of his nine previous starts with us, he’s been on the podium seven times and finished in the top five for the last eight consecutive years.
- While this is Richo’s debut season with RBRA, his last Bathurst start in a Holden was in 2006 when he partnered none other than our very own Paul Dumbrell.
- Both our co-drivers are on double duty, with Richo competing in the Carrera Cup and PD driving in the Dunlop Series, which this year takes a new 250km format with the option of recruiting co-drivers.
- JDub and PD have the chance to do the enduro double, winning the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 in the same year, which is something that the #1 Holden pilot has done once before in 2007. However, only two drivers – Craig and Peter Brock – have claimed those two race wins and the championship in the same season.
RBRA at the Sandown 500
CRAIG/LUFFY | JAMIE/PD | |
Qualifying | 6th | 1st |
Shootout | 6th | 1st |
Race | 3rd | 2nd |
What the Drivers Say
Lowndesy: “I’m feeling really encouraged coming off the back of Sandown, I think we learnt a lot from it. It wasn’t the perfect weekend, but ending up with a fourth there was a great encouragement.
“Bathurst really is the biggest race of the year and it’s one that I always want to win and I think that we’re in a good position to do so after we got a lot of confidence from Sandown.
“Going to Bathurst, the track’s been resurfaced so we’ll have to get our heads around setups from previous years, but I think the speed of the cars will be faster than we’ve seen in the past and as long as the weather stays fine over the course of the week it will be a fast paced race. Steve and I are up for the challenge and really looking forward to it.”
J-Dub: “We’re heading into Bathurst and the big challenge this year is the resurfacing of the track as it’s dramatically going to change the feel and setup of car. We’re all in the same boat though and it’s the same for everyone. It’ll be the first time that I see the circuit since the resurfacing.
“To be honest, we’re unsure of what our pace will be like. We’ll be going up there with a level playing field and just trying to make the car as quick as possible on Thursday and Friday.
“We’re often asked if we prepare differently for Bathurst. We put in 100 per cent for every race weekend and Bathurst is no different. We’ll go up there and put in our best effort, and I just hope PD’s not too worn out from the 250km Dunlop Series race on Saturday afternoon.
“Bathurst is the biggest event of the year, so all our efforts will go into doing the best we can in this race. The championship is definitely second to Bathurst this weekend.”
Drivers Championship Standings
Jamie Whincup – 2,325
Craig Lowndes – 2,052
Mark Winterbottom – 2,046
Shane Van Gisbergen – 1,982
James Courtney – 1,964
Teams Championship Standings
RBRA – 4,427
FPR – 3,765
HRT – 3,676
BJR – 3,185
Norton Hornets – 2,575