Well, with what feels like a blink of an eye after Sandown, the Bulls are ready to move mountains with the Bathurst 1000 this weekend.
The crown jewel of the Australian V8 Supercars Championship, the Bathurst 1000 is not for the faint of heart. A grueling 1000 kilometers will be completed come Sunday, let us say, it’s not for the faint of heart and the whole grid wants to achieve the top step of the podium, to get their hands on the Peter Brock trophy.
With Sandown now complete (with some great results and deserving podium sitters we’d say 😉), main series drivers alongside their co-drivers are ready to bring home more trophies for the collection, and celebrate in true champagne style.
Now for those who might be new around here, let’s give you a quick Bathurst run down.
- Location: Mount Panorama, Bathurst
- Track length (approx): 6.2kms
- Lap record: 02:03.3732
- Number of laps: 161 laps
Now, this race also includes co-drivers, just like Sandown. Just a quick run down for our driver pairings for the Red Bull Ampol Racing cars:
- Car #88 – The Master and Apprentice – Red Bull Ampol Racing – Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup
- Car #97 – Team Kiwi – Red Bull Ampol Racing – Shane van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway
Now you know the details and who’s who in the zoo, let’s hear what the drivers have to say.
Broc Feeney – Car #88
“We’ve come off a pretty good result in Sandown as a team so we’re all looking forward to getting down to Bathurst. We’ve got six drivers and three cars including the Supercheap Auto Racing Wildcard. The weather is looking like it will be good, which is ideal for the racing conditions. We’ve all been waiting to get down to Bathurst for ‘The Great Race’ so it’ll be great to get out on track. Hopefully, we see a lot of fans there and can deliver some good results come Sunday.”
Jamie Whincup – Car #88
“It is the biggest race of the year, we always try to put our best foot forward in every race and there is absolutely no exceptions when it comes to Bathurst. It’s an extremely important round for all of us, not only for us internaly but also for all of our corporate partners as well. As the Managing Director all I ask for is that each and every team member gives the most out of themselves, to be brave and have a go, not be scared of failure.The performance is only about the effort that people put in and if that is taken care of, this will show in the results. As a driver, I have taken a lot of confidence from Sandown. I thought Broc put in one of his best performances we have seen. As drivers I think we will both be going into Bathurst with that added confidence from Sandown which should work in our favour. Bathurst is a different beast to Sandown, but in saying this, if we are performing at our best we should be able to deliver some solid results, despite any curveballs that are thrown at us, as there often is with Bathurst. We’ll put our head down come the big day with the aim to get across the finish line before anyone else.”
Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97
“Teaming up with Richie was awesome for Sandown, and I’m looking forward to doing it again for Bathurst. The pace is in the car, we just need to try and qualify further forward on the grid then we did for Sandown. We’ve got three days of practice, which allows us to not have to go too hard at the start of the weekend and progressively get better. I’m looking forward to the event as a whole. I have a few friends coming from New Zealand and my dads coming too. My friends haven’t really been over since Covid, so it’ll be really cool to have them there.”
Richie Stanaway – Car #97
“I’m a fair few garage’s up to where I was last year and I’m excited to be back here at the Bathurst 1000 again. I’ve been waiting almost 12 months for this weekend so it kind of feels like an early Christmas. I can’t wait to get on track. Coming off Sandown Shane was one of the quickest cars on track come the last couple of stints, we had a couple of things that didn’t quite go to plan at Sandown. If we can optimise our time on track, come Sunday we should be able to deliver a good result.”
Well, folks, that’s all we’ve got until we hit the track on Thursday. Check out the full schedule for the Bathurst 1000 on the Supercars website here.
