Bathurst 1000: #88 leads the way two hours in

The team made the late decision to start with Jamie Whincup rather than Dumbrell, the four-time Bathurst winner putting in a trouble-free first stint – which included lowering the lap record to 2m07.090s – to lead until handing over to Dumbrell on Lap 20.

Dumbrell picked up where Whincup left off, maintaining the effective lead across a double stint. He currently leads Steve Owen in the #55 Prodrive Racing Ford by 27 seconds.

Owen sits second after Chaz Mostert had run third in the first stint behind Whincup and Scott Mclaughlin in the #33 Volvo. The #55 then slipped behind the #97 Triple Eight Commodore at the first round of stops, but got the spot back during the second round.

Alex Premat is currently fourth in the #97 car, ahead of Luke Youlden (#12 DJR Team Penske Ford), David Wall (#33 Volvo), and Jono Webb (#19 Tekno Commodore).

The only front-running team to start with its co-driver was the #17 DJR Team Penske Ford, Tony D’Alberto putting in a decent first stint to only drop back to 13th. The car is now running eighth, regular driver Scott Pye having done a stint before handing back to D’Alberto.

Disaster for the second-place runner

Tim Slade and Ash Walsh were well and truly in the hunt, Walsh running a second as the race neared the two-hour mark. But the third stop turned badly for the Brad Jones Racing team, one of the brake pads falling out and igniting the wheel arch.

The #14 Commodore was then backed into the garage for further repairs, chances of winning the Great Race over.

“This is what happens, this is motor racing,” said Walsh. “Everything else up to that point was great.”

Gearbox issues for two contenders

Craig Lowndes and Steve Richards did an excellent job dragging the #888 Commodore into contention, running as high as 11th after starting down in 21st. But a lap after making an out-of-sync stop to try and give Richards clear air the reigning winners’s day fell apart when the gear shifter broke. Richards came straight back in the lane, but lost seven laps before rejoining.

“The car felt fine, we had no issue, there was no feeling of the problem up until where it’s broken,” explained Lowndes. “It’s just sheered off. The guys have done a pretty good job to get this three-quarter rod out. We’re all disappointed, we just want to finish the race now and get some points for the championship.”

They weren’t the only crew to have a gearbox-related issue. The #8 Brad Jones Racing Commodore had its own lengthy stop thanks to a gear sensor issue.

Rick Kelly facing plenty of adversity

Rick Kelly had a tough start to the race, losing radio communication on Lap 1. It ultimately led to him having a coming together with Chris Pither at Turn 1 on Lap 10, for which he was ordered to fall back behind the #111 Ford. But with no radio communications he failed to do so, which then resulted in a 10s penalty at the first stop.

“From the start of Lap 1 we lost radio communication. I’ve been trying to communicate with lights and blinkers for 20 laps, and unfortunately we didn’t get on top of that until near the end,” said Kelly. “By that point I had done everything trying to fix the drama, and lost my brake buzzer, locked up, and hindered Pither’s race, unfortunately.”

Holdsworth's day ends early

Lee Holdsworth’s race unravelled right at the start, an broken rocker hampering him on the first two laps before he dived into the pits from last place. That wound up being it, he and Karl Reindler’s day over less than five minutes into the race.

“There’s nothing worse than starting your day like that here,” said Holdsworth. “I got a good jump off the line, and then she just fell in revs and felt like she was running on about four cylinders. I hate talking luck. I feel sorry for the team, I feel sorry for everyone.”

The Chris van der Drift/Shae Davies Commodore got a little bit further, lasting until Lap 25 before diving into the pits with an engine problem.

There’s been very in the way of damage over the first two hours of the race, although Cam Waters did have a shunt of sorts when he bashed his knee on the roll cage during the first driver change, drawing blood and leaving the Prodrive Racing young gun sore.

“It’s okay now,” he said. “When I got out of the car I smashed it on the roll cage and gave myself a dead leg.”

There was an emotional moment on the fifth lap of the race, the packed crowd staging a rousing standing ovation to celebrate the life of Bathurst legend Peter Brock, who died 10 years ago.