bigbadbrother
10-12-2014, 09:54 PM
AP
Novice Chaz Mostert and veteran Paul Morris, co-driving a Ford, made history Sunday when they came from last place on the grid to take the lead on the final lap and win Australia's biggest motor race, the Bathurst 1000.
The 22-year-old Mostert, in only his second start on the Mt. Panorama circuit, was at the wheel of the Ford factory entry when he overtook the fuel-fatigued Holden of Jamie Whincup to hit the front on the 161st and final lap.
Sunday's race was the longest in the event's history, taking almost eight hours to complete, punctuated by 10 safety car interventions and a one-hour suspension to repair track damage.
The Mostert-Morris Ford finished four seconds ahead of the Nissan of James Moffat and Taz Douglas while Nick Percat and Englishman Oliver Gavin were third in a Holden.
Mostert and Morris had qualified in 14th place but were penalized and forced to start from 25th and last place on the grid. Four-time winner Whincup started just ahead of them, in 23rd place, but produced an outstanding drive to take the lead within the first 25 laps.
He stayed near the front and was in a position to capitalize when pole-sitter Shane van Ginsbergen stalled his Holden during a pit stop 11 laps from the end.
Van Ginsbergen seemed to have the race at his mercy but lost his winning chance when a starter motor fault prevented his car from being restarted.
His misfortune left last year's podium finishers Whincup, Mark Winterbottom and Craig Lowndes to fight out the finish. Whincup went to the front but a high-risk fuel strategy, complicated by the frequent intevention of the safety car, left him facing fuel starvation on the final lap.
There were eight retirements and never more than 23 uninterupted laps before the safety car was needed.
Whincup pressed as hard as he could but was finally forced to throttle back and Mostert, who sat on his rear bumper throughout the final lap, surged past him to lead with half a lap remaining.
"In the Bathurst 1000 there's only one lap you need to lead and it's the last lap," Mostert said. He said he was waiting anxiously for Whincup's Holden to show signs of running dry.
"The last five laps all I could think was cough you bastard, cough," Mostert said.
Morris competed in his first Bathurst race in 1991, before Mostert was born, and finished first in 1997, only to be deprived of his win on appeal.
"This place has been beating me up for years and Chaz just carried that car today," he said. "What an unbelievable drive.
"I just kept the seat warm and he got up on the wheel and just drove it to the front."
Moffat and Douglas twice hit the wall on Sunday but, in one of the most bizarre and eventful races in Bathurst history, came through to give Nissan a rare podium finish.
Novice Chaz Mostert and veteran Paul Morris, co-driving a Ford, made history Sunday when they came from last place on the grid to take the lead on the final lap and win Australia's biggest motor race, the Bathurst 1000.
The 22-year-old Mostert, in only his second start on the Mt. Panorama circuit, was at the wheel of the Ford factory entry when he overtook the fuel-fatigued Holden of Jamie Whincup to hit the front on the 161st and final lap.
Sunday's race was the longest in the event's history, taking almost eight hours to complete, punctuated by 10 safety car interventions and a one-hour suspension to repair track damage.
The Mostert-Morris Ford finished four seconds ahead of the Nissan of James Moffat and Taz Douglas while Nick Percat and Englishman Oliver Gavin were third in a Holden.
Mostert and Morris had qualified in 14th place but were penalized and forced to start from 25th and last place on the grid. Four-time winner Whincup started just ahead of them, in 23rd place, but produced an outstanding drive to take the lead within the first 25 laps.
He stayed near the front and was in a position to capitalize when pole-sitter Shane van Ginsbergen stalled his Holden during a pit stop 11 laps from the end.
Van Ginsbergen seemed to have the race at his mercy but lost his winning chance when a starter motor fault prevented his car from being restarted.
His misfortune left last year's podium finishers Whincup, Mark Winterbottom and Craig Lowndes to fight out the finish. Whincup went to the front but a high-risk fuel strategy, complicated by the frequent intevention of the safety car, left him facing fuel starvation on the final lap.
There were eight retirements and never more than 23 uninterupted laps before the safety car was needed.
Whincup pressed as hard as he could but was finally forced to throttle back and Mostert, who sat on his rear bumper throughout the final lap, surged past him to lead with half a lap remaining.
"In the Bathurst 1000 there's only one lap you need to lead and it's the last lap," Mostert said. He said he was waiting anxiously for Whincup's Holden to show signs of running dry.
"The last five laps all I could think was cough you bastard, cough," Mostert said.
Morris competed in his first Bathurst race in 1991, before Mostert was born, and finished first in 1997, only to be deprived of his win on appeal.
"This place has been beating me up for years and Chaz just carried that car today," he said. "What an unbelievable drive.
"I just kept the seat warm and he got up on the wheel and just drove it to the front."
Moffat and Douglas twice hit the wall on Sunday but, in one of the most bizarre and eventful races in Bathurst history, came through to give Nissan a rare podium finish.