BJ's Two Cents

This driver pairing, in my opinion, has to be the top on everyone’s list. The defending Bathurst Winner’s for the last 2 years, and banking the most points at the L&H 500 at Phillip Island in the lead up to this race, has to have this Enduro duo at No.1 as the Team to beat. If the last Rd. is anything to go on, both Whincup and Lowndes performed the most consistently during the separate driver Qualifying /Races leading up to the shared final race on the Sunday. If it wasn’t for that “little” slip-up by Whincup as the race closed they would have been on the top step of the podium.

So what does this mean for the big race? Well, other than the above mentioned slip-up, no one was close to these guys all weekend, with a well oiled pit crew, excellent strategy personnel, and the best Driver combination in the field (in any conditions),  you could be fooled that these guys should have their names on the trophy before the first car hits the track on Thursday morning. But, there is the usual pre-race media hype that can undo the best of them, and what I am talking about here is the “Three consecutive Bathurst 1000 wins” record that is becoming a bit of a driving force in the media circle. Sometimes this sort of “Record book” talk can interfere with Team focus by adding extra pressure and high expectation (A bit like HRT’s Skaife/Tander deal in ’06). Everyone’s talking about the result before the race, and although on paper it should turn out a good result for Team Vodafone, anything can happen on “The Mountain” and it isn’t over till you cross the finish line with that checkered flag waving in your windscreen.

After leading 74 of 161 laps at last year’s Bathurst 1000, and dictating the frantic pace throughout the event, I can only see more of the same for the team this year. With Winterbottom being at the pointy end of the Championship all year, dominating some rounds showing blistering pace in this car, these guys will be the pace setters again. Having one of the best cars in the field, that not only is fast, but has good tyre wear, should be enough to win this race in an age where it has turned into a 1000km sprint race.

There is a small chink in the armour though, that surfaced at the last round, as it was surprising that the FPR duo didn’t dominate at Phillip Island given the recent form/pace that the car’s have shown this year. With a certain result dashed when Richo was in a race winning position, a “dud call” not pitting for “wets” during the mid/late race downpour….. this Team could be its own worst enemy.

With the disaster of the ’06 Bathurst 1000 race still in the back of their mind, this leading Holden duo will be out to prove they can be taken seriously. After being in the right place when Whincup slipped-up at Phillip Island, Tander was able to capitalize on the error turning an ordinary start, early in the weekend, into a race win. Tander has been the most consistent Holden driver this Season, putting up a fight not letting the Ford’s have it all their own way. Skaife on the other hand, has been copping criticism from in and out of the pit lane due to an ordinary season by his standard, a combination of poor qualifying results and being unlucky, getting caught up where all the trouble is.

So that might leave us with a few signs of weakness for Bathurst, but I don’t think that will be the case. HRT have been the benchmark in this game for many years and can’t be counted out as outright winners. With the experience of this driver line-up and the Team personnel at HRT you can expect to see these guys right up the front end of the pack come the last 30 Laps of 161 at this year’s Bathurst 1000.

These guys were the “dark-horses” at Phillip Island, so I am putting them in here just in case they sneak into contention again. Rick Kelly hasn’t been as dominant this season compared to the last few, and it seems that the team has had trouble finding its feet after the pre-season shake up with its crew and driver lineup changes.

Having Radisich as a co-driver will be a benefit to this line-up with his racing pedigree and experience he will give the car back to Rick in the way it was when he stepped in it. This was shown at Phillip Island where Radisich did what he had to do, keep up with the front runners and let Rick do the rest. So with a slight return to form for Kelly and driving a HRT sister car in the HSV Dealer Team should be enough for these guys to be a threat this weekend.

Will Davison has been one of the biggest improvers this Season, and it was this event last year that he and the team started to get themselves sorted. After getting onto the Podium last year and almost making it to the top spot as Johnson raced the final laps wheel to wheel with Lowndes, only to get shuffled back to 3^rd at the end, which was an excellent result.

This year has seen Davison get his first round win at Eastern Creek, and the cars have been fairly fast and consistent all year. After a podium result at Phillip Island, this team has the momentum it needs for the Bathurst 1000 in ’08 and could get a repeat of last year or if the cards fall their way maybe a step or two higher.

Ingall has moved back to the Holden camp and with a renewed attitude this season, he has been very fast and solid. If Morris can keep up with Ingall’s lap times, and they stay out of trouble, the yellow Commodore could be poking its nose up the front towards race end.

With good reliability and consistent car speed this pairing could be at the front, especially with Courtney out to impress prospective team owners as he’s supposedly not yet signed up for next year’s Championship. After a solid 2^nd at last year’s Bathurst 1000, these guys will be battling to get right back up there.

Although this driver pairing carries the burden of young heads don’t count them out. Holdsworth has proven he can dice it with the big boys and will be pushing hard. Garry Rogers has been known for picking up and coming young guns and who can forget that his young driver line-up of Tander/Bargwanna won the race in 2000.

The 2^nd SBR Falcon can’t be counted out and if it’s a wet race with Van Gisbergen behind the wheel everyone better watch out, because he is a “wiz” in the wet. At Phillip Island when it poured he was the fastest on track and was catching Whincup who was in 1^st, if it wasn’t for a blunder not changing to slicks when everyone else had under the safety car, they could have made the podium.

These guys should be the “dark-horses” of the race, but if recent form is anything to go on, I can’t see it happening this year unless luck has a big hand in it. Murph was the man to beat on the Mountain a few years ago and holds the fastest lap there (that might change this year!). He has had a horrible year to date, with the newly built from the ground up Sprint Gas Holden’s not bearing the results that were expected.  Richards has shown some promise at times but hasn’t been consistent this year and after the early DNF at Phillip Island the team will have to dot the i’s and cross the t’s to get it right.

Another driver pairing that should be classed as “dark-horses” especially considering the pedigree of the car coming from the HRT stable. When Dumbrell got the drive here it looked as if he would finally prove what he could do in V8 Supercars, but with driver errors, some mechanical problems and a team that has had to re-establish itself from the off season he hasn’t delivered and I doubt it’s going to happen at the Bathurst 1000 either.

A reasonably young driver pairing that has 17 Bathurst 1000 starts between them, so they’re relatively experienced and have been regular co-drivers over the years for various teams. This year is possibly the best chance either driver has ever had at doing well here, and with a FPR car there is no excuses, but with Canto often having the odd brain fade during the race, they are a long shot at the most, with Canto’s best chance of a Bathurst victory maybe coming from the Fujitsu Series races he will be competing in during the weekend.

Plenty of experience here in this driver line-up (20 Bathurst starts), but with Todd Kelly in unfamiliar territory in a non HRT car and coming to grips with the Perkins run Holden’s, it would be unrealistic to expect a podium here. A top 10 should be easily achievable with Pretty’s consistency as an Endurance co-driver and the Perkins’ team always lifts at Bathurst. With Todd getting used to the cars and helping develop them, this could be a practice run for next years’ race.

It would be good to see these guys get a good result, and that goes for the Team as a whole. After the spectacular rollover for Andrew at Phillip Island last round, the team would have been flat out rebuilding the car in ready for this weekend. The Brad Jones Team has been trying to win here in Falcon’s for many years, they are now using ex-HRT Commodore’s and will need plenty of good luck to go their way at this year’s Bathurst 1000.