The 2013 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 was an Australian touring car motor race for V8 Supercars, the twenty-ninth race of the 2013 International V8 Supercars Championship. It was held on 13 October 2013 at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales.
Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards won the race for Ford Performance Racing, ahead of the pole-sitting Triple Eight Race Engineering car of Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell and their team-mates Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff. The winning race time of six hours, eleven minutes and 27.9 seconds was a new record for a full 1,000-kilometre event, beating the previous record set in 2010 by 84 seconds. Along with the 2010 race, it was the second to be covered at an average speed of over 160 kilometres per hour (100 mph).
Background The 2013 race was the seventeenth running of the Australian 1000 race, which was first held after the organisational split between the Australian Racing Drivers Club and V8 Supercars Australia that saw two "Bathurst 1000" races contested in both 1997 and 1998, with one race open to V8 Supercar entries, and the other open to Super Touring cars. The 2013 race was also the 56th race for which the lineage can be traced back to the 1960 Armstrong 500 – held at Phillip Island – and the 53rd to be held at Mount Panorama.
Entry list With the addition of teams entering Mercedes-Benzes and Nissans it was the first time since 1998 that cars other than Fords of Holdens had entered the race. The four Nissan Altimas entered by Nissan Motorsport were the first Nissans to compete in the race since the 1998 AMP Bathurst 1000. The three Mercedes-Benz E63 AMGs entered by Erebus Motorsport were the first Mercedes-Benzes to race since the 1994 Tooheys 1000.
In addition to the twenty eight regular championship entries, one wildcard entry was accepted for the 2013 race, with Triple Eight Race Engineering providing an extra car for British driver Andy Priaulx and Swedish driver Mattias Ekström to drive under the banner of Xbox One Racing. Dick Johnson Racing ran a special livery on the car of Chaz Mostert and Dale Wood in commemoration of thirty years since Dick Johnson drove the Greens-Tuf XE Falcon, which he famously crashed in the Top 10 Shootout in 1983. The two Dick Johnson Racing cars also swapped numbers for the event, with Mostert and Wood using 17 while Tim Blanchard and Ashley Walsh used 12. The Nissan Altima of Michael Caruso and Daniel Gaunt also had a number change, using 300 in relation to the 300,000 donation to the charity Beyond Blue by Symantec (the parent company of the team's major sponsor Norton). Garry Rogers Motorsport also ran a special livery on the car of Scott McLaughlin and Jack Perkins in celebration of the team's fiftieth year in motor racing, while Britek Motorsport ran a pink livery in support of the McGrath Foundation. Danish driver Allan Simonsen had been set to race for Britek alongside David Wall, however his death at Le Mans four months earlier saw him replaced with New Zealander Chris Pither.
The Triple Eight Race Engineering drivers Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell were the defending race winners.
Drivers Team (Sponsor) Car Drivers Team (Sponsor) Car 1 Jamie Whincup Paul Dumbrell Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodore VF 19 Jonathon Webb Marc Lieb Tekno Autosports Holden Commodore VF 2 Garth Tander Nick Percat Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF 21 David Wall Chris Pither Britek Motorsport Holden Commodore VF 3 Tony D'Alberto Jonny Reid Tony D'Alberto Racing Holden Commodore VF 22 James Courtney Greg Murphy Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF 4 Lee Holdsworth Craig Baird Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG 33 Scott McLaughlin Jack Perkins Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore VF 5 Mark Winterbottom Steven Richards Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon FG 34 Alexandre Prémat Greg Ritter Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore VF 6 Will Davison Steve Owen Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon FG 47 Tim Slade Andrew Thompson James Rosenberg Racing Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG 7 Todd Kelly David Russell Nissan Motorsport Nissan Altima L33 55 David Reynolds Dean Canto Rod Nash Racing Ford Falcon FG 8 Jason Bright Andrew Jones Brad Jones Racing Holden Commodore VF 66 Russell Ingall Ryan Briscoe Walkinshaw Racing Holden Commodore VF 9 Maro Engel Steve Johnson Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG 80 Scott Pye Paul Morris Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Holden Commodore VF 10 Andy Priaulx Mattias Ekström Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodore VF 88 Dean Fiore Matt Halliday Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Holden Commodore VF 12 Tim Blanchard Ashley Walsh Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon FG 97 Shane van Gisbergen Jeroen Bleekemolen Tekno Autosports Holden Commodore VF 14 Fabian Coulthard Luke Youlden Brad Jones Racing Holden Commodore VF 300 Michael Caruso Daniel Gaunt Nissan Motorsport Nissan Altima L33 15 Rick Kelly Karl Reindler Nissan Motorsport Nissan Altima L33 360 James Moffat Taz Douglas Nissan Motorsport Nissan Altima L33 17 Chaz Mostert Dale Wood Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon FG 888 Craig Lowndes Warren Luff Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodore VF 18 Alex Davison John McIntyre Team 18 Ford Falcon FG *Entries with a grey background were wildcard entries which did not compete in the full championship season.
Report
Free Practice The first free practice session took place on the Thursday morning prior to the race with a duration of fifty minutes. The session was open to both championship drivers and co-drivers. Craig Lowndes set the fastest time during the session, ahead of Mark Winterbottom and Jason Bright. The second free practice session, held on Thursday afternoon, was only open to co-drivers and was forty-five minutes in length. Winterbottom's co-driver Steven Richards topped the session ahead of the Triple Eight Race Engineering co-drivers Paul Dumbrell and Warren Luff. The Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG of Andrew Thompson suffered damage after a brake line was severed by debris, causing Thompson to hit the wall at the Chase. The third free practice session was held later on Thursday, this time a one-hour-long session open to all drivers. Reigning Bathurst winner Jamie Whincup was quickest, three-quarters of a second faster than Winterbottom with David Reynolds in third. Tim Slade caused a red flag when he crashed heavily at the Cutting, damaging the car that Thompson had crashed in the previous session enough that it would not be able to take part in qualifying on Friday afternoon. Alex Davison also crashed at Reid Park, causing significant damage to the side of his car but it was repaired in time for the following day's sessions.
The fourth free practice session, a forty-five-minute session held on Friday morning, was again only open to co-drivers. Luff and Dumbrell finished ahead of the Bathurst rookie, Swede Mattias Ekström, driving the wildcard entry run by Triple Eight. The fifth free practice session was held later on Friday morning, with Whincup going fastest ahead of Bright and Will Davison. Chaz Mostert had a major accident a Reid Park, which eventually ruled the car out of qualifying. The sixth and final free practice session was held on Saturday morning for all drivers. Reynolds finished the session fastest ahead of Whincup and Fabian Coulthard. The cars of Slade and Thompson and Mostert and Dale Wood returned to the track in this session after being heavily damaged in their respective crashes on Thursday and Friday.
Summary Session Driver Team Entrant Car Fastest lap Weather Thursday Practice 1 10:20 888 Craig Lowndes Red Bull Racing Australia Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VF Commodore 2:10.1021 Dry, sunny Practice 2 13:15 5 Steven Richards Pepsi Max Crew Ford Performance Racing Ford FG Falcon 2:10.5531 Dry, sunny Practice 3 15:35 1 Jamie Whincup Red Bull Racing Australia Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VF Commodore 2:08.3240 Dry, sunny Friday Practice 4 09:40 888 Warren Luff Red Bull Racing Australia Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VF Commodore 2:08.4794 Dry, sunny Practice 5 11:05 1 Jamie Whincup Red Bull Racing Australia Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VF Commodore 2:07.8226 Dry, sunny Saturday Practice 6 10:05 55 David Reynolds Bottle-O Racing Team Rod Nash Racing Ford FG Falcon 2:08.6838 Dry, sunny
Qualifying The forty-minute qualifying session took place on Friday afternoon. The session would set positions eleven to twenty-nine on the grid, with the top ten drivers advancing to the Top 10 Shootout held on Saturday afternoon. Only twenty-seven cars took part in the session, with the cars of Tim Slade and Andrew Thompson and Chaz Mostert and Dale Wood not able to be repaired in time for the session following their practice crashes. Steven Johnson qualified the #9 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz instead of regular driver Maro Engel due to his higher level of experience at the circuit.
David Reynolds led the early part of the session while several drivers went off at the Chase, including Jamie Whincup, Jason Bright and Michael Caruso. Whincup also hit the wall coming out of the Dipper but did not sustain any significant damage and no repairs were required. Whincup went on to post the fastest time, six one-hundredths of a second quicker than Mark Winterbottom. Bright, James Courtney, Shane van Gisbergen, Craig Lowndes, Will Davison, Reynolds, Scott McLaughlin and Alexandre Prémat completed the top ten, with McLaughlin and Prémat both making the Top 10 Shootout in their first qualifying attempt for the race.
Garth Tander and Lee Holdsworth, in eleventh and twelfth respectively, were knocked out of the top ten in the final moments of qualifying. They were followed by David Wall, Fabian Coulthard, Tony D'Alberto, Johnson, Caruso, rookie Mattias Ekström, James Moffat and Jonathon Webb, who completed the top twenty. The final seven positions in qualifying were taken by Tim Blanchard, Scott Pye, Todd Kelly, Rick Kelly, Russell Ingall, Alex Davison and Dean Fiore, who was just over one and a half seconds slower than Whincup's time. Despite missing qualifying, the Slade/Thompson and Mostert/Wood cars were allowed to take part in the race by the stewards.
Top 10 Shootout The Top 10 Shootout took place later in the afternoon than in previous years, beginning at 17:00 local time. David Reynolds said that the starting time was unfair, claiming that the track is faster at the end of the hour-long session than it is at the start, thus giving the final runners an advantage. Alexandre Prémat, the first driver to take to the circuit, struggled for grip and recorded a 2:10.4145. His team-mate Scott McLaughlin then bettered his time by just over a second. Reynolds ran slightly wide at turn two and was unable to match McLaughlin's time, just five one-hundredths of a second behind. Will Davison went two-tenths of a second quicker than McLaughlin, setting a 2:09.0023, before Craig Lowndes improved on this time by half a tenth with a seemingly good lap.
Shane van Gisbergen was next to set a time and he beat Lowndes' lap by nearly seven-tenths of a second with a 2:08.2804, despite getting sideways going into the Dipper. James Courtney had a moment at the Cutting, costing him a lot of time in the first sector and he only just went quicker than Lowndes. Jason Bright then went four one-thousandths of a second faster than Van Gisbergen to be the fastest runner with two drivers still to set a lap time. Mark Winterbottom went two-tenths quicker than Bright but this was not enough to stop the final driver, Jamie Whincup, from taking pole with a time of 2:07.8825, another two-tenths quicker than Winterbottom.
Final starting grid The following table represents the final starting grid for the race on Sunday: 1 1 5 2 3 8 97 4 5 22 888 6 7 6 33 8 9 55 34 10 11 2 4 12 13 21 14 14 15 3 9 16 17 300 10 18 19 360 19 20 21 12 80 22 23 7 15 24 25 66 18 26 27 88 17 28 29 47 Source:
Race