The 2020 Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the 2020 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000) was a motor racing event for Supercars that was held on the weekend of 15–18 October 2020. It was held at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, and featured a single 1000 kilometre race. The event was the final race of the 2020 Supercars Championship and the final time Supercheap Auto was the naming rights sponsor, having been so since 2005, as Cumberland, Georgia (United States)–based Genuine Parts Company has acquired naming rights for both the Supercars Championship and the Bathurst 1000 starting in 2021. This was the first Bathurst 1000 in history to run with a limited crowd capacity, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After a qualifying session held on the Friday, the top 10 drivers from that session competed in the shootout where Cam Waters from Tickford Racing claim the pole position with a time of 2:03.5592. In the race, driver pairing, Shane Van Gisbergen and Garth Tander from Triple Eight Race Engineering who started in fourth place won the race with Van Gisbergen winning his first Bathurst 1000 and Tander his fourth. Cam Waters and Will Davison from Tickford Racing finished in second, with Walkinshaw Andretti United's Chaz Mostert and Warren Luff completing the podium in third.

Following this, Scott McLaughlin who finished fifth in the race would win his third Supercars drivers' championship finishing 451 points ahead of Waters with Van Gisbergen finishing in third. In the teams' championship, DJR Team Penske claimed the title, finishing 262 points ahead of Triple Eight, with Tickford Racing rounding out the top three.

Report Background and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic The event was the 63rd running of the Bathurst 1000, which was first held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in 1960 as a 500-mile race for Australian-made standard production sedans, and marks the 60th time that the race was held at Mount Panorama. It was the 24th 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.

This was the first time since 2000 that the race was also the final round of the championship.

The 2019 winners of the race were Scott McLaughlin and Alexandre Prémat, though Premat, a Clark County, Nevada (United States) resident who is the lead instructor at driving school for premium sportscars there, was unable to compete in the race due to border restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

Entry list Twenty-five cars were entered in the event – 17 Holden Commodores and eight Ford Mustangs, the smallest entry list in the events' history and the first Ford and Holden-only race since 2012. In addition to the 24 regular entries, there was a single 'Wildcard' entry from the Garry Rogers Motorsport team for débutants Tyler Everingham and Jayden Ojeda from the Super2 Series. GRM had originally planned for Nathan Herne from the Australian TA2 Racing Series to race in place of Ojeda, however Herne's entry was blocked as Motorsport Australia denied him the required licence. Seven drivers made their debuts in the race – Everingham and Ojeda, championship driver Zane Goddard, Australian and World TCR driver Dylan O'Keeffe, former Super2 driver Kurt Kostecki, and current Super2 drivers Jordan Boys and Broc Feeney. With 45 Australians and 5 New Zealanders in the line-up, it marked the first grid made up of solely Antipodean drivers since 1964.

Drivers Team (Sponsors) Car Drivers Team (Sponsors) Car 2 19 3 20 4 22 5 25 6 34 7 35 8 40 9 44 12 55 14 97 15 99 17 888 18 Source: Entries with a grey background are wildcard entries which do not compete in the full championship season.

Results Practice + Practice summarySessionDayTimeFastest lap No. Driver Team Car Time Practice 1 Thursday 0930–1030 6 Fine Practice 2 1245–1345 55 Fine Practice 3 1600–1700 6 Fine Practice 4 Friday 0945–1055 6 Heavy cloud Practice 5 1210–1310 17 Patchy cloud Practice 6 Saturday 0910-1010 25 Fine Practice 7 1135–1235 6 Fine Warm-Up Sunday 0840-0900 7 Fine

Qualifying Driver Team Car Time Gap Grid 1 5 Lee Holdsworth Tickford Racing Ford Mustang GT 2:04.0242 Top 10 2 97 Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodore ZB 2:04.0351 +0.0108 Top 10 3 17 Scott McLaughlin DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang GT 2:04.1035 +0.0792 Top 10 4 6 Cam Waters Tickford Racing Ford Mustang GT 2:04.1056 +0.0813 Top 10 5 888 Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodore ZB 2:04.2660 +0.2417 Top 10 6 12 Fabian Coulthard DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang GT 2:04.2813 +0.2571 Top 10 7 99 Anton de Pasquale Erebus Motorsport Holden Commodore ZB 2:04.4668 +0.4425 Top 10 8 25 Chaz Mostert Walkinshaw Andretti United Holden Commodore ZB 2:04.4936 +0.4693 Top 10 9 44 James Courtney Tickford Racing Ford Mustang GT 2:04.5485 +0.5242 Top 10 10 8 Nick Percat Brad Jones Racing Holden Commodore ZB 2:04.5539 +0.5296 Top 10 11 2 Bryce Fullwood Walkinshaw Andretti United Holden Commodore ZB 2:04.6050 +0.5807 11 12 20 Scott Pye Team 18 Holden Commodore ZB 2:04.6320 +0.6077 12 13 9 David Reynolds Erebus Motorsport Holden Commodore ZB 2:04.6730 +0.6487 13 14 7 Andre Heimgartner Kelly Racing Ford Mustang GT 2:04.8529 +0.8287 14 15 55 Jack Le Brocq Tickford Racing Ford Mustang GT 2:04.9054 +0.8811 15 16 14 Todd Hazelwood Brad Jones Racing Holden Commodore ZB 2:04.9729 +0.9486 16 17 3 Macauley Jones Tim Blanchard Racing Holden Commodore ZB 2:05.0374 +1.0131 17 18 18 Mark Winterbottom Team 18 Holden Commodore ZB 2:05.1731 +1.1489 18 19 15 Rick Kelly Kelly Racing Ford Mustang GT 2:05.2592 +1.2349 19 20 19 Alex Davison Team Sydney Holden Commodore ZB 2:05.3322 +1.3079 20 21 35 Garry Jacobson Matt Stone Racing Holden Commodore ZB 2:05.4141 +1.3899 21 22 4 Jack Smith Brad Jones Racing Holden Commodore ZB 2:06.3498 +2.3255 22 23 22 Chris Pither Team Sydney Holden Commodore ZB 2:06.3535 +2.3292 23 24 40 Tyler Everingham Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore ZB 2:06.6812 +2.657 24 25 34 Jake Kostecki Matt Stone Racing Holden Commodore ZB 2:15.1542 +11.1299 25 Source

Top 10 Shootout Driver Team Car Time Gap 1 6 2:03.5592 1 2 17 2:04.0020 +0.4429 2 3 25 2:04.0100 +0.4508 3 4 97 2:04.4511 +0.8919 4 5 5 2:04.6765 +1.1173 5 6 99 2:04.7768 +1.2096 6 7 12 2:04.8533 +1.2942 7 8 44 2:05.3549 +1.7957 8 9 888 2:06.3940 +2.8349 9 DSQ 8 0:00.0000 n/a 10 Source:

Race Drivers Team Car Laps Time/Retired Points 1 97 161 6:10:56.1143 4300 2 6 161 +0.866 1276 3 25 161 +1.609 3258 4 12 161 +2.162 7240 5 17 161 +2.711 2222 6 20 161 +3.969 12204 7 5 161 +4.734 5192 8 18 161 +6.138 18180 9 99 161 +7.645 6168 10 44 161 +7.716 8 156 11 7 161 +8.090 14144 12 19 161 +9.144 20138 13 3 161 +9.458 17132 14 55 161 +11.471 15126 15 9 160 +1 Lap 13120 16 22 159 +2 Laps 23114 17 15 144 +17 Laps 19108 18 8 133 +28 Laps 10102 19 40 121 +40 Laps 2496 Ret 34 155 Accident 25 Ret 4 149 Accident 22 Ret 2 147 Accident 11 Ret 35 62 Engine 21 Ret 14 50 Accident 16 Ret 888 32 Accident 9

Broadcast The event telecast was produced by Supercars Media and carried domestically by Fox Sports Australia (via Fox Sports 506 and Kayo Sports), a paid service which covered all sessions including support categories, and Network 10 (via free-to-air channels 10 and 10HD), which covered select sessions from midday Friday onwards.

Fox Sports Network 10 Host: Jessica YatesBooth: Neil Crompton, Mark SkaifePit-lane: Riana Crehan, Andrew Jones, Mark Larkham Presenters: Grant DenyerPundit: Rick KellyRoving: Sam Charlwood, Kate Peck

Notes

References

External links Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Supplementary Regulations, 2020 VCS Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 – Race 31, web.archive.org 2020 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 Spotters Guide, speedcafe.com, as archived at web.archive.org