The 2023 Bathurst 1000 (known as the 2023 Repco Bathurst 1000 for commercial reasons) was a motor racing event for Supercars held on the week of 5 to 8 October 2023. It hosted the tenth round of the 2023 Supercars Championship and took place at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, featuring a single race of 1000 kilometres.
New Zealanders Shane van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway claimed victory for Triple Eight Race Engineering, the teams' tenth Bathurst 1000 win. It was Van Gisbergen's third victory in four years, and the first win for Stanaway. The duo were only the second all-Kiwi crew to win the race after Greg Murphy and Steven Richards in 1999, and their 19.9-second margin of victory was the largest since the same race. The race was also won by a Chevrolet for the first time, with sixth-generation Camaros finishing first and second against a backdrop of participant and public discontent related to technical parity between the Camaros and rival Ford Mustangs.
Report Background Event history The event was the 66th 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 marked the 63rd time that the race was held at Mount Panorama. It was the 27th running of the "Australia 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. The event also celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first running of the Armstrong 500 at Mount Panorama, with promotional material reflecting this milestone.
Chevrolet returned to the event for the first time since 1984, while also marking the first time in the event's history that Holden did not take part.
Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander entered the event as defending race winners, but did not compete together. Van Gisbergen remained with Triple Eight Race Engineering, while Tander moved to Grove Racing.Tander joins Grove Racing as co-driver Speedcafe.com 9 December 2022
Parity concerns This was the first Bathurst 1000 held under Supercars Championships' "Gen3" regulations, which were centred around American pony cars (namely the sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro and the S650-model Ford Mustang) following the demise of Holden. Throughout the 2023 season, Ford Performance and Ford teams expressed concerns over a lack of technical parity between the two models – exacerbated by Mustangs winning only two of the preceding 23 races (one of which through the disqualification of two Camaros).
Supercars opened an inquest into parity following the Darwin round, resulting in a revised rear aero package for the Mustang ahead of the Townsville 500. Prior to the Bathurst 1000, Ford and its teams pushed for further alterations to the Mustang's aero package. A meeting between Supercars officials and teams was mooted, and later cancelled in favour of intra-manufacturer meetings. As a result of pushback from Chevrolet teams and a pre-determined parity "trigger" having not been met, Ford's proposals were rejected by Supercars.
Entry list Twenty-eight cars entered the event - 15 Chevrolet Camaros and 13 Ford Mustangs. In addition to the twenty-five regular-season entries, three "wildcard" entrants joined the field – one from Blanchard Racing Team, one from Dick Johnson Racing, and one from Triple Eight Race Engineering.Goddard scores Triple Eight wildcard seat Supercars 24 January 2023DJR confirms De Silvestro-Allen wildcard for Bathurst 1000 Speedcafe 25 July 2023
Three drivers made their Bathurst 1000 debut; FIA World Endurance Championship driver Kévin Estre, and Super2 Series drivers Kai Allen and Aaron Love. Estre and the returning Simona de Silvestro were the first drivers from outside of Australia and New Zealand to participate in the event since De Silvestro, James Hinchcliffe, Alexandre Prémat and Alexander Rossi in 2019.Grove names Porsche WEC driver in Supercars enduro line-up Speedcafe 7 March 2023 DriversTeam (Sponsors)CarDriversTeam (Sponsors)Car2233 Tim Blanchard25426 Garth Tander5 Zak Best316 James Moffat347 35855 Garry Jacobson956 Tyler Everingham1188149617971898 19 Kévin Estre9920888 Source:
Results Practice SessionDayFastest LapNo.DriverTeamCarTimeRefPractice 1Thursday 9 Will Brown Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:05.9653 Fine Practice 2 (Co-Driver) 99 David Russell Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:05.6826 Fine Practice 3Friday 19 Matthew Payne Grove Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:05.2855 Cloudy Practice 4 99 Brodie Kostecki Erebus Motorsport 2:05.1215 Overcast Saturday 97 Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:06.0486 Cloudy Practice 6 88 Broc Feeney Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:05.5872 Cloudy Warm UpSunday 99 Brodie Kostecki Erebus Motorsport 2:06.3584 Fine
Qualifying PosNo.DriverTeamCarTimeGapGrid 1 99 Brodie Kostecki Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:04.6644 2 31 James Golding PremiAir Racing Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:04.8133 +0.1489 Top 10 3 11 Anton de Pasquale Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:04.9667 +0.3023 Top 10 4 6 Cam Waters Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:04.9909 +0.3265 Top 10 5 88 Broc Feeney Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:05.0524 +0.3880 Top 10 6 26 David Reynolds Grove Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:05.0830 +0.4186 Top 10 7 97 2:05.1823 +0.5179 8 19 Matthew Payne Grove Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:05.2090 +0.5446 Top 10 9 25 Chaz Mostert Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford Mustang S650 2:05.2177 +0.5533 Top 10 10 17 Will Davison Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:05.2851 +0.6207 Top 10 11 55 Thomas Randle Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:05.3799 +0.7177 11 12 20 Scott Pye Charlie Schwerkolt Racing Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:05.4419 +0.7775 12 13 8 Andre Heimgartner Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:05.4700 +0.8056 13 14 35 Cameron Hill Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:05.4895 +0.8251 14 15 34 Jack Le Brocq Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:05.5074 +0.8430 15 16 5 James Courtney Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:05.5107 +0.8463 16 17 9 Will Brown Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:05.5581 +0.8937 17 18 23 Tim Slade PremiAir Racing Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:05.5844 +0.9200 18 19 18 Mark Winterbottom Charlie Schwerkolt Racing Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:05.7995 +1.1351 19 20 888 Zane Goddard Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:05.8511 +1.1867 20 21 14 Bryce Fullwood Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:05.9406 +1.2762 21 22 3 Todd Hazelwood Blanchard Racing Team Ford Mustang S650 2:05.9547 +1.2903 22 23 2 Nick Percat Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford Mustang S650 2:06.0197 +1.3553 23 24 96 Macauley Jones Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:06.2170 +1.5526 24 25 98 Kai Allen Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:06.2417 +1.5773 25 26 7 Aaron Love Blanchard Racing Team Ford Mustang S650 2:06.5312 +1.8668 26 27 4 Jack Smith Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:07.1711 +2.5067 27 28 56 Declan Fraser Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 No time 28 Source:
Top 10 Shootout
PosNo.DriverTeamCarTimeGap 1 99 Brodie Kostecki Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:04.2719 2 88 Broc Feeney Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:04.7549 +0.4830 3 6 Cam Waters Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:04.7775 +0.5056 4 31 James Golding PremiAir Racing Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 2:04.8155 +0.5436 5 11 Anton de Pasquale Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:04.9156 +0.6437 6 97 2:04.9971 +0.7252 7 26 David Reynolds Grove Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:05.1512 +0.8793 8 19 Matthew Payne Grove Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:05.2696 +0.9977 9 25 Chaz Mostert Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford Mustang S650 2:05.8309 +1.5590 10 17 Will Davison Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang S650 2:06.4174 +2.1455 Source:
Grid 1 Brodie Kostecki David Russell 99 88 Broc Feeney Jamie Whincup2 Erebus Motorsport 3 Cam Waters James Moffat 6 31 James Golding Dylan O'Keeffe4 Tickford Racing(Ford Mustang S650) PremiAir Racing(Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6)5 Anton de Pasquale Tony D'Alberto 11 97 Richie Stanaway6 Dick Johnson Racing(Ford Mustang S650) Triple Eight Race Engineering(Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6)7 David Reynolds Garth Tander 26 19 Matthew Payne Kévin Estre8 Grove Racing(Ford Mustang S650) Grove Racing(Ford Mustang S650)9 Chaz Mostert Lee Holdsworth 25 17 Will Davison Alex Davison10 (Ford Mustang S650) Dick Johnson Racing(Ford Mustang S650)11 Thomas Randle Garry Jacobson 55 20 Scott Pye Warren Luff12 Tickford Racing(Ford Mustang S650) Charlie Schwerkolt Racing(Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6)13 Andre Heimgartner Dale Wood 8 35 Cameron Hill Jaylyn Robotham14 Brad Jones Racing(Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6) Matt Stone Racing(Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6)15 Jack Le Brocq Jayden Ojeda 34 5 James Courtney Zak Best16 Matt Stone Racing(Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6) Tickford Racing(Ford Mustang S650)17 Will Brown Jack Perkins 9 23 Tim Slade Jonathon Webb18 Erebus Motorsport(Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6) PremiAir Racing(Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6)19 Mark Winterbottom Michael Caruso 18 888 Craig Lowndes Zane Goddard20 Charlie Schwerkolt Racing(Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6) Triple Eight Race Engineering(Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6)21 Bryce Fullwood Dean Fiore 14 3 Todd Hazelwood Tim Blanchard22 Brad Jones Racing(Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6) Blanchard Racing Team(Ford Mustang S650)23 Nick Percat Fabian Coulthard 2 96 Macauley Jones Jordan Boys24 Walkinshaw Andretti United(Ford Mustang S650) Brad Jones Racing(Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6)25 Kai Allen 98 7 Aaron Love Jake Kostecki26 Dick Johnson Racing(Ford Mustang S650) Blanchard Racing Team(Ford Mustang S650)27 Jack Smith Jaxon Evans 4 56 Declan Fraser Tyler Everingham28 Brad Jones Racing(Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6) Tickford Racing(Ford Mustang S650) Source:
Race