Motorsport: New rules add twist to Bathurst

Defending champion Garth Tander will have Cam McConville as co-driver. Photo / Alan Gibson

The Mount Panorama circuit in New South Wales gets its annual wakeup call this weekend for the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and the twist this year is in the driver pairings.

Teams have been prohibited this year from pairing their regular championship series drivers in the same car. Each co-driver now has to come from outside the V8 Supercar competition.

Picking a winner will be hard with this format, but here goes. Top of the list would have to be the only car with two former winners in it: Mark Skaife and Craig Lowndes.

Skaife proved he still had that Bathurst magic when he and Greg Murphy finished a close fourth last year.

Defending champion Garth Tander has the experienced Cam McConville with him this year and McConville will be determined to improve on last year's second-place finish with Kiwi driver Jason Richards.

Series champion Jamie Whincup knows his way around the mountain and has with him former Fujitsu V8 series winner Steve Owen. It will be interesting to see how Owen will do; he is regarded as the best V8 driver without a full-time main game gig.

Of the Kiwis, you'd have to put a lazy fiver on Jason Richards and Andrew Jones.

They have a great record at Bathurst and Richards must be getting sick and tired of being so close yet so far away from standing on the top of the podium.

2009 WINNERS

1st: Will Davison and Garth Tander, Toll HRT

2nd: Jason Richards and Cameron McConville, BJR

3rd: Lee Holdsworth and Michael Caruso, Garry Rogers Motorsport

Tander and Davison overcame their rivals to take Holden's first Bathurst win since 2005 to claim the Peter Brock Trophy for the first time. The pair started from pole and never looked like relinquishing the top spot.

Nine of the top 10 finishers were Holdens and there was a season-best performance from Team BOC with Kiwi driver Jason Richards and Cameron McConville in second.

Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup finished fifth in their attempt to win a fourth successive Bathurst crown, while Kiwi Greg Murphy and Mark Skaife starred for Sprint Gas Racing, finishing fourth.

PAST WINNERS

2009 Garth Tander/Will Davison, Holden VE

2008 Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup, Ford BF

2007 Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup Ford BF

2006 Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup Ford BA

2005 Craig Mark Skaife/Todd Kelly Holden VZ

2004 Greg Murphy/Rick Kelly Holden VY

2003 Greg Murphy/Rick Kelly Holden VY

2002 Mark Skaife/Jim Richards Holden VX

FASTEST LAPS

Current qualifying record

2003 Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VY 2:06.86

Current Lap Record

2007 Jamie Whincup Ford Falcon BF 2:08.47

ENTRY LIST

At the time of going to press, all teams will have had to nominate what the exact pairings would be.

1 Team Vodafone Jamie Whincup, Steve Owen or Mark Skaife

2 Toll Holden Racing Team Garth Tander, Cameron McConville or David Reynolds

3 Centaur Racing Tony D'Alberto, Shane Price

4 Irwin Racing Alex Davison, David Brabham or John McIntyre

5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon Mark Winterbottom, Luke Youlden or James Moffat

6 Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon Steven Richards, Luke Youlden or James Moffat

7 Jack Daniel's Racing Todd Kelly, Dale Wood or Owen Kelly

8 Team BOC Jason Richards, Andrew Jones or Matt Halliday

9 SP Tools Racing Shane van Gisbergen, David Brabham or John McIntyre

10 Bundaberg Red Racing Team Andrew Thompson, Ryan Briscoe or Craig Baird

11 Rock Racing Jason Bargwanna, Glenn Seton or Taz Douglas

12 Bing Lee/Panasonic Racing Dean Fiore or Michael Patrizi

14 Trading Post Racing Jason Bright, Andrew Jones or Matt Halliday

15 Jack Daniel's Racing Rick Kelly, Dale Wood or Owen Kelly

16 Stratco Racing Tony Ricciardello, Glenn Seton or Taz Douglas

17 Jim Beam Racing Steven Johnson, Marcus Marshall or Warren Luff

18 Jim Beam Racing James Courtney, Marcus Marshall or Warren Luff

19 Dick Johnson Racing Jonathon Webb or David Russell

21 Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Karl Reindler or David Wall

22 Toll Holden Racing Team Will Davison Cameron, McConville or David Reynolds

24 Bundaberg Red Racing Team Fabian Coulthard, Ryan Briscoe or Craig Baird

27 Fujitsu Racing Damian Assaillit or Ant Pedersen

30 Gulf Western Oil Racing Mark Noske or Nathan Pretty

33 Fujitsu Racing/GRM Lee Holdsworth or David Besnard

34 Fujitsu Racing/GRM Michael Caruso or Greg Ritter

39 Supercheap Auto Racing Russell Ingall, Paul Morris or Allan Simonsen

44 National Directory Distribution Geoff Emery or Marcus Zukanovic

47 Wilson Security Racing Tim Slade or Jack Perkins

51 Castrol Edge Racing Greg Murphy, Paul Morris or Allan Simonsen

55 The Bottle-O Racing Team Paul Dumbrell or Dean Canto

888 Team Vodafone Craig Lowndes, Steve Owen or Mark Skaife


RACE SCHEDULE

Thursday: Practice 50 min, 1015-1105

Thursday: Practice 45 min, 1230-1315

Thursday: Practice 50 min, 1440-1530

Friday: Practice 50 min, 0930-1020

Friday: Practice 45 min, 1055-1140

Friday: Qualifying 40 min, 1435-1515

Saturday: Practice 50 min, 1000-1050

Saturday: Top 10 Shootout 1 lap, 1545-1630

Sunday: Warm Up 20 min, 0800-0820

Sunday: Race 1000km, 1030-1745


* Additional information BathurstV8Supercars.com