Bathurst 1000 - a review of the big race

As the dust settles a week on from the iconic and prestigious Bathurst 1000 there’s are a lot of positives to take from the race, looking towards the Gold Coast 500 and what the Optus and Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU) team can do.

The biggest weekend of the year started with the first on-track action on Thursday afternoon. Chaz and Nick got some all-important preparation laps in before co-drivers Lee Holdsworth (Chaz) and Fabian Coulthard (Nick) jumped in the cars for their first laps around the mountain.

Friday morning brought in a different looking Chaz - a new pink mullet! It was all for a great cause; helping to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer. He achieved his goal of getting everyone to notice!

With WAU showing some good pace over the first practice sessions it brought hope for what could be in the all-important qualifying session late Friday afternoon. After putting in a good lap, Chaz qualified P9, putting himself in the top ten shootout. Nick struggled, finishing qualifying in 23^rd, where he would start on Sunday.

Saturday came and went fast with only two practice sessions to prepare for the shootout in the afternoon. Unfortunately, Chaz was unable to improve his initial top 10 shootout qualifying position, putting his car once again in 9^th, and leaving a few places to make up in Sunday’s race.

Sunday morning rolled around and with all the preparation and lead up to the most famous race in the country now over, all that was left was for the lights to go out, and for the gruelling race to get underway. Chaz’s teammate Lee Holdsworth started the 1000km race in the 9^th grid spot, making up a few positions at the start. After the first stint was over, with Holdsworth losing positions towards the end of the stint, the reigns were handed over to Chaz with a bit of catching up to do.

The car proved to have good race pace and after the safety cars, heartbreaking DNF’s (did not finish), crashes, and 161 laps of head-to-head racing, the chequered flag was waved signalling the end to weeks of preparation, and the start of the celebrations.

Chaz and Lee drove the wheels off the car all day, managed to avoid the spills and ended up improving their position to end in a very respectable 4^th, and 2^nd out of the Mustangs.

Red Bull’s Shane Van Gisbergen won for the second year in a row, saying goodbye to the mountain as he heads to NASCAR for the 2024 season, with Brodie Kostecki (co-driver David Russell) and Anton De-Pasquale (co-driver Tony D’Alberto) completing the podium.

Now all heads turn towards the Gold Coast 500 on 27 – 29 October. With the weekend being Chaz’s home race, it’s sure to be a fun one. The team showed some great speed, and overall race pace, so I’m sure that the podium the team has been waiting for is just around the corner.

I’ll be at the GC500 again this year, and I can’t wait to hear the roar of the engines and smell the burning rubber and brakes again!

Read Ella’s previous report of the Sydney SuperNight.

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Ella Dingwall is a high school student with dreams of becoming a motorsport journalist.