Shane van Gisbergen and fellow Kiwi Richie Stanaway have become the second all-Kiwi pairing to win the Bathurst 1000.
The first all-Kiwi driver pairing to win the Great Race was Greg Murphy and Steven Richards in 1999.
Van Gisbergen is also the first driver in 15 years to win the Bathurst 1000 in consecutive years after his second-straight win at the legendary race.
It’s a fitting farewell for Van Gisbergen, who leaves the Aussie V8s for Nascar in the USA at the end of the year. For Stanaway, the win is a handy profile-raiser for a driver under-rated by some V8 teams. He moves into a full-time V8 series drive next year with Penrite Racing.
In practice and qualifying van Gisbergen and Stanaway had struggled for pace and ended up in P6 for the start.
But on race day the pair were strong, surging to the front and then building a lead of more than seconds with 60 laps to go.
By the penultimate stint, van Gisbergen was a clear leader and a one-two looked likely given Red Bull Ampol Racing teammate Broc Feeney appeared to have the edge on Erebus’s Brodie Kostecki, pending final fuel fills.
With 30 laps to go the race was set for a three-car battle with van Gisbergen fending off Feeney and Brad Kostecki. A gearbox issue on lap 137 saw Feeney forced into the pits, ending his race there, and Kostecki could not attack the Kiwi.
After two stops for repairs, Feeney took the chequered flag 19 laps down in 23rd.
“It was an interesting race,” said the 20-year-old.
“Jamie did a great job to get the lead off the start and pull a big gap. Things were going well and then we got caught with double stacking which put us a little bit behind. I think Jamie did an awesome job, he was motoring through the pack and got us back into the podium fight. We had a really fast car which was getting better and better, but I’m pretty gutted.”
Van Gisbergen said the 1000 was as challenging as ever.
“We weren’t the fastest car all week but we worked on the race car and what a feeling. Richie did a stellar job all day. It’s been difficult with this car, she was falling apart a bit at the end but we made it. It’s good.”
He paid tribute to his team and to the near-record crowd that watched the race trackside.
“Thanks, Red Bull Ampol Racing. It’s been tough, thanks to all these fans. I’m really going to miss Bathurst, I love this place. I’ll be back.”
Stanaway said, “It’s been incredible to be a part of this team. Teaming up with Shane, I knew we had a good shot, but you never know in this race.”
Bathurst 2023 set an official, four-day figure of 204,069 attendees.
Only 2012, when 207,205 flocked to an event which marked the celebration of 50 years of the Great Race; and 2018, when 206,755 turned up as fan-favourite Craig Lowndes started his last Bathurst 1000 as a full-time driver, were better attended.
