2016 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000

2016 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000

Event Information
Round 11 of 14 in the 2016 International V8 Supercars Championship
Date	6–9 October 2016
Location	Bathurst, New South Wales
Venue	Mount Panorama Circuit
Weather	Thursday: fine Friday: fine Saturday: fine Sunday: fine, overcast
Results
Race 1
Distance	161 laps, 1000 km
Pole position	Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering	2:05.4263
Winner	Will Davison Jonathon Webb Tekno Autosports	6:19:25.3237

The 2016 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 was a motor racing event for Supercars, held on the weekend of 6 to 9 October 2016. The event was held at the Mount Panorama Circuit near Bathurst, New South Wales, and consisted of one race of 1000 kilometres in length. It was the eleventh event of fourteen in the 2016 International V8 Supercars Championship and hosted Race 21 of the season. It was also the second event of the 2016 Enduro Cup.^[1] The event marked ten years since the first awarding of the Peter Brock Trophy, which was introduced following the death of nine-time race winner Peter Brock in September 2006.

Triple Eight Race Engineering drivers Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell started the race from pole position. The race was won by Tekno Autosports' Will Davison and Jonathon Webb. Whincup had taken the chequered flag first, but a post-race 15-second time penalty relegated him to eleventh position. Shane Van Gisbergen and Alexandre Prémat finished second for Triple Eight, with the Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport entry of Nick Percat and Cameron McConville completing the podium.

An appeal to the time penalty imposed on Whincup was lodged by Triple Eight Race Engineering but dismissed nine days after the race.^[2]

Report

Background

The event was the 59th 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 56th time that the race was held at Mount Panorama. It was the 20th 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. It was the 18th time the race had been held as part of the Supercars Championship and the fourth time it formed part of the Enduro Cup. The defending winners of the race were Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards.

The event commemorated ten years since the death of nine-time race winner Peter Brock—who died in a crash at the Targa West rally one month prior to the 2006 race—and the introduction of the Peter Brock Trophy. Brock's brother Phil presented the Trophy to the race winners, having made the first presentation of the Trophy in 2006.^[3] Several of Brock's old race cars were on display at the event, with a selection completing parade laps prior to the race on Sunday morning. The cars in the parade were driven by Phil Brock and the previous winners of the Peter Brock Trophy.^[4] The event also paid tribute to Mark Porter, who passed away following a crash in a support race during the 2006 event.^[5]

Shane van Gisbergen entered the event as the championship leader, seven points clear of his Triple Eight Race Engineering teammate Jamie Whincup. Lowndes, the third Triple Eight driver, was third in the points standings, 157 behind Van Gisbergen. In the Teams' Championship, Triple Eight Race Engineering hold a 1273-point lead over the Holden Racing Team. In the Enduro Cup standings, Holden Racing Team drivers Garth Tander and Warren Luff lead the Triple Eight pairing of Van Gisbergen and Alexandre Prémat by 24 points.

Entry list

As well as the regular 26 championship entries, a single wildcard entry was received for the race. The Harvey Norman Supergirls entry that contested the 2015 race returned for 2016, fielding an unchanged line-up of Simona de Silvestro and Renee Gracie. The entry switched from competing with a Prodrive Racing Australia-prepared Ford FG X Falcon to a Nissan Altima L33 built by Nissan Motorsport.^[6]

No.	Drivers	Team	Car		No.	Drivers	Team	Car
1	Mark Winterbottom Dean Canto	Prodrive Racing Australia	Ford FG X Falcon		21	Tim Blanchard Macauley Jones	Britek Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore
2	Garth Tander Warren Luff	Holden Racing Team	Holden VF Commodore		22	James Courtney Jack Perkins	Holden Racing Team	Holden VF Commodore
3	Andre Heimgartner Aaren Russell	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore		23	Michael Caruso Dean Fiore	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33
4	Shae Davies Chris van der Drift	Erebus Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore		33	Scott McLaughlin David Wall	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Volvo S60
6	Cameron Waters Jack Le Brocq	Prodrive Racing Australia	Ford FG X Falcon		34	James Moffat James Golding	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Volvo S60
7	Todd Kelly Matt Campbell	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33		55	Chaz Mostert Steve Owen	Rod Nash Racing	Ford FG X Falcon
8	Jason Bright Andrew Jones	Brad Jones Racing	Holden VF Commodore		88	Jamie Whincup Paul Dumbrell	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore
9	David Reynolds Craig Baird	Erebus Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore		96	Dale Wood David Russell	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33
12	Fabian Coulthard Luke Youlden	DJR Team Penske	Ford FG X Falcon		97	Shane van Gisbergen Alexandre Prémat	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore
14	Tim Slade Ashley Walsh	Brad Jones Racing	Holden VF Commodore		111	Chris Pither Richie Stanaway	Super Black Racing	Ford FG X Falcon
15	Rick Kelly Russell Ingall	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33		222	Nick Percat Cameron McConville	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore
17	Scott Pye Tony D'Alberto	DJR Team Penske	Ford FG X Falcon		360	Simona de Silvestro Renee Gracie	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33
18	Lee Holdsworth Karl Reindler	Charlie Schwerkolt Racing	Holden VF Commodore		888	Craig Lowndes Steven Richards	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore
19	Will Davison Jonathon Webb	Tekno Autosports	Holden VF Commodore
Source:[7]

Entries with a grey background were wildcard entries which did not compete in the full championship season.

Practice

Simona de Silvestro and Renee Gracie joined the grid as a wildcard entry for the second consecutive year.

Three one-hour practice sessions were held on the Thursday prior to the race. Practice 1 and Practice 3 were open to both regular drivers and co-drivers, while Practice 2 was for co-drivers only. The first session was contested mainly by regular drivers, with Whincup setting the fastest lap time of 2:05.9500. He had earlier caused a red flag after spinning at the final corner and getting stuck in the sand trap. Coulthard was second fastest, more than half a second behind, ahead of Slade. The car of Pye sustained damage when Pye spun at McPhillamy Park and went backwards into the tyre wall. Despite the damage, Pye was able to return to the pit lane. Courtney brushed the inside wall at Turn 13 early in the session but did not incur any significant damage. Rick Kelly and Mostert completed minimal laps, with both of their cars suffering from a vibration in the driveline.^[8] Practice 2 was topped by Whincup's co-driver Dumbrell, who set a time of 2:06.8947. Walsh, Premat, Canto and Macauley Jones completed the top five.^[9] The session was red flagged with seven minutes remaining when Golding ran wide at Turn 6 and made heavy contact with the outside wall.^[10] The car suffered significant damage to the front and rear suspension on the left-hand side as well as to the transaxle.^[11] Moffat did not take part in Practice 3 as Garry Rogers Motorsport were unable to repair the damage from the crash in time. Like Practice 1, the session was contested mainly by regular drivers, with only six co-drivers completing laps during the session. Whincup set a lap time of 2:05.2946 to be fastest ahead of Coulthard and Mostert.^[12]

Two more one-hour sessions were held on Friday. Practice 4 was open only to co-drivers while all drivers were allowed to run in Practice 5. The car of Moffat and Golding returned to the circuit in Practice 4 after being repaired overnight; Golding finished the session in 14th place. Le Brocq set a time of 2:05.9547 to be fastest, with Youlden, Dumbrell, Canto and Premat completing the top five. Ingall clipped the wall at Turn 13, similar to Courtney in Practice 1, but continued without damage and finished the session in 22nd place.^[13] While co-drivers were allowed to run in Practice 5, the session was contested exclusively by regular drivers. The final part of the session was used as a simulation for qualifying session to be held later in the day. Whincup returned his car to the top of the order with a time of 2:05.1494, the fastest lap of the weekend to that point. Winterbottom was second fastest ahead of Mostert, McLaughlin and Van Gisbergen.^[14] Halfway through the session, Percat's car got loose going through the Esses, causing him to lock a brake going into the Dipper. He hit the inside wall which sent the car into a spin before it came to rest on the exit of the Dipper. Percat escaped without significant damage and was able to take part in the remainder in the session.^[15] The sixth and final one-hour practice session was held on Saturday morning. Teams focused on the race set-up of their cars for the majority of the session and completed practice pit stops. Towards the end of the session, a number of the drivers who had qualified for the Top 10 Shootout took the opportunity to do a simulation of their Shootout lap; Mostert set a lap time of 2:05.3352 to be fastest.^[16] His co-driver Owen had almost hit the wall earlier in the session when he lost control of the rear of the car going into the Dipper. Winterbottom was second fastest ahead of McLaughlin.^[17]

The car of Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell was fastest in four of the six practice sessions.

Practice summary

Session	No.	Driver	Team	Car	Time
Thursday
Practice 1	88	Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.9500
Practice 2	88	Paul Dumbrell	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore	2:06.8947
Practice 3	88	Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.2946
Friday
Practice 4	6	Jack Le Brocq	Prodrive Racing Australia	Ford FG X Falcon	2:05.9547
Practice 5	88	Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.1494
Saturday
Practice 6	55	Chaz Mostert	Rod Nash Racing	Ford FG X Falcon	2:05.3352

Qualifying – Race 21

Qualifying for Race 20 consisted of three parts: a 40-minute qualifying session and a Top 10 Shootout. The qualifying session was held on Friday afternoon and was contested by regular championship drivers. The fastest ten drivers in the qualifying session progressed to the Top 10 Shootout, held on Saturday afternoon.

Qualifying

The start of the qualifying session was delayed by ten minutes following a crash in the preceding Supercars Dunlop Series session which left fluid on the circuit. Whincup continued to show strong form, setting an early benchmark of 2:05.5157. His teammate Van Gisbergen set the second fastest time, with Mostert, McLaughlin and Winterbottom completing the top five, before the session was red flagged when Davies went off at the Chase and became stuck in the sand trap.^[18] As per the qualifying regulations, Davies had his fastest lap time removed and was not permitted to take part in the rest of the session.^[19] The session resumed with 25 minutes remaining and Mostert went to the top of the order with a 2:05.2067. The session was red flagged again with 20 minutes remaining, with de Silvestro getting stuck in the sand trap at the Chase. Like Davies, she had her fastest time removed and was excluded from the rest of the session.^[20]

Jamie Whincup took pole position for the race, having been fastest in both qualifying and the Top 10 Shootout.

After the resumption of the session, Mostert remained at the top of the order until Whincup set a time of 2:05.0481 with two minutes remaining, which would prove to be the fastest time of the session. McLaughlin started his final flying lap just before the end of the session and moved up to second, one tenth of a second slower than Whincup.^[18] Slade was third fastest despite encountering an electrical problem which left him without key information—such as anti-roll bar positions and brake bias—for much of the session.^[21] Mostert, Coulthard, Van Gisbergen, Winterbottom, Pye, Tander and Caruso completed the top ten and progressed through to the Top 10 Shootout along with Whincup, McLaughlin and Slade.^[20] Defending race winner Lowndes qualified in 21st position, having struggled with his car for most of practice.^[22]

Top 10 Shootout

The top ten shootout saw each of the ten drivers complete one flying lap each, in reverse order of their qualifying positions. Having qualified in tenth position, Caruso was the first driver to complete a lap, setting a time of 2:05.9167. Both Tander and Pye were unable to beat Caruso's time, with Tander going 0.0019 seconds faster than Pye. Winterbottom ran wide at the Chase on his lap, setting the slowest time of 2:08.2615. Van Gisbergen went faster than Tander but was still over three tenths of a second slower than Caruso. Caruso's time was finally beaten when Coulthard set a time of 2:05.6726; this was immediately eclipsed by Mostert's time, who went fastest despite running wide on the exit of the Chase. Slade slotted in between Coulthard and Caruso before McLaughlin went to the top, 0.0352 seconds faster than Mostert. Whincup was the final driver to complete a lap and set a time of 2:05.4263 to take pole position by less than a tenth of a second over McLaughlin.^[23] It was the second time Whincup had scored pole position at Bathurst, though he downplayed its importance, saying: "It’s all good stuff, but it doesn’t mean anything, tomorrow’s the big day. There’s no points for qualifying on pole."^[24]

Results

Race 21

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Gap	Grid
1	88	Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.0481		Top 10
2	33	Scott McLaughlin	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Volvo S60	2:05.1512	+0.1031	Top 10
3	14	Tim Slade	Brad Jones Racing	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.1861	+0.1380	Top 10
4	55	Chaz Mostert	Rod Nash Racing	Ford FG X Falcon	2:05.2056	+0.1575	Top 10
5	12	Fabian Coulthard	DJR Team Penske	Ford FG X Falcon	2:05.2284	+0.1803	Top 10
6	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.2350	+0.1869	Top 10
7	1	Mark Winterbottom	Prodrive Racing Australia	Ford FG X Falcon	2:05.3394	+0.2913	Top 10
8	17	Scott Pye	DJR Team Penske	Ford FG X Falcon	2:05.4626	+0.4145	Top 10
9	2	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.5825	+0.5344	Top 10
10	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	2:05.5907	+0.5426	Top 10
11	8	Jason Bright	Brad Jones Racing	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.6666	+0.6185	11
12	111	Chris Pither	Super Black Racing	Ford FG X Falcon	2:05.6806	+0.6325	12
13	6	Cameron Waters	Prodrive Racing Australia	Ford FG X Falcon	2:05.7948	+0.7467	13
14	9	David Reynolds	Erebus Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.8381	+0.7900	14
15	18	Lee Holdsworth	Charlie Schwerkolt Racing	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.9417	+0.8936	15
16	22	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.9937	+0.9456	16
17	19	Will Davison	Tekno Autosports	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.9941	+0.9460	17
18	96	Dale Wood	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	2:06.0319	+0.9838	18
19	7	Todd Kelly	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	2:06.0573	+1.0092	19
20	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	2:06.1815	+1.1334	20
21	888	Craig Lowndes	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore	2:06.2289	+1.1808	21
22	222	Nick Percat	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore	2:06.2708	+1.2227	22
23	34	James Moffat	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Volvo S60	2:06.2778	+1.2297	23
24	21	Tim Blanchard	Britek Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore	2:06.4516	+1.4035	24
25	3	Andre Heimgartner	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore	2:07.1142	+2.0661	25
26	360	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	2:09.66821a	+4.6201	26
27	4	Shae Davies	Erebus Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore	2:19.38451b	+14.3364	27
Source:[20]

Notes

• ^1 — Drivers had their fastest lap time invalidated for causing a red flag.

Top 10 Shootout

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Gap	Grid
1	88	Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.4263		1
2	33	Scott McLaughlin	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Volvo S60	2:05.4915	+0.0652	2
3	55	Chaz Mostert	Rod Nash Racing	Ford FG X Falcon	2:05.5267	+0.1005	3
4	12	Fabian Coulthard	DJR Team Penske	Ford FG X Falcon	2:05.6726	+0.2463	4
5	14	Tim Slade	Brad Jones Racing	Holden VF Commodore	2:05.8568	+0.4305	5
6	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	2:05.9167	+0.4904	6
7	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore	2:06.2550	+0.8287	7
8	2	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team	Holden VF Commodore	2:06.5538	+1.1275	8
9	17	Scott Pye	DJR Team Penske	Ford FG X Falcon	2:06.5557	+1.1294	9
10	1	Mark Winterbottom	Prodrive Racing Australia	Ford FG X Falcon	2:08.2615	+2.8352	10
Source:[23]

Race

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Car	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	19	Will Davison Jonathon Webb	Tekno Autosports	Holden VF Commodore	161	6:19:25.3237	17	300
2	97	Shane van Gisbergen Alexandre Prémat	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore	161	+0.1 s	7	276
3	222	Nick Percat Cameron McConville	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore	161	+2.9 s	22	258
4	6	Cameron Waters Jack Le Brocq	Prodrive Racing Australia	Ford FG X Falcon	161	+3.2 s	13	240
5	17	Scott Pye Tony D'Alberto	DJR Team Penske	Ford FG X Falcon	161	+3.8 s	9	222
6	12	Fabian Coulthard Luke Youlden	DJR Team Penske	Ford FG X Falcon	161	+4.0 s	4	204
7	14	Tim Slade Ashley Walsh	Brad Jones Racing	Holden VF Commodore	161	+4.2 s	5	192
8	23	Michael Caruso Dean Fiore	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	161	+6.1 s	6	180
9	96	Dale Wood David Russell	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	161	+8.4 s	18	168
10	21	Tim Blanchard Macauley Jones	Britek Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore	161	+8.9 s	24	156
11	88	Jamie Whincup Paul Dumbrell	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore	161	+9.7 s	1	144
12	111	Chris Pither Richie Stanaway	Super Black Racing	Ford FG X Falcon	161	+16.4 s	12	138
13	22	James Courtney Jack Perkins	Holden Racing Team	Holden VF Commodore	161	+19.2 s	16	132
14	360	Simona de Silvestro Renee Gracie	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	159	+2 Laps	26	126
15	33	Scott McLaughlin David Wall	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Volvo S60	159	+2 Laps	2	120
16	888	Craig Lowndes Steven Richards	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore	156	+5 Laps	21	114
17	4	Shae Davies Chris van der Drift	Erebus Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore	156	+5 Laps	27	108
18	9	David Reynolds Craig Baird	Erebus Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore	148	+13 Laps	14	102
19	55	Chaz Mostert Steve Owen	Rod Nash Racing	Ford FG X Falcon	147	+14 Laps	3	96
Ret	7	Todd Kelly Matt Campbell	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	157	Stuck in sand trap	19
Ret	15	Rick Kelly Russell Ingall	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	156	Accident damage	20
Ret	2	Garth Tander Warren Luff	Holden Racing Team	Holden VF Commodore	150	Accident damage	8
Ret	1	Mark Winterbottom Dean Canto	Prodrive Racing Australia	Ford FG X Falcon	132	Brakes	10
Ret	3	Andre Heimgartner Aaren Russell	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore	114	Transaxle	25
Ret	34	James Moffat James Golding	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Volvo S60	108	Engine	23
Ret	8	Jason Bright Andrew Jones	Brad Jones Racing	Holden VF Commodore	89	Accident	11
Ret	18	Lee Holdsworth Karl Reindler	Charlie Schwerkolt Racing	Holden VF Commodore	2	Engine	15

Championship standings after the event

• After Race 21 of 29. Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Shane van Gisbergen 2524 2 Jamie Whincup 2385 3 Craig Lowndes 2205 2 4 Will Davison 2112 1 5 Scott McLaughlin 2084

Teams' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Triple Eight Race Engineering 4919 2 Holden Racing Team 3358 2 3 Prodrive Racing Australia 3166 1 4 Garry Rogers Motorsport 3111 2 5 DJR Team Penske 3110

References