Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup have teamed up to win a dramatic Bathurst 1000 car race, nudging out Holden duo of Todd and Rick Kelly by half a second to claim the inaugural Peter Brock Trophy. The Team Betta Electrical drivers secured Ford their first win at Mt. Panorama since 1998.

The victory was the first for Whincup and the second for Lowndes who had previously won in 1996.

The Bathurst 1000 is the most prestigious race on the Australian V8 Supercar calendar and is one of Australia’s most famous sporting events. The race is held annually at the Mt. Panorama racetrack near the town of Bathurst, New South Wales. This year’s race attracted one of the largest crowds in the event's history as fans of both Holden and Ford flocked to “The Mountain” to pay their respects to nine time Bathurst winner Peter Brock. Brock, effectionally known as the “King of the Mountain” died last month in Western Australia in a rally accident.

Sunday morning pre-race was dedicated to the memory of Brock with a parade of the vehicle he drove in his Bathurst successes, with speeches from family and friends. The front row of the grid was left vacant in a mark of respect for Brock.

Mark Skaife of Holden Racing Team suffered clutch problems at the start and was immediately swamped on the grid. While attempting to drive out the problem, Skaife was hit from behind by rookie Jack Perkins, ending the race of both drivers. Skaife’s accident was a major blow for co-driver Garth Tander’s championship hopes.

Another favourite Jason Bright held the lead briefly until engine trouble end his campaign.

Mt. Panorama can be an unforgiving circuit that leaves little margin for error and this year’s race was a particularly gruelling affair with the safety car called out ten times and for lengthy periods of the race. Fourteen of the 31 starters failed to finish. The most spectacular crash of day came from Team Kiwi Racing’s Paul Radisich who was squeezed off the track and hit the safety barrier at high speed. Radisich had to be cut from the vehicle but luckily sustained no serious injury.

The safety car was to have a major bearing on the race as it kept the field bundled together and not allowing the frontrunners to break clear. After Cameron McConville crashed out in his Super Cheap Auto Racing Commodore it was clear that the two stand-out teams were the Team Betta Electrical Falcon of Lowndes and Whincup and the Toll HSV Dealer Team Commodore of the Kelly brothers.

Whincup drove brilliantly in his final stint at the wheel, handing Lowndes the biggest lead of the race so far. Rick Kelly drove equally as well and began to slowly eat into Lowndes’ lead. The pair were brought back to level pegging once more when the safety car came out for the tenth and final time after Jason Richards flew across the track and into the sand bank at 300km/h with only a handful of laps remaining. Upon the restart to normal racing, Lowndes showed his experience and class to hold on for the narrow victory. The battle for third was even more thrilling with Jeld-Wen Motorsport’s James Courtney edging out Caltex Racing’s Russell Ingall by 0.0056 seconds.

It was an emotional victory for Lowndes who was a close a close friend of Peter Brock. Brock had been a mentor to Lowndes during his early days on the circuit in the mid-1990’s when Lowndes was a Holden driver and Lowndes even drove in the parade of Brock’s vehicles before the race.

Results – Top Ten
1 Lowndes/Whincup (Team Betta Electrical) – Ford 6:59:53.5852
2. R.Kelly/T.Kelly (Toll HSV Dealer Team) – Holden 6:59:54.1720
3. Courtney/Seton (Jeld-Wen Motorsport) – Ford 7:00:03.1256
4. Ingall/Youlden (Caltex Racing) – Ford 7:00:03.1312
5. Dumbrell/S.Richards (Jack Daniels Racing) – Holden 7:00:04.3759
6. S.Ellery/P.Morris (Team Sirromet Wines) – Holden 7:00:07.9750
7. Longhurst/Owen (Autobarn Racing) – Holden 7:00:11.3233
8. N.Pretty/P.Weel (Super Cheap Auto Racing) – Holden 7:00:13.1540
9. Davison/Denyer (APVC Racing) – Ford 7:00:13.6298
10. Baird/Bargwanna (WPS Racing) – Ford 7:00:16.0367