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This race comes but once a year and now is that time. Bathurst is the Pinnacle of V8 racing and any driver could only dream of racing “The Mountain”. Before the event started there was a drivers briefing where drivers were introduced to each other over Skype. This was a good way of putting a face to the names that they have been racing with over the current V8 Season.

Qually:

It was a quick 10 min Qually and the top dogs meant business. Michael Palladino threw the first punch by posting a 1:59.391 on his opening lap. This was followed by David Lord and Iain Salteri who posted times in the low 2 Min’s. Lord Managed to break the 2 min mark but it was not enough to take Pole. At the end of the session it was Palladino on pole, David Lord 2^nd and Iain Salteri starting from P3.

Race:

As the crowd roars the green lights shun bright. It was Jason brooks who got a good start but David Lord would lead them up Mountain straight.Martin Steel spins it off the line and breaks the front spoiler forcing him to pit on lap 1. Michael Palladino had a mark Webber moment and is now fighting for position back in P6 with Tim Hamilton and Michael Goode. 2 laps down and Lord spins on the cutting but does well to only lose 2 spots promoting Jason Brooks to the lead with Salteri close behind.

David Lord’s bad luck continues as he accidentally pressed his pit limiter and received a drive through penalty for speeding in pit lane. He soon retires as he is put a lap down early in the race. 10 laps down and Palladino who hasn’t yet pitted has made his way to the front with a dominating 13 sec lead ahead of Tim Hamilton and Nigel Faull. They and Rob cooper in P4 are the only ones yet to pit. As I say that Tim Hamilton has re-joined the circuit after pitting with Salteri hot on his tail heading up Mountain straight. In the mid field and Darren Chisholm is forced to retire due to back spasms. Time for some Magnesium tablets I think before the next enduro.

Further into the race and Salteri clips the wall pretty hard going through Reid Park and veers straight into the wall on the approach to the esses. He then has to pit for new front wing. While pitting he replaced the wrong set of tyres and is forced to re-pit for fresh rubber. This has put him a lap down and out of contention.’

Lap 25 and Michael Goode has a major stack and is creeping along at only 40km/k up through the cutting. The stewards had no choice but to bring out the Safety Car. A welcome relief to some drivers as this gave some respite to this enthralling race. The field have pitted and caught the Safety Car but Michael Goode is yet to catch the field. He finally pits and the crew do a fantastic job to bring him back on the lead lap.

The Safety is in and they are off…. Brooksie has copped a stop/go penalty in the meantime for over taking the car in front while going into pitlane under yellow. As he can only serve this under green it is unlikely that this will put him out of contention.

Michael Palladino pits for his last set of tyres as the set wouldn’t last the last green run of 14 laps. This puts Tim Hamilton up into the lead with an advantage of over 16 seconds. After Brooks serves his penalty earlier he has managed to fight his way back in P6 and fighting Enda Murphy for P5. Brooks finally gets the job done under brakes into the chase on Lap 35.

With 5 laps to go Hamilton only has a 5 second lead over Palladino. Hamilton has not pitted since the Safety Car and is now costing him nearly 7 seconds a lap. In the meantime Martin Ortega retires as his pit crew made some setup changes that did not suit his driving style. Hamilton is now struggling to keep the car on the circuit as his tyres are wearing off rapidly. It doesn’t take long for Palladino to make the move into the lead. All Hamilton has to do now is keep it on the track but a great drive from Nigel Faull sees him claim P2 pretty quickly. Last lap and Hamilton is down to 3 tyres and about to lose another. Brooksy is charging hard and makes up 5 seconds across the top of the mountain catching Hamilton down Conrod straight. Hamilton’s eyes are now fixed on his rear view mirror as Murphy is charging hard out of the chase. There was nothing Hamilton could do as he now lost the rears and spins on Murrays corner conceding P4 to Enda Murphy. A great drive but his decision not to pit has cost him dearly. Hamilton crosses the line with sparks flying taking out P5. 

Congratulations to the two Golden Ticket receipients for the V8 League:

Gold Coast: Michael Goode

Sydney: David Lord

Results: