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Andrew van Leeuwen

Bathurst 1000: Van Gisbergen/Stanaway take dominant victory

The #97 Red Bull Camaro benefitted from the timing of a lap 27 safety car, having pitted shortly before the caution to jump the sister #88 entry, which had led the race to that point. 

Once in front the double stack proved problematic for the #88, helping the #97 into a commanding position as the race wore on.

A gearshift tower issue would later extinguish the threat from the #88 entirely, while steering concerns for Brodie Kostecki in the closing stages helped van Gisbergen to a 20 second victory.

It marked a third for the NASCAR-bound Kiwi, and a first Great Race crown for Stanaway, who will return to Supercars as a full-timer with Grove Racing next season.

Kostecki cruised to second place alongside David Russell, leaving the Erebus driver well-placed for the title with just two rounds to go. 

His lead is 131 points over van Gisbergen, while Brown, who finished eighth alongside Jack Perkins, is now third thanks to Feeney's mechanical misfortune, albeit 390 points behind.

Feeney, meanwhile, faces an uphill battle for the title, the gap to Kostecki 408 points with just 600 left on the table. 

Anton De Pasquale and Tony D'Alberto rounded out the podium for Dick Johnson Racing, leading a quartet of Fords on a weekend when parity was firmly in the spotlight. 

The second half of the race started with Stanaway stalking race leader David Russell.

The gap got down to well within a second when Russell took to the lane for a fourth stop on lap 90, handing over the car to Kostecki for the run to the flag.

Two laps later two of the lead group peeled into the pits, one being Jamie Whincup, who had worked his way up to third, and the other being D'Alberto in fourth. They both handed over to their respective co-drivers Feeney and De Pasquale, who resumed in that order.

On lap 96 Triple Eight decided to pit the race leader, Stanaway handing over to van Gisbergen for the run home. The Kiwi emerged with around 6s in hand over Kostecki, who was in effective second ahead of Will Brown and Feeney – at least until Brown called an early end to the stint and hit the lane.

That gap between van Gisbergen and Kostecki steadily grew to over 10 seconds across the stint with another eight seconds back to Feeney in third place.

That's how things stood when Kostecki stopped on lap 115, with Feeney following suit a lap later and managing to get back out ahead of the #99 entry. 

Van Gisbergen waited another three laps before stopping for fuel, tyres and brakes, a clean stop helping him back out nine seconds ahead of Feeney and 11 seconds clear of Kostecki. 

Initially there were concerns over the #97 with van Gisbergen reporting a soft brake pedal back to the Triple Eight garage. 

At the same time Feeney reduced the deficit to van Gisbergen from that nine seconds down to five seconds. After a handful of laps, however, van Gisbergen returned to a rhythm and stabilised the gap back to his teammate.

On lap 137 there was heartbreak for Feeney as a solid second place, and ongoing hopes of a win, were both dashed by a gearbox failure down Conrod Straight. Feeney rolled back to the pits where he cut a distraught figure in the car as the crew attempted running repairs.

He would eventually return to the race but 20 laps down. 

By lap 145 the gap between van Gisbergen and Kostecki was 16 seconds, the latter then peeling into the lane for this final stop.

Van Gisbergen waited another three laps to do likewise, returning with his comfortable lead well and truly in tact.

Both drivers complained of steering issues during that last stint, however both made it to the finish, van Gisbergen 20 seconds clear of Kostecki and 33 seconds clear of De Pasquale.

Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth were the second best of the Fords in fourth, the pair having fought back from a tough first stint in admirable fashion.

David Reynolds and Garth Tander fought back from their early drive-through to finish fifth ahead of James Courtney/Zak Best, who survived a gnarly moment at Skyline midway through the race. 

Bryce Fullwood/Dean Fiore ended up seventh for Brad Jones Racing, with Brown/Perkins eighth after starting from 17th and copping multiple double stacks.

Jack Le Brocq/Jayden Ojeda finished ninth for Matt Stone Racing with James Golding/Dylan O'Keeffe rounding out the top 10.

The 2023 Repco Supercars season continues with its penultimate round on the Gold Coast on the last weekend in October.

Race results:

 Cla   Nº   Driver   Entrant / Car / Engine   Laps  Gap
1 97  S.van Gisbergen
Richie Stanaway
Red Bull Ampol Racing
Chevrolet
161  
2 99  Brodie Kostecki
David Russell
Coca-Cola Racing by Erebus
Chevrolet
161 19.9326
3 11  A.De Pasquale
Tony D'Alberto
Shell V-Power Racing Team
Ford
161 33.0567
4 25  Chaz Mostert
Lee Holdsworth
Walkinshaw Andretti United
Ford
161 42.8327
5 26  David Reynolds
Garth Tander
Penrite Racing
Ford
161 49.0605
6 James Courtney
Zak Best
Tickford Racing
Ford
161 56.9839
7 14  Bryce Fullwood
Dean Fiore
Brad Jones Racing
Chevrolet
161 58.0307
8 William Brown
Jack Perkins
Coca-Cola Racing by Erebus
Chevrolet
161 1'02.9565
9 34  Jack Le Brocq
Jayden Ojeda
Truck Assist Racing
Chevrolet
161 1'13.8983
10 31  James Golding
Dylan O'Keeffe
Nulon Racing
Chevrolet
161 1'15.8046
11 19  Matthew Payne
Kévin Estre
Penrite Racing
Ford
161 1'19.4882
12 55  Tom Randle
Garry Jacobson
Castrol Racing
Ford
161 1'22.9787
13 23  Tim Slade
Jonathon Webb
Nulon Racing
Chevrolet
161 1'44.0830
14 Nick Percat
Fabian Coulthard
Walkinshaw Andretti United
Ford
161 1'48.1040
15 35  Cameron Hill
Jaylyn Robotham
Truck Assist Racing
Chevrolet
161 2'03.7188
16 17  Will Davison
Alex Davison
Shell V-Power Racing Team
Ford
161 2'04.9219
17 20  Scott Pye
Warren Luff
Team 18
Chevrolet
160 1 lap /18.3012
18 56  Declan Fraser
Tyler Everingham
Tradie Racing
Ford
160 1 lap /52.8003
19 Aaron Love
Jake Kostecki
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford
160 1 lap /55.9409
20 98  Kai Allen
S.de Silvestro
Shell V-Power Racing Team
Ford
160 1 lap /1'28.9407
21 Jack Smith
Jaxon Evans
SCT Logistics
Chevrolet
157 4 laps /17.6769
22 96  Macauley Jones
Jordan Boys
Pizza Hut Racing
Chevrolet
149 12 laps /45.3029
23 88  Broc Feeney
Jamie Whincup
Red Bull Ampol Racing
Chevrolet
142 19 laps /1'48.4694
24 888  Craig Lowndes
Zane Goddard
Supercheap Auto Racing
Chevrolet
141 20 laps /6.1495
  18  M.Winterbottom
Michael Caruso
Team 18
Chevrolet
160 Retirement
  Todd Hazelwood
Tim Blanchard
CoolDrive Racing
Ford
156 Retirement
  Cameron Waters
James Moffat
Tickford Racing
Ford
70 Retirement
  A.Heimgartner
Dale Wood
Brad Jones Racing
Chevrolet
68 Retirement
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