Bathurst 1000: Reynolds/Youlden take chaotic victory

Having been in the hunt all day, the #9 Erebus Commodore had to survive a number of late Safety Car periods, a tricky switch to slick tyres, and a fuel economy race to take an incredible Bathurst win.

The key was the second-last restart of the day, on Lap 145 of 161. Reynolds, sitting fourth in the queue behind Shane van Gisbergen, Garth Tander, and Nick Percat, watched the seas part for him even before the race had restarted.

With some light rain falling on pitlane, and the entire field having switched to slicks, leader van Gisbergen and Tander both ran wide at the last corner.

That gave Percat a surprise lead, with Reynolds hot on his heels in the tricky damp conditions. The pair staged a brief, but unforgiving, battle for the lead, Reynolds barging his way past and into the lead on the second lap.

He quickly built the lead out to six seconds, before the likes of a recovering van Gisbergen started to make in-roads.

But when van Gisbergen had a high-speed off at The Chase trying to pass Scott Pye for second place on Lap 151, the #97 Red Bull Holden’s day was done.

Another Safety Car, to recover Simona de Silvestro’s crashed Nissan from the main straight, alleviated any fuel concerns for Reynolds, but put Pye and Percat hot on his heels.

However, Reynolds wasn’t going to be beaten, quickly stretching a gap after the Lap 156 restart to secure a stunning Bathurst 1000 win for the minnow Erebus squad.

“I’ve got nothing left to give, I am absolutely spent,” said Reynolds. “Man it was just a perfect day, it’s so good.”

“It’s taken a long time, but to do it with Dave, to do it with this team, unbelievable feeling,” added Youlden, who won at his 18th attempt at the Great Race.

Scott Pye and Warren Luff came home second, the #02 HSV Commodore making up ground through the Safety Cars late in the race.

After they started way back in 20th, it was actually Luff’s blinding first stint against the main drivers that put the car into contention, before a safe passage through the carnage secured a well-earned podium finish.

Fabian Coulthard and Tony D’Alberto finished third, having emerged as contenders thanks to having stopped twice under the Lap 134 Safety Car to take on extra fuel. It meant Coulthard could run hard to the finish, and might have done even better had it not been for the additional two cautions at the end.

Dale Wood and Chris Pither capped off a remarkable day for Erebus with fourth place, while van Gisbergen recovered to fifth. It looked like he was only going to make it to sixth, only for Mark Winterbottom, running fifth, to slam into the wall on the penultimate lap.

That rounded out what finished up being a terrible race for Prodrive Racing, with Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert both caught up in the Lap 145 restart carnage. It was particularly costly for Mostert, who was well and truly in contention for victory, and could have at least made huge strides in his title bid. He and Steve Owen finished back in 10th.

What could have been a game-changer of a day for the title fight was somewhat neutralised by engine dramas for Jamie Whincup in the final third of the race.

With Scott McLaughlin and Alex Premat already out thanks to their Lap 76 retirement due to an engine problem, Whincup was set to take over as the championship leader.

But that all came crashing down on Lap 121 when Whincup was forced into the garage with a power plant issue of his own. He made a brief reappearance after going five laps down, but was quickly back in the pits.

He did reappear late in the race so he’d be classified, coming home 24th and 37 laps off the lead.

There was still a change in the lead of the standings, as Coulthard is now on top with 2431 points. Whincup is 91 points behind in second, six points clear of former leader McLaughlin.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Time
1	9	David Reynolds  Luke Youlden	Holden Commodore VF	161
2	2	Warren Luff    Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	161	3.8995
3	12	Tony D'Alberto    Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	161	4.5913
4	99	Dale Wood    Chris Pither	Holden Commodore VF	161	6.3450
5	97	Shane van Gisbergen   Matt Campbell	Holden Commodore VF	161	10.6260
6	23	Michael Caruso    Dean Fiore	Nissan Altima	161	13.6874
7	20	Todd Kelly    Jack Le Brocq	Nissan Altima	161	24.3004
8	56	Jason Bright    Garry Jacobson	Ford Falcon FG-X	161	28.1647
9	14	Tim Slade    Ash Walsh	Holden Commodore VF	161	29.6276
10	55	Steven Owen    Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG-X	161	59.3060
11	888	Steven Richards    Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	160	1 lap
12	21	Tim Blanchard    Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore VF	160	1 lap
13	15	Rick Kelly    David Wall	Nissan Altima	159	2 laps
14	19	Jonathon Webb    Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	159	2 laps
15	62	Alex Davison    Alex Rullo	Holden Commodore VF	159	2 laps
16	6	Richie Stanaway    Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG-X	159	2 laps
17	3	Aaren Russell    Taz Douglas	Holden Commodore VF	154	7 laps
18	33	Garth Tander    James Golding	Holden Commodore VF	152	9 laps
19	22	James Courtney    Jack Perkins	Holden Commodore VF	147	14 laps
20	88	Jamie Whincup    Paul Dumbrell	Holden Commodore VF	124	37 laps
	8	Nick Percat    Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore VF	160	1'18.4188
	5	Mark Winterbottom    Dean Canto	Ford Falcon FG-X	159
	78	Simona de Silvestro    David Russell	Nissan Altima	152
	34	James Moffat    Richard Muscat	Holden Commodore VF	141
	18	Lee Holdsworth    Karl Reindler	Holden Commodore VF	76
	17	Alexandre Prémat    Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG-X	74