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Insight News Mark Walker October 18, 2020 (Comments off) (590)

HOT TAKE: JUST ANOTHER GREAT RACE

ANOTHER day, another remarkable Great Race, not that that piece of news should come as a particular surprise. Here’s our immediate reaction from another day of high drama, and everything else, that the great Mountain delivered.

WORDS: Richard Craill
IMAGE: Mark Horsburgh / Supercars
TWITTER COMPILE: Mark Walker

THIS WAS the day the asterisk was removed from Shane van Gisbergen’s career CV.

It was the day Garth Tander joined a list of rare elites with a fourth Bathurst triumph.

It was the day the Holden legacy was appropriately celebrated as the factory team, in its last ever race, defeated a flying Ford in an all-out shootout for a Bathurst win.

It was that, and so much more.

Such is the Great Race.

It’s impossible to know where to begin with a debrief on the 2020 edition of the Great Race, one that was every bit as chaotic, eventful, emotional, satisfying and insane as the year that preceded it.

Shane van Gisbergen’s performance was, frankly, immense. His relentlessness at the end was backed up by his wet weather prowess that elevated the 97 machine to the point earlier in the day in the first place.

We’ve always known Shane was good.. probably really, really good – but the lack of a Bathurst victory on his CV always stood out as a missing element. At 31, there was always time, but having twice finished second by less than a second there must have been times where he doubted.

But that wasn’t the case. Qualifying lap after qualifying lap was punched out by the Kiwi in his final few stints in a property, tension-filled arm wrestle with Cameron Waters. Three times he broke the back of the Mustang driver following restarts; edging just enough of a margin to remove any hint of a tow or any opening of a dive from the Black Ford behind.

What we saw at the end of today’s race – before the pair of chaos-induced Safety Cars – was incredible motorsport, to the point where even Neil Crompton said it was intensity ‘of the likes of which he had never seen before’.

Garth Tander, too, was incredible. Earlier in the weekend we singled out his long-run pace in practice and he backed that up with an immense double stint earlier in the day that set the tone for the remainder of the 97s afternoon.

Tander is now a four-time Bathurst champion; joining just eleven other drivers to have won it four times or more. It’s elite company for an elite driver.

And then there’s the Holden factor. Had it not been for rather more obvious events, Holden’s departure from the Australian landscape would have been perhaps the biggest story of 2020. As a brand they are integral to the status, the stature and the history and heritage of the Bathurst 1000 and Australian Motorsport in itself.

For all the poorly handled PR around their demise over several years, their Supercars epitaph was a good one.

In 20, 30 or 40 years when we reflect on the brand, seeing the Factory Holden Team winning their last ever race – a last ever race at Mount Panorama – will make for a nice full stop in their record books.

What of Waters? Well this was perhaps a career-defining weekend for the young man from Mildura, who has truly come of age in the 2020 season. Ultimately, his No. 6 Monster Mustang couldn’t quite match the remarkable consistency of raw speed that van Gisbergen’s car had across a distance.

Still it was an enormous drive from both he and Will Davison, who was his professional, fast and experienced self.  

What else? Walkinshaw Andretti United have always been strong at Bathurst, but Chaz Mostert and Warren Luff’s drive to third validated the progress that team has made in 2020. And what about Luffy! Six podiums now, from his last nine starts. WAU was quick to secure Bryce Fullwood for 2021 and locking away Luffy for a co-driver role must surely be an immediate priority.

Ultimately, there’s very little I can add that will enhance of expand the narrative of the 2020 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

It was dramatic, entertaining, wildly intense, competitive, emotional, frustrating, controversial and thrilling all at the same time.

Just another Bathurst 1000, then.

And what a race it is.

The Great Race.

SUNDAY BONUS TWEETS

There was just too much content to come out of that race for one article… see below for some of the Tweets from today!

Stay tuned Tuesday morning for our full Hot/Not Power Rankings powered by Yellow Cover – hit us up on the socials with your take of the Great Race via @theracetorque on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

THE BIG QUESTION

HAPPY BATHURST DAY

KELLY ROAD TRIP

GETTING IT DONE FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PLANET

RONA ALERT

ACE STRATEGY

WHO ATE ALL THE PIES?

ANDY JONES EXCITED

ONE DANGEROUS DRINKING GAME

WELCOME REPCO

Mark Walker (administrator)

A vastly experienced Motorsport Public Relations operator, journalist, commentator and photographer, Mark brings his unique angle to The Race Torque in both words and imagery. As well as serving as our key photographer on the ground at major events around Australia (and overseas), Walker will often chime in with his unique and pin-point sharp viewpoint of the racing world via the keyboard too.

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