The Bathurst 1000 has been rocked by controversy after king of the mountain Scott McLaughlin's team came under fire for "disgraceful gamesmanship".
Scott McLaughlin is king of the mountain for the first time in his career in a Bathurst 1000 of extraordinary drama.
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The 2019 Bathurst 1000 came down right to the wire when a safety car gave McLaughlin some breathing room with just three laps remaining as rivals Shane van Gisbergen, James Courtney and Jamie Whincup breathed down his neck.
In a fight right to the final corner, McLaughlin held off van Gisbergen by just 0.68 seconds. James Courtney finished third while Jamie Whincup just missed out on a spot on the podium.
"I can't believe I bloody won the Bathurst 1000," McLaughlin said after earlier breaking down in tears immediately after crossing the finish line.
“I have dreamt about this. I put so much pressure on myself to make this a good one but I am so proud of this team.”
The extraordinary finish was overshadowed by three huge moments of drama that earlier saw the race reach boiling point.
On a day of high drama, McLaughlin was able to win his first Bathurst crown as:
Just one of the 161 laps remained by the time the race re-started after the eighth and final safety car left the track, setting up a nail-biting finish. But McLaughlin held out hard-charging fellow New Zealander van Gisbergen, denying the Holden star his first Bathurst win.
It marked the first Bathurst win by McLaughlin’s DJR team since 1994. McLaughlin also extended his series lead over nearest rival van Gisbergen to 622 points.
It looked like a two-horse race with 26 laps to go after McLaughlin’s then third-placed Ford teammate Coulthard controversially slowed down to back up the rest of the field, as the series leader and Whincup raced to their garage for a pit stop during a safety-car period to get much-needed fuel. Coulthard’s move ensured a 13-second gap between van Gisbergen and race leaders Whincup and McLaughlin.
It eliminated van Gisbergen’s 10-second fuel advantage on McLaughlin and Whincup on the run home.
Supercars legend Mark Skaife said after the race that DJR Team Penske had used "gamesmanship" to keep McLaughlin ahead of van Gisbergen during his final pit stop.
THIS IS HUGE.#VASC #Bathurst1000 pic.twitter.com/Q9JGF1R4cw
— Supercars (@supercars) October 13, 2019
"If you want to be glass half empty, you say they purposely slowed the whole field down to create the gap they needed to create to give the buffer they needed versus van Gisbergen," Skaife said.
"But also to give them a buffer to ensure they don’t have to double stack. So if you want to play it all out, clearly there is a five car-length rule that you’re supposed to observe. Clearly that was outside the rules. It was massive gamesmanship and I’m sure the was plenty of controversy from the Red Bull garage next door.
"There was a bit more gamesmanship than what we first thought."
The team radio showed van Gisbergen was filthy about Coulthard's tactics.
"Fabian is going stupidly slow," van Gisbergen said.
"Fabian should get a penalty for that, going stupidly slow. That was shocking."
Leading Ford drivers Waters and Mostert - looming in third and fourth respectively - appeared threats but came into contact, ploughing into the gravel together on lap 124 to prompt a safety car and end their title quest.
Mostert made contact with Waters and both ended up in the gravel at The Chase, much to the disbelief of their livid team bosses in the same Ford garage. Mostert incurred a pit-lane penalty and finished 16th while Waters was 21st in the 26-strong field.
Mostert broke the race lap record in the dying moments, clocking two minutes, 04.76 seconds.
A total of 201,975 people flocked to Mount Panorama over four days.
Here's how it finished:
1 - Scott McLaughlin/ Alex Premat (Ford)
2 - Shane van Gisbergen/ Garth Tander (Holden)
3 - James Courtney/ Jack Perkins (Holden)
4 - Jamie Whincup/ Craig Lowndes (Holden)
5 - David Reynolds/ Luke Youlden (Holden)
6 - Fabian Coulthard/ Tony D'Alberto (Ford)
7 - Mark Winterbottom/Steven Richards (Holden)
8 - Scott Pye/ Warren Luff (Holden)
9 -Rick Kelly/Dale Wood (Nissan)
10 -Lee Holdsworth/ Thomas Randle (Ford)
Scott McLaughlin has held off Shane van Gisbergen in a Bathurst 1000 of extraordinary drama.
Van Gisbergen was breathing down his neck and appeared to make contact as they came through the cutting.
However, McLachlan kept his nerve to cross the line first.
McLaughlin was in tears just seconds after crossing the finish line first.
James Courtney held onto third position ahead of Jamie Whincup.
A chequered flag with three laps remaining appears to have handed the Peter Brock Trophy to Scott McLaughlin.
A yellow flag was called on lap 159 when Andrew Heimgartner went into the wall at Forest Elbow.
The safety car deployment protected McLaughlin from having to surrender the race lead.
With five laps remaining Jamie Whincup – the only lead driver not trying to conserve fuel – sat fourth behind leaders Scott McLaughlin, Shane van Gisbergen and James Courtney.
However, the Red Bull star appeared unable to get past Courtney as the race slipped from his fingers.
The battle for the Bathurst crown came down to McLaughlin and van GIsbergen, who were both conserving fuel – and McLaughlin appeared to have van Gisbergen's number as they duelled across the top of the Mountain.
Fox Sports experts Mark Skaife and Neil Crompton both said leaders Jamie Whincup and Scott McLaughlin can't get home to the finish line without pitting again after trying to go the final 26 laps on one tank.
Whincup led by more than 10 seconds to McLaughlin, but was expected to have to pit one last time.
Scott McLaughlin's engineer told Fox Sports, however, that the Kiwi racer will be able to make it to the finish line without pitting.
"He will make it home, and might have a bit left in the pot," the engineer said.
The drama reached fever pitch on lap 152 when Whincup came into the pits on a safety car to re-fuel, but McLaughlin stayed out and took the race lead.
"That's the biggest call of the race so far," Neil Crompton said.
Whincup re-entered the field in P4 behind James Courtney.
Shane van Gisbergen was left fuming at the moment Fabian Coulthard appeared to stack the grid behind the safety car to give teammate Scott McLachlan clear air ahead of him.
Coulthard's pit lane antics saw him whacked with a drive through penalty which saw him drop from the top five to P14.
However, his decision to park behind McLachlan in pit lane stopped other drivers from moving past.
He was busted holding up the field to allow McLaughlin to pit before he could also arrive for his pit stop at the Shell V-Power Racing Team garage.
A safety car with 26 laps remaining has left teams needing to make an incredibly tough decision of whether to try and go all the way to the finish line without stopping for more fuel.
The teams had 26 laps to go when they pitted, but can only complete 23 laps with a full tank.
Chaz Mostert and Cameron Waters have suffered Bathurst heartbreak after they came together at the end of Conrod straight and went sliding into the sand trap at high speed.
Mostert was trying to get down the inside of his Ford teammate but then made a desperate final switch to attack on the outside of Waters' car.
The two drivers were in the top five at the time of the incident and were on track to finish on the podium.
Mostert ended up thumping into the side of Waters' Mustang, sending both of them sliding into the heavy sand where they were both parked and unable to escape.
"It's a disaster. An absolute disaster for Chaz Mostert," Neil Crompton said.
"They are both buried in the sand. I do not believe it. The respective crews will be ropeable.
"It's turned into a horror story for Chaz Mostert."
Mark Skaife said: "Oh God. Cam Waters will be absolutely fuming."
Waters gave a short interview with Fox Sports after the crash where it was revealed he and his father were both left in tears by the sudden end to his race.
"Just absolutely gutted. No words really, just disappointed," Waters said.
"This is s***, we were tracking along for a podium, we were fuel saving.
"I don’t know what to say, the car was fast, we should have been on the podium.
"It’s just s*** for the team, really."
Jamie Whincup has been ordered to save fuel in a message from his team, despite being under pressure from Scott McLaughlin to keep the lead of the race.
Whincup was told to use just 80 per cent of the throttle down Conrod Straight. It is a sign that Red Bull are running out of fuel, in a moment that is sure to give Whincup nightmares after he famously ran out of fuel in 2014 at Bathurst when he was agonisingly close to winning.
Cameron Waters was also told to conserve fuel.
Shane Van Gisbergen and Fabian Coulthard have been badly hurt by a safety car that's forced them to double stack in pit lane.
The pair were spurned in favour of their teammates during the tight moment when almost the entire field pitted under yellow flags.
"This will burn them," Neil Crompton told Fox Sports.
The high drama came with Jamie Whincup also jumping former leader Scott McLaughlin for the race lead in the pit lane after a lightning stop.
Race leaders Chaz Mostert and Shane van Gisbergen have been badly hurt by a safety car drama which saw them stack up behind the safety car and complete a full lap before coming into the pits.
The mix-up to complete a lap behind the safety car allowed seven cars to go past them before they were able to re-stack under the yellow flag following their pit stops.
They rejoined the race in P9 and P10 before van Gisbergen did a move on Mostert at the re-start.
Dean Fiore's driver window suddenly dropped off his car at the end of Conrod straight.
Fiore had one lap earlier taken heavy contact with a concrete wall.
It finally dislodged his window a full two minutes later when Fiore put the breaks on at the end of the famous Bathurst straight.
"The side window comes out. Look at that. Big damage from that," Mark Skaife said.
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