Jamie Whincup’s dream ruined by running out of petrol in Bathurst 1000

AN all-time classic edition of the Bathurst 1000 finished with Ford’s Chaz Mostert being crowned King Of The Mountain.

Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris of Ford Performance Racing winners the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, Event 11 of the 2014 Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series at the Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst, New South Wales, October 12, 2014.

AN all-time classic edition of the Bathurst 1000 finished with Ford’s Chaz Mostert being crowned King Of The Mountain after a ferocious eight-hour battle underpinned by two of the greatest causes of angst for anyone who’s ever set off for a Sunday afternoon drive — roadworks and running on empty.

The safety car appeared 10 times. Then the safety car was damaged. Eight cars were retired. Mount Panorama’s track crumbled near Turn 2. Multiple crashes. Proceedings were delayed for an hour while the tarmac was repaired. Epoxy on your circuit: it was the first time the 1000km battle had been halted because of a shonky track.

Fast forward … Holden’s Jamie Whincup was home and hosed. But his petrol was running low. His team screamed down the radio: conserve fuel! He was unable to conserve fuel because he couldn’t hear them. Mostert pounced. The 22-year-old snatched the chequered flag before Whincup crawled over the line in fifth place and only narrowly avoided having to push his car to the post.

The 22-year-old Mostert and co-driver Paul Morris had started from the 26th and last place on the grid. Mostert led the race only once, the only time that mattered, when Whincup was running on fumes on the final lap. No driver had won the redheads’ dream event from further back than 19th, a feat achieved by the late and great Peter Brock.

“A rocket ship of a car,” he said.

With 11 laps to go, when the debris was clearing and it was becoming possible to make some sense of it all, Holden’s Shane van Gisbergen was romping home until he stalled in pit lane and was unable to continue.

Ford’s Mark Winterbottom, Holden’s Craig Lowndes and Whincup seemed certain to duke it out until Lowndes clipped Winterbottom. Lowndes was penalised and came 10th. Winterbottom finished sixth. With two laps to go, Whincup’s engineer delivered the bad news: “We’re not going to make it.”

Mostert knew Whincup’s machine was running out of breath.

“The last five laps all I could think of was, ‘Cough, you bastard, cough!”’ he said.

“I had to have a crack and we pulled it off. It’s unbelievable. Everything went our way.”

Turn 2 caused havoc. Cars were dented. Race prospects remained intact. Nissan co-driver Taz Douglas twice went into the wall at Griffins Bend. He ended up on the podium.

The Fords of Morris (the winning car) and Scott Pye followed him in. It was carnage. Loose chunks of asphalt were on the approach to the high-speed corner.

“As soon as I was on those marbles, I was just a passenger,” Douglas said. “I knew that I was going to be a little bit off line, so I slowed right down, and even on the marbles there’s nothing you can do. I was actually out there in my stint thinking ‘Geez, I’m glad I won’t be driving the car at the end.”

Douglas and Nissan’s James Moffat recovered to finish second. Moffatt is the son of four-time Bathurst winner Allan Moffat. His eyes grew wide as Lowndes, Winterbottom and Whincup hit the skids thanks to their late-race penalties, crashes and fuel shortages.

“I can’t believe we stuck the car twice in the fence and ended up second at Bathurst,” Moffatt said.

Whincup’s garage started pleading with him via the radio to start conserving fuel with three laps to go. He was leading Mostert by three seconds. Whincup, however, kept the pedal to the metal. More messages from the garage. No! No! Conserve! With one-and-a-half laps to negotiate, Whincup was informed he only had enough gas for one more lap. He held on, he held on, the smell of an oily rag. He couldn’t hold on for long enough. Mostert was the King of the Mountain at his second attempt. It was Morris’s 22nd climb to the peak. Made it.