Skaife & Longhurst win Bathurst for Holden© Philip Northeast
Oct 12, 2001
Changeable weather played an important role in the Great Race for 2001. At times one
section of track would be wet while the majority of the track remained dry. Localised
heavy showers and occasional hail made sections of the track treacherous at times but too
much of the track remained dry for wet tryes to survive. The problem for the drivers was
that they would go over a crest or around a bend on dry track at full race pace and
suddenly come onto a wet section of track without warning. This caught some very high
profile drivers out while leading. Craig Lowndes got the Gibson Falcon entangled in a
tyre wall on lap 87 (there's one for Oz cricket fans) and having driven brilliantly through
these conditions to take the lead, veteran Larry Perkins came off a drying track and got
surprised by a wet pit access road. He spun into a wall, ruining the front air dam, the
team's chances of victory and Russell Ingall's Shell title hopes.
Holden Racing Team's Skaife and Longhurst emerged unscathed and triumphant from
the difficult conditions: The team had a very definite strategy and they executed it well.
For most of the race they concentrated on looking after the car, staying out of trouble and
saving fuel. The intention was to avoid having to make a last minute 'splash and dash'
stop for fuel. Skaife, with plenty of reassurance from the team in the pit, managed to
suppress his racer's instincts and let other front runners past, rather than battle for
meaningless positions in the early stages. After the last series of pitstops Skaife was let
off the leash and he sprinted clear of the chasing pack. He had no trouble responding to
the strong challenge from the OzEmail Falcon.
. "It was a great race by Brad, I really had to race hard at the end and not make a single mistake to hold him
off. It was one of the best wins I have been involved with as the wet-dry conditions meant it was just so easy
to put it into the fence." Skaife said after the race.
Even though Skaife and Longhurst are previous winners of the great race it was their first
win here in a V8 Supercar. Their other victories had been under different touring car
rules; Skaife won in the awesome turbo charged Nissan Skyline "Godzilla" and
Longhurst in a turbo Ford Sierra.
Go To Page:
1
2
3
|
