KLIEN JOINS “THE ENFORCER” FOR V8 ENDUROS

Austrian Formula One driver Christian Klien will co-drive with Russell Ingall at the V8 Supercar Endurance races at Sandown and Bathurst this year. Klien, who made 41 F1 starts for teams including Jaguar and Red Bull will drive the Supercheap Autos Commodore with the two time Bathurst winner. The 1000 kms enduro around the Mountain won't be Klien's first look at the famous track, earlier this year he drove a production Lotus at the famous circuit although that's a long way  from the 640 BHP that he'll need to deal with in the Commodore. Although he is best known in Australia for his F1 career, Klien has considerable endurance experience with a best result of a third place at Le Mans in the factory Peugeot in 2008. Klien had a secret test with Walkinshaw Racing recently and will drive the Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore in the enduro co-driver practice session at Phillip Island this Friday ahead of the weekend's fifth round of the V8 Supercar Championship, the Phillip Island 300.

INSANE BATHURST SKATE BOARD ACTION

AUDI ON POLE TO DEFEND BATHURST 12 HOUR CROWN

Defending Champion Audi will start from pole position for tomorrows Bathurst 12 Hour race at Mount Panorama. The Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS with 2011 winners Christopher Mies, Daryl O’Young and newcomer Christer Jens set the best three-driver aggregate time today to take pole position, their 6 minutes 28.65 seconds enough to edge out a pair [...]

HOLDEN WIN BATHURST AGAIN

Holden Racing Team drivers Garth Tander and rookie Nick Percat have taken a thrilling win in the 2011 Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama. Tander held off the challenge of a fast finishing Craig Lowndes to win by less than a second. With only one lap remaining Lowndes, last years race winner, was right on the tail of [...]

TANDER QUICKEST ON THE MOUNTAIN AS HOLDWORTH IS PENALISED

Holden Racing Team driver Garth Tander has set the pace for this weekend's Bathurst 1000 with fastest time in Friday's final Qualifying session. Tander will be the final runner in Saturday's single flying lap shootout for the top ten after taking his HRT Commodore around the Mountain in 2:07:664. Mark Winterbottom gave Ford fans hope by setting the day's second quickest time with a 2:07:718. The 2010 pole sitter knows that while there is great prestige and some handy prize money for pole, it counts for little come Sunday. "I'd love to be on pole position and it is a big thing, so we'll try and put it on pole and try and lead the race on Sunday and see how we go." Series leader Jamie Whincup placed his car third after hard work from his crew after he put the car into the wall in morning practice. Fourth place went to David Reynolds setting the time on the final lap of qualifying. "I threw it on the line, chucked it down the hill, stomped out of it on Conrod and ended up P4." said an emotional Reynolds.

RAIN DAMPENS BATHURST PRACTICE

Thursday's practice session at a wet Mount Panorama has been cancelled due to a dispute over wet weather tyres. Two different batches of the control Dunlop tyres are present at the track, leading to concerns by some teams that one batch could be better than another, giving the teams that use them an unfair advantage. According to the website Speedcafe.com, unattributed "Paddock speculation" is suggesting that the newer of the two batches could prove up to four seconds per lap faster than the older tyres. Teams have now agreed to new regulations that will see them restricted to using just five sets of wet weather tyres in the race. The original supplementary race regulations stated that an unlimited amount of wet tyres could be used. Weather Reports for the weekend indicate wet and cold conditions will continue with heavy overnight fog and the chance of afternoon storms over the weekend.

ASTON MARTIN ON TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

Tony Quinn in an Aston Martin DBRS9 has claimed pole position for Race 1 of the Vodka O Australian GT Championship Round 5 to be held at the Mount Panorama Bathurst circuit tomorrow. Quinn pitted the Aston late in Friday's 20 minute qualifying session to put on new tyres and returned to the circuit to post a lap time of 2:11.6688 putting him on pole ahead of the second fastest man David Wall in a Porsche Cup S. Third on the grid went to the second of the VIP Petfoods cars - the Mosler of Klark Quinn with a best time of 2:12.4392. The Cup S Porsches of James Koundouris (2:12.5467) and Max Twigg (2:12.7413) filled slots four and five with the sixth fastest time in the qualifying session being claimed by the Lamborghini Gallardo of Peter Hackett (2:12.7911) ahead of the Dodge Viper of Greg Crick (2:14.6662).

BRIGHT START AT BATHURST AS LOWNDES BEATS THE PERFECT LAP

It was the stuff of which motor racing legends are made, Greg Murphy's perfect lap at Bathurst in 2003. Despite all the so-called advances in race car preparation, technology and tyres no one could top that remarkable lap. Until Today. Craig Lowndes propelled himself into the ranks of Mountain legends with a stunning two minutes, 06.8012 seconds lap to beat Murphy's time of 2:06.8594. "Everyone's been talking about it for a long time and finally now we've eclipsed it," Lowndes said. "It's great. Is there any more? You always say yes, but to actually go and do it is another thing." Murphy said he was surprised it had taken this long for his record to be broken but he was also quick to point out that it takes nothing away from his pole winning lap. "I did it seven years ago and I did it when I was 1.1 seconds quicker than the next guy when we'd done 2:07s for the first time on the Friday, that's why that's special.

HOLDEN TURNS THE MOUNTAIN RED AS HRT WINS BATHURST

Holden have ended a three year drought at the famous Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama with a sweep of the podium led by Garth Tander & Will Davison. Tander and Davison started from pole but it was far from an all the way win with several challenges through the day. The victory was the second on the mountain for Tander but the first for Davison, the grandson of former multiple Australian Grand Prix winner Lex Davison and the cousin of 2009 Indy lights series runner up James. Earlier it had looked like a dream win for Gary Rogers Motorsport pair David Besnard and Greg Ritter.

MITSUBISHI DOMINATES BATHURST SHOWROOM SHOWDOWN

Mitsubishi Lancers have dominated the annual Bathurst 12 hour production car race at the famous Mount Panorama. Defending race champions Damien White & Rod Salmon were joined in their win by two time  Bathurst 1000 winner Tony Longhurst. Second place went to the Western Australian team of Sports Sedan star Tony Ricciardello and his fellow Western Australian team-mates Stuart Kostera and Glyn Crimp. “After four 1000km races, this was my first 12 Hour race and it was a great experience. Reliability wasn’t an issue all weekend and everything ran like clockwork,” said Ricciardello who normally pilots a 700 BHP V8 powered Alfa Romeo in the Australian Sports Sedan Championship. The final spot on the podium went to a late charging Jason Bargwanna for his ProDuct Motorsport team-mate Brad Jones with only a fuel issue in his final pit stop robbing him of what could have been a last minute attempt at second place after he fought to regain a lead lap position. The pair completed 19 pit stops throughout the race due to a fuel issue with their Mitsubishi Lancer, however, using all of their strategic experience to ensure they stayed in contention for the event.  “We just continued to circulate all day, stayed out of trouble, had 19 pit stops due to a fuel pick up problem, also had some boost and electrical dramas, so all in all it is very busy race but it was pleasing to get up here on the podium at Bathurst,” said Bargwanna. Race pole-sitter Steve Owen leading the field away as the 47-car field headed up the Mountain for the 6.30 am start, but his race came to a premature end when his Mitsubishi Lancer endured gearbox problems in the second hour of the race.