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Will Davison won the 2016 edition of the Bathurst 1000 in a dramatic finish after Jamie Whincup was hit with a 15-second penalty.
All the wash-up from a dramatic Bathurst:
» Whincup and Holden appeal result
» Match report: Will Davison wins Bathurst 1000
» Complete finishing order – every car, every driver
Jamie Whincup will look to continue holding off the rest of the field and take out his fifth Peter Brock trophy when the greatest race in Australian motorsport, the Bathurst 1000, takes place at Mount Panorama. Join The Roar for live coverage of the 161-lap marathon from 11am (AEDT).
The weekend so far, which has included six practice sessions, qualifying and the top ten shootout has seen Jamie Whincup relinquish control and stamp his authority as the fastest car on the mountain.
While all that becomes redundant today, starting in first position and knowing exactly how quick his car is will be of great advantage for the four-time champion.
He set a blistering speed yesterday to grab pole, knocking Scott McLaughlin out of first – although McLaughlin will still start from the front row of the grid.
Qualifying though, for a 1000 kilometre race, has very little bearing on what will take place over the course of the day and there are plenty of drivers who misses the top ten to look out for.
Shane Van Gisbergen and Mark Winterbottom, both at the bottom end of the top ten, have shown good pace at times over the weekend, while Cameron Waters who is coming from 13th position shouldn’t be overlooked.
While Craig Lowndes has struggled for speed across the course of the weekend, regularly struggling to get up the leaderboard, he can never be passed off as a non-challenger on race day, and on the tenth anniversary of his great mate Brock’s death he will be keener than ever to make something happen.
If Chaz Mostert, who has had pace at different points at this weekend as well won from the back of the grid two years ago, then Lowndes coming from 21st has a chance.
Fortunately for the drivers, there is no rain forecast for the big race and so strategies should be roughly down the straight and narrow in terms of pit stops and driver changes.
Of course, over such a long race plenty of things can happen and go wrong, but it won’t be like Sandown where we were seeing decisions about whether to go on wets or dry tyres – this is Bathurst though and a weather forecast is a weather forecast – not the gospel.
Prediction
It’s incredibly hard to go past Jamie Whincup here. He and Dumbrell have been exceptionally quick and I can’t see them getting beaten. Fabian Coulthard, Van Gisbergen and Winterbottom are the ones to contend for the other spots on the podium.
Be sure to join The Roar for our live coverage all day of the great race, starting at 11am (AEDT) and don’t forget to get involved by dropping a comment in the box below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde