Regarded as one of the best in the Great Race’s history spanning decades, the 2014 Bathurst 1000 was a race that could represent everything that is good and bad about Australia’s endurance spectacle.

The dizzying highs and the dark, descending lows – 2014’s race had it all, and all the odd bits in between, such as having the race suspended midway through because the track surface needed repairs or the annual visit from the local marsupial in Skippy.

Coming into the race, there was the usual hope for all in participation that they could etch their names into Bathurst folklore. Alas, the Mountain always chooses, rather than the drivers choosing if it would be their day or not.

There was also a championship hanging in the balance too, which the then five-time Supercars champion in Jamie Whincup was in command of by 273 points after a dominant showing at the preceding Sandown 500. Behind him were the usual title hopefuls with the champ’s Red Bull teammate Craig Lowndes hunting his elusive fourth and Mark Winterbottom flying the flag for Ford. He was also the reigning Bathurst winner.

While most profess that at Bathurst, the overall championship is not at the front of their thoughts, the large chunk of points that can be scored as a result of placing high can bolster positions in the standings. Plus there’s the Enduro Cup, which Whincup and his co-driver Paul Dumbrell led heading into the Great Race.

Anyone thinking that the Triple Eight duo would have it easy was forced to rethink that sentiment after Whincup binned his Red Bull Commodore at the Cutting during qualifying. Rather than contesting the Top Ten Shootout, as the Whincup entry so typically does, instead they’d have to the start the race from a lowly 23rd on the grid.

Also finding trouble early was David Reynolds in the Bottle-O Falcon at the top of the hill, putting them down the order as well. Qualifying down the order doesn’t necessarily mean the race is lost, given the 161-lap and 1000-kilomere length – but is never ideal with trouble everywhere.

There was one final practice session prior to the Top Ten Shootout on Saturday, where a high-speed crash at Griffin’s Bend saw a high-profile entry eliminated and not even make it to the start line on Sunday. Warren Luff, steering the #2 Holden Racing Team Commodore of Garth Tander, had been collected by his former co-driver Lowndes and the damage on the #2 car deemed too much to repair. Both drivers walked away from the wrecks, as Red Bull now raced to prepare the #888 car for the shootout.

Lowndes ended the shootout as sixth fastest, which would be a strong position for he and new co-driver Steven Richards to pursue a sixth Bathurst 1000 win. Reigning winner Winterbottom was tipped to have the one-lap pace for pole, though it was Shane van Gisbergen in the VIP Petfoods Commodore who went three-tenths quicker than the Ford driver.

Scott McLaughlin, in only his second full-time Supercars campaign, had qualified third in what was Volvo’s return to Mount Panorama. The fast and young Kiwi was then followed by Brad Jones Racing duo in Jason Bright and Fabian Coulthard, who were in the top five in their respective machines.

With the grid set and potential oozing at the brim up and down the grid, it was finally time for the remaining 25 cars to go racing under sunshine in Bathurst. When the lights went out, the #8 car of Bright bogged down and McLaughlin in the #33 stormed into the lead in the short run to Hell Corner. Richards, who started in the Lowndes car, was also up two positions.

There is always caution early on. Cold tyres, cold brakes and a whole lot of emotion which the drivers must control, as if they bin the car now then they’d have to spend the rest of the day pondering what could have been from the sidelines.

By Lap 9, Whincup had already carved his way up from the rear of the field and into the top ten. A stunning pass on James Moffat and Dale Wood on Mountain Straight saw the championship leader charge his Commodore through the middle of the Nissan and fellow Holden.

Chaz Mostert’s #6 Falcon, which started plum last due to a disqualification for passing under red flags during qualifying, was also making early inroads as a mammoth task lay ahead for the drivers who started from the rear.

The leaders made their first pit stops on Lap 22, all electing to put their co-drivers in as the race settled into a rhythm. A flawless stop for the #33 Volvo saw McLaughlin hand the car over to Frenchman Alex Prémat, while there were slower stops for cars #97 and #5, which respectively saw Jonathon Webb and Steve Owen take over.

Four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Greg Murphy also hopped aboard the sole running Holden Racing Team car of James Courtney and was immediately fast. While Whincup a lap later ended his record-breaking opening stint into the top ten and put Dumbrell in.

Trouble struck on Lap 26 when Luke Youlden in the Lockwood Commodore of Coulthard became bogged in the gravel at the Chase. This triggered the first safety car of the car and allowed anyone who hadn’t already pitted to do so. Now it was mostly co-drivers out there.

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After the first restart, Webb was eager to make ground and dive-bombed Owen at the Chase, as the Tekno car was quicker than the Pepsi Max Ford. Prémat in the lead, meanwhile had to build his advantage up again.

There was a scare at Forrest’s Elbow when Taz Douglas put the #360 Norton Nissan into the wall. Thankfully, he was able to safely reverse out, needing repairs to the front-end of the car – and no safety car was required. Contact with Cameron Waters in the Jeld-Wen Falcon was the cause of Douglas’ near miss.

Mostert was one of the only main drivers still out there by Lap 40 and this showed, with the Ford driver now up to ninth among the co-drivers. Dumbrell was in third and keen to pick off the Tekno car of Webb ahead, before the latter bowed out of that scrap and the Red Bull car made up another position.

Not long after, the first signs of the there being trouble at Turn 2 came to light. Drivers were skating across tyre marbles and debris on the high-speed run into Griffin’s Bend, due to the track surface breaking up. But before this was addressed by Race Control, the second safety car was deployed as there was a kangaroo spotted on Mountain Straight.

This saw a hive of activity in the pits with the bulk of the field stopping for a second time. Mostert took this opportunity to hand the car back to Paul Morris during a double stack for Ford Performance Racing. A combination of cold tyres and the debris at Turn 2 saw Morris into the outside wall. The #6 car fortunately was able to carry on.

An error under the safety car at Sulman Park saw Wood rear-end his stablemate Andrew Jones in the BOC Commodore, putting an unfortunate full-stop on rookie Wood’s first Bathurst 1000 as a main game driver. Jones continued.

Following the second restart, Dumbrell was now coming under pressure from Murphy in third and coming into Lap 55, the HRT car tripped over the Red Bull Commodore, before eventually making the pass stick at Hell Corner.

Not long after, the third safety car was out on Lap 59 because Douglas had found the wall again. This time it was at Turn 2, which had also caught out Scott Pye in the #16 Dick Johnson Racing car. Both cars did reverse out and re-join the race, while Murphy made a mistake and lost places to Dumbrell and Owen.

Race Control had finally intervened and waved the red flag, suspending the race in order to address the track breaking up at Turn 2. Cars were ordered to stop behind the safety car on the grid in single file, which was a controversial new rule in 2014. Teams could then work on the cars, though couldn’t change tyres or re-fuel on the grid.

After the lengthy halt, the race then resumed under the safety car and the repairs to the broken surface at Turn 2, which had caused the red flag, were deemed safe enough to race upon by Race Control.

There was trouble for Murphy in the #22 car, as he had to get a push start from an impatient Van Gisbergen behind. Murphy would then have to bring his car into the garage as HRT diagnosed a throttle sensor problem, which had reduced a solid stint from the Kiwi to nothing.

The race restarted properly on Lap 63 and David Russell – who was leading in the Jack Daniels Nissan – pioneered the pack into Turn 2 and almost lost it where the repairs had been made. But this was just cold tyres and brakes.

A frantic restart also saw Todd Kelly in the sister Jack Daniels car turned around at the exit of the Chase by Whincup, who went off the track and re-joined unsafely, resulting in a collision with the Nissan. This would earn the Red Bull driver a penalty, which hurt the progress made by Dumbrell before the red flag.

Steven Johnson, in his father’s famous #17 Falcon, was battling for the lead with the Supercheap Auto car of Tim Slade, before Johnson rotated at the top of the hill by himself and found the wall. This saw the fourth safety car deployed and a reshuffling of the pack once more.

By the time the safety car peeled off, it was Dean Canto in the Bottle-O Falcon who found himself in a strong position at the front, with McLaughlin back in his Volvo behind, from Nick Percat, Lee Holdsworth and James Moffat in the taped-up Norton Nissan.

But then another safety car reared its head, as the already wounded car of Pye was finished off into the wall at the end of Conrod Straight.

After the fifth restart, co-drivers were being inserted back into the cars on Lap 85 for their final stints. Percat vacated for global endurance veteran Oliver Gavin, while Prémat and Webb took over from their respective drivers. Strategies were beginning to converge and there were only three compulsory pit-stops remaining for most.

As the day went on, mistakes became more and more common. Prémat toured the gravel at the Chase on cold tyres, allowing Webb to take over from the front. This was before Owen in the #5 Pepsi Max Falcon went wide at Turn 2 to allow the Frenchman to have another crack at the VIP Petfoods car ahead.

The sixth safety car was out on Lap 103, as Slade sideswiped the wall where the #17 of Johnson made contact earlier. This was a significant moment too, in that it allowed drivers like Whincup out of contention because of the pit-lane penalty, back into the mix to have a crack at the win.

Tekno and FPR elected not to take this stop for the #97 and the #5. Garry Rogers Motorsport did, however, for the #33 Volvo, meaning that they were not going to have to worry about their fuel management at the end of the race. Webb waited until Lap 114 to complete his final stint and hand the car back to Van Gisbergen. They would be fuel-compromised, however, if the race remained green until the end.

There were also some key passes here too, with Moffat rounding up his Nissan teammate Russell at Forrest’s Elbow and Reynolds, who was now in contention, making the pass on Tim Blanchard in the Lucas Dumbrell Commodore. All before Swede Robert Dahlgren hit the wall at the Cutting, resulting in the seventh safety car.

Under that safety car, there was disaster for Reynolds, whose Bottle-O Falcon ground to a halt to the side of Mountain Straight with a mechanical failure. The devastation on co-driver Canto’s face said it all, as an alternator failure dashed the hopes of the #55 for a maiden Bathurst win.

Immediately after the next restart, another big name found themselves out of the race, as McLaughlin found the same wall as teammate Dahlgren did at the Cutting. The Kiwi found himself on the wide line going into the corner, as Van Gisbergen barged up the inside, but not making contact. An inconsolable McLaughlin’s day was done.

Only one compulsory stop remained, as fuel management became more critical when the eighth restart took place on Lap 122. Van Gisbergen was eager to make moves, hoping for another safety car to ensure his fuel strategy would take him to the end. The Kiwi passed compatriot Coulthard at Forrest’s Elbow, before rounding up Lowndes at Griffin’s Bend.

Lowndes was also compromised and was relying on a safety car to rescue his fuel strategy, while Coulthard was deep into his fuel-saving mode. Winterbottom was the rear of the lead queue and was the fastest car behind Van Gisbergen. Mostert was now up to third.

The safety car that they’d been hoping for came out on Lap 133, when Russell Ingall in the #23 Lucas Dumbrell car went bold at Turn 2 trying to pass the Todd Kelly car and instead collected Holdsworth. The Erebus Mercedes was left on its roof as Ingall drove off, though Michael Caruso pulled over to assist in ensuring Holdsworth was okay.

FPR double-stacked their cars and because Mostert was ahead of Winterbottom, meant that the #6 got priority in the pits. An exhausted Dumbrell handed the car back to Whincup, after a sensational co-driver stint leaving the #1 in contention for the win.

Van Gisbergen and Lowndes had stayed out on this occasion, banking on another safety car which was indeed back on the track on Lap 150, after Blanchard joined the long list of casualties in the wall at the Cutting. With a 12-second lead, the Tekno team pitted Van Gisbergen and responding to him were also Lowndes and Mostert.

Disaster then struck the pole sitter and race leader. After refuelling the VIP Petfoods car dropped off its jacks and had stalled, completely ruining Van Gisbergen’s race. Another big name left emotionally distraught, as the Mountain played another cruel hand.

With the final safety car of the day now off the track, it was Winterbottom who led Whincup and their teammates Mostert and Lowndes not far behind. A classic Ford versus Holden battle loomed, as 2013 Bathurst winner Winterbottom had the question mark of fuel hanging over his race, as did his bitter rival Whincup.

The championship leader than assumed the lead of the race from the #5 car, as Winterbottom’s fuel shortage began to see the decline in his pace. But it was the fast-charging Lowndes who killed the Ford driver’s chance to go back-to-back, turning him around at Turn 1 and putting him out of the hunt.

A pit-lane penalty was swiftly applied to Lowndes, as a sixth Bathurst 1000 would now have to wait. Moffat in the wounded Norton Nissan now was elevated into third, after he made a key pass on Will Davison in the sole running Erebus Mercedes, who was also deep into fuel conservation.

Lap 159 and as the race approached its eighth hour, the radio for the #1 Red Bull lit up with cries for fuel conservation. Whincup had a three-second lead over Mostert with only three laps to go, but seemed to not be acknowledging his team’s advice to save fuel.

That advice soon turned into orders, as on Lap 160 the Red Bull team manager came onto the radio and bluntly told his driver that “we’re not going to make it”. There was still no response from the four-time Bathurst winner, as with one and a half laps to go, there was only one lap of fuel available.

Eventually there was a brief “copy” from Whincup, who was still determined to win at all costs after losing the year before to FPR and Winterbottom. But he’d have to conserve whatever was left in the tank now for the run down from Skyline and make his car wide enough for Mostert to not pass.

Fresh tyres and enough fuel though saw 22-year-old Mostert make his move on the inside of Forrest’s Elbow on the final lap of the race, having not led a single lap all day. He together with Paul Morris had just won the Bathurst 1000 and were the first to do so from 25th on the grid.

Whincup fell to fifth, as the famous Moffat and Nissan names embraced the Bathurst podium and the first time for young James along with co-driver Douglas in their bandaged-up Nissan Altima. Percat and Gavin kept out of trouble all day to complete the podium in third.

Other key results included Winterbottom and Owen coming home sixth and behind Whincup, which was a crucial result for the championship. Lowndes was tenth after his penalty, ahead of the only wildcard, which was the all-Kiwi Superblack Racing entry of debutants Andre Heimgartner and Ant Pederson.

For all their heartbreak, the #97 and #33 entries were still classified as finishers at the end of the race and did collect points. But it would be of little comfort, given drivers come to win this Great Race and now the wait would begin for another 12 months before they could have another shot.

But for Mostert, there was nothing but jubilation and this win put the young driver on the map in what was only his second attempt at Bathurst. FPR went back-to-back, before Ford announced their departure from Supercars as a factory backer and Morris, in his 22nd attempt, finally added his name to the long list of Bathurst champions and duly retired.

Agony, ecstasy and 1000 kilometres of great racing. This indeed was one of the best chapters in the long and proud history of the Bathurst 1000 and the Peter Brock Trophy.