| Event Information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 10 of 14 in the2015 International V8 Supercars Championship | ||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||
| Date | 8–11 October 2015 | |||||||||||||
| Location | Bathurst,New South Wales | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Mount Panorama Circuit | |||||||||||||
| Weather | Overcast, rain midway through race | |||||||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
The2015 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 was a motor race forV8 Supercars held on 11 October 2015 at theMount Panorama Circuit,Bathurst,New South Wales,Australia.[1] It was the twenty-fifth race of the2015 International V8 Supercars Championship.
The race was won byTriple Eight Race Engineering pairingCraig Lowndes andSteven Richards in theirHolden VF Commodore.[2] Lowndes became the fifth driver to win at least six Bathurst 1000s, while Richards himself became a four-time winner of the race with his fourth different co-driver. Lowndes and Richards finished 1.3 seconds clear of theProdrive Racing AustraliaFord FG X Falcon of championship leaderMark Winterbottom and his co-driverSteve Owen.
The podium was completed byGarth Tander andWarren Luff in aHolden VF Commodore of theHolden Racing Team, a further 2.6 seconds behind.
The 2015 race was the nineteenth running of theAustralian 1000 race, which was first held after the organisational split between theAustralian Racing Drivers Club andV8 Supercars Australia that saw two "Bathurst 1000" races contested in both 1997 and 1998. The 2015 race was the 58th race for which the lineage can be traced back to the1960 Armstrong 500 – held atPhillip Island – and the 55th to be held at Mount Panorama.
In addition to the twenty-five regular championship entries, two wildcard entries were accepted for the 2015 race. The first was aHolden VF Commodore run byDunlop Series teamNovocastrian Motorsport forAaren Russell andDrew Russell.[3] The second was aProdrive Racing Australia-preparedFord FG X Falcon for the all-female driver combination ofRenee Gracie and SwissIndyCar Series andFormula E racerSimona de Silvestro, run under the name "Harvey Norman Supergirls".[4]
RegularHolden Racing Team driverJames Courtney did not take part in the race due to injuries sustained at the2015 Sydney Motorsport Park Super Sprint in August.Russell Ingall replaced Courtney, having done the same at the precedingWilson Security Sandown 500.[5]
Chaz Mostert andPaul Morris were the defending race winners, though Morris did not compete in the race due to his role as co-driver for Mostert being taken byCam Waters.[6]
Twenty-seven cars entered the event - 13 Holden Commodores, six Ford Falcons, four Nissan Altimas, two Mercedes-Benz E63 and two Volvo S60s. In addition to the 25 regular entries, two wildcards were entered, one from Novocastrian Motorsport with brothers Aaren and Drew Russell and one from Prodrive Racing Australia with Renee Gracie and Simona de Silvestro, marking the first time since 1998 that an all women pairing raced in the Bathurst 1000, after Kerryn Brewer and Melinda Price. Six drivers made their debut in the race; all four 'Wildcard' drivers and Dunlop Series drivers Jack Le Brocq and Macauley Jones. It was the last start for two-time champion Marcos Ambrose.
Entries with a grey background were wildcard entries which did not compete in the full championship season.[8]
The first free practice session took place on the Thursday morning prior to the race and was open to both championship drivers and co-drivers. Defending race winnerChaz Mostert set the fastest lap time during the session, his time of 2:06.3223 being 1.7 seconds quicker than his time in the corresponding session in 2014.David Reynolds was second fastest ahead ofShane van Gisbergen.Garth Tander was the first driver to go off the circuit, spinning into the sand at Hell Corner, whileTim Blanchard was the first driver to hit the wall, also at Hell Corner.[9] The second practice session was held on Thursday afternoon and was open only to co-drivers.Warren Luff set the fastest lap time ahead ofDean Canto andSteven Richards.David Russell crashed at the Cutting, causing enough damage to take the car out of the third practice session held later that afternoon.[10] The third session sawFabian Coulthard break his own practice lap record with a time of 2:05.4786, compared to the time of 2:05.6080 he set in the 2014 qualifying session.Mark Winterbottom, Reynolds, Mostert and Van Gisbergen all set times in the 2:05 bracket as well.[11] Reynolds was finedA$25,000 following the Thursday press conference where he referred to the entry ofRenee Gracie andSimona de Silvestro as the "pussy wagon".[12] Reynolds later apologised for his remark.[13]
The fourth free practice session was held on Friday morning and was another session for co-drivers only.Cam Waters was fastest with a time of 2:05.7220, whileLuke Youlden was the only other driver to set a time under 2:06.[14] In the fifth practice session, held later on Friday morning,Jamie Whincup became the first driver to set a lap time under 2:05 in a V8 Supercar, recording a time of 2:04.9097.Scott Pye also went faster than Coulthard's record, setting a time of 2:05.2436.[15]
| Session | Time | No. | Driver | Team | Car | Fastest lap | Weather | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | ||||||||
| Practice 1 | 11:15 | 6 | Chaz Mostert | Prodrive Racing Australia | Ford FG X Falcon | 2:06.3223 | Dry, sunny | |
| Practice 2 | 13:20 | 2 | Warren Luff | Holden Racing Team | Holden VF Commodore | 2:07.2034 | Dry, sunny | |
| Practice 3 | 15:20 | 14 | Fabian Coulthard | Brad Jones Racing | Holden VF Commodore | 2:05.4786 | Dry, sunny | |
| Friday | ||||||||
| Practice 4 | 09:10 | 6 | Cam Waters | Prodrive Racing Australia | Ford FG X Falcon | 2:05.7220 | Dry, sunny | |
| Practice 5 | 11:40 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Holden VF Commodore | 2:04.9097 | Dry, sunny | |
| Saturday | ||||||||
| Practice 6 | 10:20 | 14 | Fabian Coulthard | Brad Jones Racing | Holden VF Commodore | 2:05.2119 | Dry, sunny | |
A forty-minute qualifying session was scheduled to take place on Friday afternoon, with the fastest ten drivers in the session to proceed to the Top Ten Shootout on Saturday. However, the session was stopped after five minutes following a heavy crash for Mostert. He clipped the inside wall at turn 16 on the run down to Forrest's Elbow before making heavy contact with the opposite wall. The car then bounced across the circuit and rode up along the outside wall at the right-hand bend preceding Forrest's Elbow, with the rear end of the car knocking the roof off of amarshals' post, the contact resulting in a slow 360° spin before coming to rest at the entry to Forrest's Elbow.[16] Mostert suffered a broken left femur and left wrist, while three of the marshals stationed at the marshals' post were also injured. Mostert and one of the marshals were flown to Orange Hospital while the other two marshals were treated at the circuit's medical centre. The remainder of the qualifying session, as well as a following support race, were cancelled due to the damage caused to the marshals' post and the surrounding safety fencing.[17] The entry of Mostert and Waters was withdrawn from the event due to the damage sustained by the car and Mostert's injuries,[16] while the qualifying session was postponed to Saturday afternoon and shortened to thirty minutes.[18]
Notes:
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Running order | Qualifying time | Qualifying position | Shootout time | Final grid position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 55 |  David Reynolds | Rod Nash Racing | 3rd | 2:06.7813 | 8th | 2:27.8201 | 1st |
| 2 | 33 |  Scott McLaughlin | Garry Rogers Motorsport | 4th | 2:06.7177 | 7th | 2:28.9746 | 2nd |
| 3 | 8 | Jason Bright | Brad Jones Racing | 5th | 2:06.5999 | 6th | 2:29.7006 | 3rd |
| 4 | 18 | Lee Holdsworth | Charlie Schwerkolt Racing | 2nd | 2:06.8796 | 9th | 2:29.8139 | 4th |
| 5 | 99 | James Moffat | Nissan Motorsport | 1st | 2:06.9147 | 10th | 2:30.0084 | 5th |
| 6 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Tekno Autosports | 9th | 2:06.4470 | 2nd | 2:30.8456 | 6th |
| 7 | 17 | Scott Pye | DJR Team Penske | 6th | 2:06.5656 | 5th | 2:31.6312 | 7th |
| 8 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 7th | 2:06.5248 | 4th | 2:32.0536 | 8th |
| 9 | 14 | Fabian Coulthard | Brad Jones Racing | 10th | 2:06.1838 | 1st | 2:32.1246 | 9th |
| 10 | 47 | Tim Slade | Walkinshaw Racing | 8th | 2:06.5063 | 3rd | 2:34.7168 | 10th |
| Source:[20] | ||||||||
The following table represents the final starting grid for the race on Sunday:
From 2015 onwards, V8 Supercars began producing its' own television package and selling it to external rights holders. Having been exclusively on theSeven Network from 2007 to 2014, V8 Supercars signed aAU$241 million deal to broadcast all events oncable providerFox Sports Australia (via channel 506) from 2015, with six 'marquee' events – including Bathurst – concurrently shownfree-to-air onNetwork 10. Unlike other Fox-broadcast V8 Supercar events in 2015, the Bathurst 1000 included ad breaks.[24][25]
| Fox Sports | Network 10 |
|---|---|
| Host: Jessica Yates,Russell Ingall,Mark Skaife Booth:Neil Crompton, Chad Neylon (ad-breaks),Greg Rust Pit-lane: Riana Crehan,Paul Morris,Greg Murphy | Presenter:Matthew White Pundits:Rick Kelly,Mark Larkham Roving: Scott MacKinnon,Kate Peck |
| Supercars Championship | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous race: 2015 Wilson Security Sandown 500 | 2015 Supercars Championship | Next race: 2015 Castrol Gold Coast 600 |
| Previous year: 2014 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 | Bathurst 1000 | Next year: 2016 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 |
