This one just about had it all, drama, champions bowing out early, unexpected moments at critical junctures and the very important middle bit where everyone spends their race putting together enough in race miles to “buy their ticket to the end”.

The top 15 Shootout on Saturday night was the perfect way to kick off the on track action for the majority of the main drivers. I am normally the kind of person who doesn’t enjoy the shootout, but this was one for the ages. Head over here to go watch.

The pole position lap would be set by the second car to run, Brady Meyers, who was unable to show his true pace in the qualifying session earlier. As it would turn out, Brady would happen to run during the best conditions of the session early on and would manage to set his time during a calmer period, after which a strong headwind would kick up on Conrod Straight and reduce the possible top speeds through Australia’s fastest straight and corner.

James Scott would set a lap 13 Thousandths of a second back from Brady for the outside of row one for the big dance on Sunday.

One Thousand kilometres. One hundred and sixty one laps. The greatest piece of motoring real estate this country has access to. Eighty two of the best drivers this country can offer the endurance racing gods, and the only thing separating them from glory would be the next six hours of trials and tribulations.

The early running would be setup by most of the main drivers, who would be electing to get a stint out of the way early in order to allow the co-drivers to get them to lap 89, whereby it would be back over to the main drivers to the end.

James Scott would get the launch around the outside of Myers and steal the lead on the run to turn one. He would lead until the first Safety Car period of the day on lap 11, which would trigger first rounds of stops and the openings of the first strategy cards to be played by teams.

Co-drivers would be placed aboard a few cars at this early point, with most of the field electing to leave their starting drivers in. Critical changes would be to put Emily Jones, Ethan Warren and Thomas McMillan aboard the #8 TTR, #22 TTR and #94 Lobs eSports cars. Thomas McMillan would be a very late call up midweek to play co-driver to Jarrad Filsell.

We became aware of an update to the #7 car at this period as well. Ethan Grigg-Gault would unfortunately find himself becoming badly ill across the course of the weekend, with co-driver Brad Ryan standing up to the challenge and taking on a bulk of the early efforts to try and rest Grigg-Gault for the end of the race.

McMillan from here would be boxed around the ears for the next 10 laps until he would pit in an attempt to get him out of an angry pack that looked set to explode into a race ending incident at any moment.

Kobi Williams would find himself in an interesting stoush with Harley Haber as Kobi would try to put his stamp on the battle and check up a host of cars in a fight for 16th place.

McMillan would be the first retirement of the day on lap 33 when an early downshift would grenade the engine of the #94 Lobs eSports car he would be sharing with Jarrad Filsell. With the amount of points on offer during the Trueforce Endurance Cup races this would have the added effect of ending Filsell’s run at championship glory too.

More pit stops and another drama as Hayden Sell would climb aboard the #19 entry he would share with Dylan O’Shea. Sell wouldn’t be aware of the location of the stricken McMillan car which was placed just at the exit of pitlane. Leaving the lane he would collect that car and end their day.

A long green flag run including 2 pit cycles would begin from here before the next Safety Car on lap 96, with the co-drivers doing the bulk of the hard work here. Supreme stints from Ryan Wood (partnering James Scott), Emily Jones (partnering Jake Burton), Ethan Warren (partnering Brady Meyers) and Dylan Birse (partnering Griffin Gardiner) would see these 4 move their way to the front of the standings and leave themselves in prime position for the run to the flag.

Of the top 10 cars at this point only Ryan Wood and Dylan Birse would be left in on co-driving duties as the teams elected to put primary drivers in for a thrilling final 3 stints to the flag.

A dark horse had been trending towards the front all day long. That of Sebring race winner Robbie Gibbs and up and comer Lachlan “Kid Capable” Caple had driven and strategized their way to 6th place on the road ahead of several extremely strong cars.

Ryan Wood would be passed by Jake Burton who would attempt to take off and disappear down the road on lap 106. Burton would have a slight strategy disadvantage after pitting earlier than the rest on the previous cycle and would need to try and build a margin to assist his chances of a victory.

Luke Rosella would start his charge towards the front of the field and in the penultimate stop would be one of the later drivers to come to the lane. This would set him up with a lesser amount of fuel to add at the final stop and would be critical to the end of the race.

From this point on it would be a mix of different fuel strategies and stop times. Brady Meyers would come to the lane with 42 laps to the end of the race and pit to come out in behind a group of early pitting cars including Josh Anderson, Fawzan El-Nabi and Ric Kuznetsov. El-Nabi and Kuznetsov would make contact going 2 wide into Reid Park with El-Nabi scraping the wall and collecting Meyers. Both drivers would recover without significant damage, but they would lose 10-15 seconds from the lead pack and effectively end their shot at a race win.

Madison Down would throw a short fill a the car with 40 laps to go and attempt to force the hand of everyone around him. 

One of the interesting stories was Dylan Rudd and Gianni Lutzu. Lutzu sped into the pitlane on Lap 74, and this would drop them to the tail end of the field. Between serving the penalty and lap 130 they would drive back to 12th place. This is critical for their championship hopes as this would be the biggest opportunity to pull points back on our Championship leader.

Final stops would come through and leave Luke Rosella leading from Madison Down, but Rosella had underfilled to get the track position. Griffin Gardiner would also manage to place himself in the front trio and would swap paint with Down multiple times in the final stint as they raced for a Bathurst victory.

With the front 3 racing hard and trading paint Andrew Gilliam and James Scott would drive their way back into the lead pack.

Finally the move would be thrown from Madison Down at Murray’s Corner, but the defence from Rosella would be stout. In the process Down wouldn’t be able to get to the throttle early enough and Griffin Gardiner would dive down the inside on Lap 150.

The battle would continue to rage to the final lap of the race, but that would be the final throw of the dice we would see.

Luke Rosella would back up from his Sandown 2023 victory and manage to take a Bathurst 1000 win alongside Richie Stanaway for Lobs eSports. Griffin Gardiner and Dylan Birse would take 2nd place, with Madison Down in 3rd.

After 7 hours of coverage on the mountain we got treated to another blockbuster.

Jarrad Filsell would lose his opportunity to win another championship.

Co-drivers would prove key in the middle segment of the race for track position at the end. Strategy and Fuel Saving would prove key to being in the right place at the right time at the end.

Multiple “tickets to the end” would be bought, but only the ticket of Rosella and Stanaway would get punched to the top step of the podium!

The inaugural Trueforce Endurance Cup would also be won at the 1000, with the points required to overhaul Dylan Rudd’s lead achieved by Rosella. Congratulations to Luke Rosella and Richie Stanaway on both the 1000 and Endurance Cup victory!

That's not the end for 2024, we still have to decide our champion and our next race is headed to one of the most treacherous circuits to go racing at.

Join us on the 23rd of October from 7.30pm AEDT as we go Street Course Racing from Detroit Belle Isle. Will the concrete canyon bring our championship leader unstuck and open the doors for a last minute steal from the chasers? Be there to witness the action!