Thirty two cars cautiously tip toed around the mountain for an early morning practice session, taking no risks in the wet slippery conditions.
The big race began with TD behind the wheel of #55 with wet tyres on the green machine, as an earlier down pour left the track damp.
The racing line soon dried out and the Bottle-O Commodore came in for the first of eight pit stops. Fuel went in and slicks were thrown on.
Steering clear of the chaos on top of the mountain TD came in on lap 30 and Thommo jumped in #55. Getting some clean air Thommo got
'a bit lonely out there'
as he wound his way over the top of the mountain and down again.
Lap 54 had TD jump back in the car for a stint disrupted by safety cars. The sky again opened and the rain fell bringing TD in for wets and fuel and for Thommo to again get behind the wheel.
Battling for position, a safety car was deployed and after the race restart #55 found itself spun around and off the track after a coming together with Dumbrell.This didn't deter Thommo who lost no time in getting back on the track and pushing on.
'We had damage to the rear of the car, as well as the passenger side, including the exhaust. This resulted in us struggling for straight line speed'.
Coming in to pit and assess the damage TD got back in the drivers seat and started working his way up the order. Lap 138 TD pulled back in and Thommo got in to bring #55 home. Coming out of the stop in 15th Thommo was kept on his toes by lap traffic and safety car periods. A safety car in the last few laps re-bunched the field, but Thommo came home strong with a fantastic 10th position.
'We are really happy with our result today. The car was fantastic and the team did a great job. The Bathurst 1000 is a race renowned throughout Australia, we feel very lucky to be able to say that we finished the race, and it was in the top ten!!.'
Well done to The Bottle-O Team on a well earnt top ten finish.
Last Modified on 13/10/2009 08:19