Supercars Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 Mt Panorama Bathurst – 2003
It began with the legendary ‘Lap of the Gods’ 2m06.9s lap in qualifying from Greg Murphy (a feat that wouldn’t be matched in the top 10 shootout for 14 years), and it ended in similar fashion as Murphy and Rick Kelly raced on to score a dominant victory in their Kmart Commodore VY.
It was the fifth victory in succession for Holden, and with Rick Kelly sharing the spoils, Kelly became the youngest driver to win the race, the previous mark having been set by Craig Lowndes in 1996. For Rick Kelly it was a coming of age after his brilliant fourth place in the Holden Young Lion’s Commodore the previous year.
Craig Lowndes and co-driver Glenn Seton were second for Ford, ahead of the Falcon BA of Steven Ellery and Luke Youlden – salvaging something for Ford on what had been yet another glorious day on the Mountain for Holden.
But it was not a glorious day for Holden’s star driver, Mark Skaife – he’d looked a good chance of denying Murphy in the latter stages. But just as ‘coachwork issues’ threatened to spoil Skaife’s race the previous year (with the radiator intake blocked by debris), this time the right rear door on the HRT Commodore VY sprung open and was swinging in the breeze.
So it was that a furious Skaife was told by race officials on Lap 154 to make a pit stop to have the door taped shut. With that went any chance of Skaife scoring a Bathurst hat-trick.
The Carrera Cup support race is featured and vision from commercial breaks is included in this two DVD set.
Run Time: Approximately 6 Hours, 25 Minutes