Nick Percat cruises to victory in Dunlop Series Race 1
Nick Percat’s Coates Hire Commodore
Reigning Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 winner Nick Percat has taken a comfortable victory in the opening Dunlop Series race of the weekend at Mount Panorama.
The Walkinshaw Racing pilot made the most of a poor start from pole-sitter Chaz Mostert to take a lead he would hold for the entire 14 laps.
Mostert eventually finished four seconds behind in second place despite falling as low as sixth in the opening laps.
The Ford Performance Racing driver picked off his rivals one-by-one, passing eventual third placed finisher Scott Pye for second at Skyline with three laps remaining.
Dale Wood held out Luke Youlden for fourth, while Tim Blanchard, George Miedecke, Drew Russell, Geoff Emery and Aaren Russell completed the top 10.
Rodney Jane had to be helped out of the sand at the end of the opening lap. pic: Aaron Reinke
Scott McLaughlin finished a lowly 13th, allowing Mostert to trim his series lead to just 16 points. The Fujitsu Ford ran second for the majority of the race before pitting with a left-rear tyre issue.
Fellow second-row starter Andrew Jones was also forced to pit for a new tyre, dropping from fourth to an eventual finishing position of 18th.
The race featured a single Safety Car period, called on the second lap to retrieve Rodney Jane’s Sonic Ford from the sand trap at The Chase.
Jane had been hit from behind by Daniel Jilesen, who subsequently received a drive-through penalty for his misjudgement.
The Dunlop Series round will conclude with a second 14 lap encounter on Saturday.
See below for the full Race 1 result
| 1 | Coates Hire Racing | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VE2 | 14 | 32:21.9888 |
| 2 | Ford Performance Racing | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG | 14 | 32:26.0121 |
| 3 | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore VE | 14 | 32:31.3719 |
| 4 | GB Galvanizing/Wilson Tech | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VE | 14 | 32:35.5218 |
| 5 | Jayco | Luke Youlden | Ford Falcon BF | 14 | 32:37.0128 |
| 6 | Jaylec Automotive Electrical | Tim Blanchard | Ford Falcon FG | 14 | 32:45.7840 |
| 7 | Bob Jane T-Marts/Sitech/Sonic | George Miedecke | Ford Falcon BF | 14 | 32:46.6525 |
| 8 | Go Karts Go | Drew Russell | Ford Falcon BF | 14 | 32:54.4989 |
| 9 | R&J Batteries/EarthEx Logistic | Geoff Emery | Holden Commodore VE | 14 | 32:57.2650 |
| 10 | Go Karts Go | Aaren Russell | Ford Falcon BF | 14 | 32:58.2406 |
| 11 | GSS Mining Rentals/ReCar | Marcus Zukanovic | Holden Commodore VE | 14 | 33:03.2771 |
| 12 | Minda/Jenny Barbar Recruitment | Elliot Barbour | Holden Commodore VE2 | 14 | 33:04.7858 |
| 13 | Fujitsu Racing | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG | 14 | 33:08.9625 |
| 14 | Eggleston Racing | Ben Eggleston | Holden Commodore VE | 14 | 33:14.6210 |
| 15 | Warrin Mining | Adam Wallis | Holden Commodore VE | 14 | 33:25.7133 |
| 16 | Drill Pro | Daniel Jilesen | Ford Falcon BF | 14 | 33:37.1539 |
| 17 | Formula Tech/Interquip Racing | Brett Stewart | Holden Commodore VE | 14 | 33:54.5653 |
| 18 | AzNew Racing | Andrew Jones | Holden Commodore VE | 14 | 34:12.0510 |
| 19 | Carrington Equipment Group | Michael Hector | Ford Falcon BF | 14 | 34:14.5315 |
| 20 | Simpro Racing | Ashley Walsh | Ford Falcon BF | 14 | 34:17.3426 |
| 21 | Solo Resource Recovery | Aaron McGill | Ford Falcon BF | 14 | 34:35.6646 |
| 22 | Bob Jane T-Marts | Rodney Jane | Ford Falcon FG | 13 | 33:33.6530 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 Race Guide.
