The Holden era of the Bathurst 1000 came to a fitting end as Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander swept to victory for Triple Eight Race Engineering. Two years after the pair took the final Bathurst 1000 win for a factory Holden team, they strengthened their respective positions in Holden history by winning the final ever Great Race for the now-defunct brand.
Van Gisbergen, Tander and Triple Eight arrived as the clear favourites, but the weather proved to be a serious curveball. Early predictions were that there would be non-stop rain across the week. There was rain, a lot of it, and plenty of mud. But the wet weather was inconsistent and never quite seemed to follow the forecast.
Thursday’s two practice sessions, for example, were held in mostly dry conditions. Will Davison dipped straight down to a mid-2m04s in the opening session while van Gisbergen made a quiet start with a 2m05.324s.
In the dedicated co-driver session later in the day,
