23.11.2003 THE LAMBORGHINI DIABLO GTR SURVIVES A HIGH ATTRITION STORM HIT BATHURST 24 HOURS

Holden Monaros stormed from the start to a thrilling 1-2 finish in the Bathurst 24 Hour race at Mount Panorama today. Greg Murphy, winner of the recent Bathurst 1000, drove the 05 Garry Rogers Motorsport Monaro across the line at 2 pm, watched from the pits by co-drivers Jason Bright, Todd Kelly and Peter Brock, who extended his personal record of Bathurst endurance victories to 10.

Just 0.3 seconds behind came the 427 car, shared by last year’s winners Garth Tander, Cameron McConville, Steven Richards and Nathan Pretty. Making it an all-Australian hat-trick in an international field of 45 starters, the Porsche GT3 of Peter Fitzgerald, John Teulan, Paul Morris and Scott Shearman was third, although 12 laps behind.

From the start heavy rain swept the circuit, causing numerous incidents and forcing the safety car to take to the track. The 427 Holden Monaro took the lead from the start, joined at the front after three hours by the 05 Monaro led by Peter Brock.

Tyre problems struck leading contenders in the opening four hours including the Mark Coffery Racing Lamborghini Diablo GTR of recently crowned Australian Nation’s Cup champion, Paul Stokell. He lost valuable time as the Lamborghini limped back to pit lane suffering a wild ride through the sand trap at the Chase when his right rear tyre failed.

David Brabham had led last year’s inaugural event for 18 of the 24 hours. This year, after starting 7th on the grid, he lost three positions initially but began to make ground after the opening hour to move up to third before handing the BE Racing Ferrari 360GT over to Sebring 12-Hour winner, Philipp Peter.

“We suffer a little bit on straight line speed, but once I got into a bit of a groove, I started to make some progress through the field,” Brabham said. “The Ferrari is a great little car to drive, but we don’t have the outright speed of the Monaros. Catching them will be tough, but this is a very long race and anything can happen.”

By 9pm Monaros 427 and 05 still held the first two places, with Andrea Montermini one lap down in the Austrian owned Ferrari. However, the former Formula 1 driver was threatening to make a race of it. On lap 127 he put in a stunning time of 2.15.85 in a bid to pick up a lap lost to the Monaro pair. Porsches 54, 7 and 6 were running strongly in the following three places.

The weather was cool and dry all evening, allowing fans to watch the Rugby World Cup final on two giant television screens and enjoy a free outdoor concert performed by country singer Adam Brand. However, a heavy rain storm left Mount Panorama awash as the Bathurst 24-Hour race reached the 10-hour mark at midnight. The heaviest part of the storm lasted less than 15 minutes, but turned parts of the track into virtual rivers. The safety car was called out for the fifth time.

David Brabham’s chances of success in the 2004 Bathurst 24 Hour “went up in smoke” just prior to 3.45am in the morning. Brabham’s team-mate Klaus Engelhorn was behind the wheel on lap 288 when an oil warning light came on inside the cockpit. The engine made a strange noise and the Austrian driver subsequently spun in his own oil exiting Forest Elbow. The 48 car was still in a strong third place when disaster struck.

By daybreak the Lamborghini Diablo had slipped to ninth place, having suffered four tyre failures since the race had started at 2 pm the previous day. The team changed tyre compounds to try to cure the problem.

The sole Alfa Romeo in the race, the GTA Motorsport 156GTA which had been running steadily all night, crashed heavily at the Konica Minolta bend at 9.30am, burying its nose under the tyres at the exit of Mountain Straight. Keith Downie emerged from the car unhurt, but the Alfa's race was over. The Safety Car came out to pick up lead the leading Monaro on lap 429 whilst the Alfa's spilt fluid was cleaned up.

The Team Innovations Ferrari 360 which had crashed earlier in the race rejoined at around 8 am after substantial work by the NRMA Smash Repair Team. Under unique racing rules at the Bathurst 24 Hours, cars that crash can be removed from the track, repaired and put back in the race, instead of being forced to retire.

Little changed in the running order until a last minute oil pump failure to the 427 Holden Monaro allowed the 05 car to claim victory. The Lamborghini Diablo, after its overnight tyre dramas, had a steady morning to come home in eighth place, forty laps down on the winning Holden.