Bathurst Hour 1: Hazelwood takes charge as clouds loom
The opening hour of the 2025 Bathurst 1000 has flown by with Todd Hazelwood in control and Triple Eight making a strategic play as the clouds roll in.
With one hour and 27 laps in the books, Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup lead by 4s over Todd Hazelwood/Brodie Kostecki.
Hazelwood controlled the first stint from pole, but Triple Eight propelled the #88 to the lead by taking 16L less fuel at the opening stop.
Cooper Murray put in a fast stint to push the #99 into the top three.
While the race has been green so far, things are about to get interesting with clouds gathering over the Mountain.
Under blue skies, almost the entire field put their co-drivers in aside from Cooper Murray, Jack Le Brocq and James Courtney.
Brad Jones Racing suffered its latest dose of Bathurst heartbreak before the lights even went out, with Vaughan stranded and needing a tragic tow to the pits.
The #14 Camaro could not select second or fourth gear, while an oil leak kept it in the garage.
When the lights went out, Hazelwood nailed the start and led Winterbottom from pole through Hell Corner, while Coulthard struggled with wheel spin.
Murray was the only main driver to start of the top 16 and had the best launch of the leaders, snaring two spots from sixth to fourth, pouncing on Whincup and Coulthard at Mountain Straight.
By Lap 3, the #99 continued its charge by surging to the podium places by picking off Ojeda at The Chase.
Unfortunately for Erebus, Murray sacrificed the podium place by running wide at Skyline, which opened the door back up for Ojeda, only for the Camaro to bite back at Griffin’s.
On a clean first lap Slade and Boys surged into top 10 ahead of Jones, but the battle ignited at Griffin’s Bend on Lap 6.
Tander was in the thick of it, taking Russell multiple times, which sent the #100 down a couple of spots to the back end of the top 15.
Lowndes joined the party and struck his long-time rival on the approach to Hell Corner, which actually have Tander enough of a boost to pass Russell.
Russell soon reclaimed the position as Tander also sacrificed 14th to Lowndes with a mistake at the same corner.
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As the stint went on, Whincup’s pace increased and he picked off both WAU Mustangs with ease to charge into the top four.
Hazelwood initially could not shake off Winterbottom, who were setting a hot pace, but the battle for the minors allowed the leading Mustangs to pull 2s clear of the rest of the pack.
Once the pack settled down, Pye started to claw back ground for the #1 Camaro.
After barging past Jones at Murray’s he easily picked off the likes of Slade, Moffat and McLeod to surge to seventh as the leader of the pack, 9s behind the leading group.
After being passed, Slade handed over to Percat as MSR rolled the dice on strategy, doing the undercut, which was enough to jump the #1.
Le Brocq was the first to pit on Lap 11, while Courtney made an unscheduled driver change due to undertray damage.
Up front, Winterbottom could not stay with Hazelwood as the DJR pulled more than a second clear.
By Lap 17 this brought Murray into play and he snared second with a big dive at The Chase.
Three laps later, the classic Winterbottom and Whincup rivalry was reignited.
The pair went side by side through The Chase and Whincup was the most committed, sneaking past on the inside as Winterbottom pulled behind under braking.
The pit stops started to commence from Lap 18 onwards with the leading pack waiting until Lap 22 with Ojeda to first to change over to Wood.
This allowed Wood to apply pressure on Winterbottom, who stayed in the Monster Mustang, three laps later when the Kiwi completed a ballsy move at The Chase.
The 2013 Bathurst 1000 winner also did not have an answer for Brown as he charged into the top five.
Having consolidated a 1.5s lead, Hazelwood stayed in the car, while Murray handed over to Stewart with the advantage growing to 3s.
However, they were both jumped by the #88 as Triple Eight took track position by taking just 104L of fuel, 16 less than the #38.
To add extra spice, the first reports of rain surfaced at the end of the opening hour.
With weather threatening, the Great Race is only just getting started.
2025 Bathurst 1000 Hour 1 leaderboard
2025 Bathurst 1000 schedule
Thursday, October 9
PRACTICE 1 1: R. Wood/J. Ojeda 2:05.1029 2: A. De Pasquale/H. Jones +0.4236 3: K. Allen/D. Wood +0.8132
PRACTICE 2 1: Scott Pye/W. Brown 2:06.8395 2: David Russell/J. Golding +0.1461 3: Tony D’Alberto/W. Davison +0.6345
Friday, October 10
PRACTICE 3 1: B.Feeney/J.Whincup 2:04.9763 2: R.Wood/J.Ojeda +0.0341 3: W.Brown/S.Pye +0.0784
QUALIFYING 1 Brodie Kostecki 2:04.0307 2 Broc Feeney +0.0064 3 Ryan Wood +0.0560
Saturday, October 11
PRACTICE 5 1: Scott Pye 2:05.6647 2: Jamie Whincup +0.0442 3: Mark Winterbottom +0.3516
TOP TEN SHOOTOUT 1 Brodie Kostecki 2:04.0413 2 Cameron Waters +0.1760 3 Chaz Mostert +0.3169
Bathurst Day, October 12
WARM UP 8:30 AM – 8:50 AM
THE GREAT RACE 11:45 AM (161 laps)
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