Bathurst Hour 2: Triple Eight speed slowed by D’Alberto crash
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 12 October 2025
Triple Eight was in charge of the 2025 Bathurst 1000 until a Tony D’Alberto crash changed the complexion at the end of the second hour.
Broc Feeney and Will Brown put in some big stints to take command with an ominous one-two, only for it to be wiped out when the first Safety Car arrived for D’Alberto on Lap 53.
The DJR veteran crashed the famous #17 at Forrest’s Elbow, which the other side of the garage used to its advantage.
While Triple Eight boxed both Camaros, DJR kept Brodie Kostecki out to regain the lead, while Jayden Ojeda and Cam Waters did the same.
This pushed previous leader Feeney/Jamie Whincup to sixth as the double stack for Scott Pye/Brown allowed Cooper Murray to split the teammates.
With clouds looming, the stoppage resets the Great Race.
A welcome addition to the second hour of racing was the #14 Camaro of Brad Vaughan and Bryce Fullwood, which finally overcame its broken driveshaft having lost 25 laps.
After gaining track position with a short stop in the lane, Feeney strengthened his grip on the race.
In clean air, the #88 pulled away and built the advantage well beyond 5s over Hazelwood.
The other Triple Eight Camaro was also flying. Brown was the fastest car on track and took third from rookie Stewart with ease at The Chase.
In fact, his pace was so supreme he also caught Hazelwood and snuck past at Griffin’s Bend.
After initially covering, Hazelwood did not offer much of a fight as a Triple Eight one-two was established.
Winterbottom’s slide carried on as a wide moment at Skyline saw him sacrifice sixth to Coulthard.
The sister Tickford Mustang also suffered a setback on Lap 26.
Randle lined up a move on Le Brocq at Murray’s Corner, but gave him a hit and received a 5s penalty.
The Erebus driver found himself in the same situation eight laps later with Hill giving him a tap at the same corner.
But the MSR driver held off, which brought Payne and Golding into play.
Further back, Aaron Cameron was lucky to survive a major moment at Griffins Bend, where he struck the outside wall and got crossed up.
By Lap 41 Stewart and Wood battled hard for fourth.
After the first attempt, either side of the pit straight did not work out, Wood launched a bold attack at The Cutting and it paid off.
Brown’s brilliant stint from seventh to second finished on Lap 45 as he pitted from second, 12s behind Feeney.
Feeney followed three laps later, having pulled 15s up the road of Hazelwood and gave the reigns to Whincup.
Nearest rivals Hazelwood and Stewart stopped five laps later.
With Whincup 8s up the road, Kostecki jumped in for the first time and rejoined right behind Pye.
In what could have been a Finals deciding battle, Slade passed Hill when the MSR teammates merged nearby each other.
But the #10’s track position advantage did not last long as Slade reported “no straight line” seeing the team forced to make the tough call to take him into the garage.
It was all plain sailing until D’Alberto made a costly error on Lap 54.
Sitting 14th, the veteran clipped the inside wall at Forrest’s Elbow, which sent him on a heavy head-on collision course with the outside wall.
To rub salt into the wounds for Ford, Payne ran over a stray damper, but at least the Safety Car wiped out Triple Eight’s ominous advantage.
Although fans started to deploy their umbrellas, the track stayed dry and the pace remained high with Triple Eight in control heading into the third hour.
2025 Bathurst 1000 Hour 3 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
PRACTICE 4 1: C. Mostert/F. Coulthard 2:04.6591 2: N. Percat/T. Slade +0.0754 3: B. Kostecki/T. Hazelwood +0.1210
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
PRACTICE 6 1: B.Feeney/J.Whincup 2:04.9698 2: C.Mostert/F.Coulthard +0.1463 3: C.Waters/M.Winterbottom +0.3354
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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