2003_Bathurst_1000
| Event Information | ||||||||||||||
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| Round 10 of 13 in the 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series | ||||||||||||||
| Date | 9–12 October 2003 | |||||||||||||
| Location | Bathurst, New South Wales | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Mount Panorama Circuit | |||||||||||||
| Weather | Fine | |||||||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||||||
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The 2003 Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 was a motor race for V8 Supercars held on 12 October 2003 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It was the seventh running of the Australia 1000 race, first held after the organisational split over the Bathurst 1000 that occurred in 1997. It was the 46th race that traces its lineage back to the 1960 Armstrong 500 held at Phillip Island. The race was the tenth round of the 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series.
The race was won by Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly driving a K-Mart Racing Team run Holden Commodore (VY). It was the fifth consecutive victory for Holden, a new record. It was Murphy's third victory in the race and Kelly became the youngest driver to win the race, eclipsing the previous record set by Craig Lowndes in 1996.
On Saturday, Murphy also recorded what was then the fastest lap in the circuit's history to take pole position during the Top 10 Shootout. The time stood as the fastest ever in a V8 Supercar for 7 years until Craig Lowndes lapped barely a few hundredths faster in practice during the 2010 event, although neither are officially recognised as the lap record as only race laps contribute to lap records.
| Session | No. | Driver | Team | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | |||||
| Practice 1 | 51 |  Greg Murphy |
K-Mart Racing Team | Holden Commodore (VY) | 2:09.5801 |
| Practice 2 | 51 | Greg Murphy |
K-Mart Racing Team | Holden Commodore (VY) | 2:08.3282 |
| Friday | |||||
| Practice 3 | 1 |  Mark Skaife |
Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore (VY) | 2:08.3215 |
| Saturday | |||||
| Practice 4 | 1 | Mark Skaife |
Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore (VY) | 2:08.2145 |
Qualifying
Top 10 Shootout
| Pos | No | Team | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pole | 51 | K-Mart Racing Team | Greg Murphy |
Holden Commodore (VY) | 2:06.8594 |
| 2 | 21 | Brad Jones Racing | John Bowe |
Ford Falcon (BA) | 2:07.9556 |
| 3 | 2 | Holden Racing Team | Jim Richards |
Holden Commodore (VY) | 2:08.1466 |
| 4 | 34 | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Garth Tander |
Holden Commodore (VY) | 2:08.4127 |
| 5 | 4 | Stone Brothers Racing | Marcos Ambrose |
Ford Falcon (BA) | 2:08.4442 |
| 6 | 6 | Ford Performance Racing | Craig Lowndes |
Ford Falcon (BA) | 2:08.4587 |
| 7 | 1 | Holden Racing Team | Mark Skaife |
Holden Commodore (VY) | 2:08.5696 |
| 8 | 17 | Dick Johnson Racing | Steven Johnson |
Ford Falcon (BA) | 2:08.6875 |
| 9 | 65 | Briggs Motor Sport | Paul Radisich |
Ford Falcon (BA) | 2:09.0925 |
| DNS | 11 | Perkins Engineering | Steven Richards |
Holden Commodore (VY) |
* Greg Murphy became the first New Zealand born driver to actually set pole position for the Bathurst 1000. Murphy and fellow Kiwi racers Jim Richards and Paul Radisich had previously been on pole position for the race, but on each of those occasions it was their Australian co-driver who had set the pole winning time. Murphy's time of 2:06.8594 was the first time a touring car had gone under 2:07.00 for a lap of the 6.213 km (3.861 mi) circuit and was unofficially dubbed the "Lap of the Gods".[3]
* Larry Perkins crashed the #11 Castrol Perkins Racing Holden Commodore (VY) during Practice 4, with the damage substantial enough to rule it out for the Top 10 Shootout.
Starting grid
The following table represents the final starting grid for the race on Sunday:
- Provisional Pole Position - #51 Greg Murphy - 2:07.9503
- Pole Position - #51 Greg Murphy - 2:06.8594
- Fastest Lap - #34 Garth Tander - 2:08.6726 (new lap record)
- Race time of winning car - 6:32:55.4044
- Average speed of winning car - 153 km/h
- The Great Race 2003, photograph on page 197
- The Great Race 2003, photograph on page 150
- SpeedCafe (8 January 2010). "Wayne Wakefield". Speedcafe. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- The Great Race 2003, photograph on page 78
- Official race results at racing.natsoft.com.au
- Official V8 Supercar website at 20 November 2003 via web.archive.org
- 2003 Bathurst 1000 image gallery at www.motorsport.com
| Supercars Championship | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous race: 2003 Betta Electrical Sandown 500 |
2003 Supercars Championship | Next race: 2003 Gillette V8 Supercar Challenge |
| Previous year: 2002 Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 |
Bathurst 1000 | Next year: 2004 Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 |