BATHURST, Australia (AP) David Reynolds and his co-driver Luke Youlden won the most high-profile race in Australian motorsports on Sunday, finishing the Bathurst 1000 in his Holden in an unofficial time of 7 hours, 13 minutes in slick and rainy conditions on Mount Panorama.
Scott Pye, also driving a Holden, was four seconds behind in second, followed by Fabian Coulthard in a Ford.
After a succession of crashes and safety cars in the closing stages, it was Reynolds who had the inside running to win the 1,000-kilometer race over 161 laps of the 6.2-kilometer course at Bathurst, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of Sydney.
“I’ve got nothing left to give,” Reynolds said. “I am absolutely spent. This bloke (co-driver Youlden) drove unbelievably all day. My crew was faultless. Man, it was just a perfect day.”
It was Youlden’s 18th Bathurst.
“It’s taken a long time, but tell you what - to do it with Dave and this team, it’s an unbelievable feeling,” he said.
Pole winner and series leader Scott McLaughlin, who drives a Ford for DJR Team Penske, part-owned by American motorsport great Roger Penske, retired with mechanical issues on the 74th lap. Coulthard also races for the Penske team.
“We really had a really good shot at it, in the wet as well,” McLaughlin said. “Unfortunately that is how it goes, it’s a tough old race to win - I just have to move on.”