Pole Position at Bathurst, while prestigious, hasn’t amounted to much on race day since 2009 when Garth Tander went from the #1 spot on the grid, to the top step of the podium. Eleven times since that win, the driver that won the Shootout has not won the race. In essence, the fastest car and driver over one lap was not part of the best combination on Sunday.
In 2021, that all changed. Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth in the Mobil 1 Appliances Online Commodore dominated the entire week. In only two of the eight practice or qualifying sessions was another car at the top of the sheets, but when it counted, they stood head and shoulders above the rest. A record lap in the Shootout to Mostert was followed by an opening stint by Lee Holdsworth that set the tone for the race. They beat everyone on speed and in the process busted a Red Bull Ampol Racing Commodore on the way to a ninth win for the Walkinshaw Andretti United and its forebears. The crowd was smaller than pre-COVID days, but it was great to see them back as Repco commenced its involvement with the race in the 60th running of either the 1000km or 500-mile race at the spiritual home of Australia’s premier motorsport event. The story told in these pages is as seen by the SupercarXtra magazine team and is just another part of The Legend of Bathurst. It is the story of how Mostert and Holdsworth won the 2021 Repco Bathurst 1000.