Bathurst 1000 one of the biggest ever

V8 Supercars CEO James Warburton has declared this year's Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 one of the biggest in the history of the event.

Craig Lowndes confirmed his status as one of the all-time greats of V8 Supercars with his sixth win at Bathurst, equaling the numbers of wins by Mark Skaife and Larry Perkins. Co-Driver Steven Richards claimed his fourth Bathurst win.

Lowndes now sits behind only Jim Richards (seven) and the legendary Peter Brock (nine) for the most wins in the 'Great Race'.

Highlights of the weekend included:

- 201,416 fans attended the event over four days, the second highest ever attendance at Bathurst and topping last year's crowd of 195,261.- An average 2.1 million viewers watched yesterday's race over each of the six hours on Network Ten and Fox Sports.- The podium presentation was the most watched program in Australia yesterday across both free to air and subscription television.- The race was broadcast to 275 million viewers across the world.- V8supercars.com.au enjoyed 5.3 million page views and Facebook reached 13 million people.

"These numbers confirm Bathurst's status as one of Australia's biggest sporting events and one of the world's iconic motor races," Warburton said.

"I want to thank all our fans for their support. They are the lifeblood of the sport and we are lucky to have some of the most passionate and loyal fans in the world.

"I also want to thank all our V8 Supercars officials and volunteers who do such a wonderful job every year. We couldn't do it without them.

"Finally I want to thank all our hard working teams and drivers who put on such a great show for the fans. V8 Supercars is without doubt the best and most competitive touring car racing in the world.

"In particular I want to congratulate Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards on their win. They are great Champions and ambassadors for our sport and thoroughly deserve their success.

"We now look forward to another exciting race at the Castrol Gold Coast 600 in Surfers Paradise from October 23-25 with up to 200,000 fans expected to attend Queensland's biggest sporting event."