Incidents punctuate early Bathurst laps
Two major incidents have stunted the early laps of the Repco Bathurst 1000.
The race was brought under the control of the BP Ultimate Safety Car on lap 1, and immediately after the restart.
An off for Jake Kostecki saw the Safety Car deployed for a third time on lap 17.
Several cars were implicated in an incident going up Mountain Straight for the first time.
The race started in relatively dry conditions, but there was still standing water on the exit of Turn 1.
Jamie Whincup and Jack Perkins rotated in front of the field, the latter spinning towards Zak Best.
Best took evasive action, but was tagged into the wall.
The Safety Car was deployed immediately, with several cars also picking up damage.
Perkins, Whincup, Mark Winterbottom, Jake Kostecki and Tony D’Alberto all stopped for repairs.
The Best Ford, meanwhile, was out on the spot.
The race restarted on lap 5 with Lee Holdsworth heading the field.
A racy Zane Goddard attempted to overtake Greg Murphy at The Chase.
However, Goddard locked up and ran long, and fired through the wet outfield at pace.
Goddard lost control and veered into the path of Dale Wood and Matt Campbell.
Wood and Campbell had little chance to avoid Goddard, with Campbell hitting the #5 Snowy Rivers Ford at pace.
The field avoided further incident, aside from Mark Winterbottom and Tony D’Alberto.
Winterbottom checked up to miss Wood, but was turned by D’Alberto.
Race Control, in the wake of the Goddard incident, advised drivers to take caution when rejoining the track.
The race restarted under cloudy skies on lap 10, with Holdsworth opening up a four-second gap by lap 15.
Kostecki's off at The Chase, with the #56 TRADIE Ford stuck in the wet grass, triggered a third Safety Car.
