THE Bathurst 1000 is already a special enough occasion on its own, but there will be extra cause for celebrations for a smattering of Supercars drivers and teams at next week’s edition.
Besides the dedicated Peter Brock festivities 20 years on from his death, and it also being the 20th anniversary of Triple Eight’s first Great Race win, there are a number of major milestones on the cards.
For starters, Mark Winterbottom will become the second driver to chalk up 650 Supercars Championship races.
Winner of the 2013 Mount Panorama classic, ‘Frosty’ will again partner up with Cam Waters in Tickford Racing’s Monster Mustang.
The only other driver past 650 is Craig Lowndes, who will be making his 33rd Great Race start.
That takes him past Brock into outright second on the event’s all-time list, behind only Jim Richards (35).
Todd Hazelwood meanwhile will bring up a well-earned double-century, with Bathurst marking the 200th championship race of his career.
Lowndes (Team 18) and Hazelwood (Dick Johnson Racing) will co-drive with Bayley Hall and Brodie Kostecki respectively.
Funnily enough, Winterbottom and Hazelwood would have had to wait until 2027 to take their tallies to such heights if it wasn’t for them being called up as substitutes at the Darwin Triple Crown back in June.
Elsewhere, both Grove Racing and PremiAir Racing will make race start number 150, having each debuted in earnest at the start of 2022.
The latter’s own Jayden Ojeda will simultaneously notch 50 race starts in the main game.
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