MOTORSPORT: Bathurst triple crown for Paul Morris

Victory in Sunday’s Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst Six-Hour has given Paul Morris a unique triple crown.

Morris has become the first driver to win all three of the endurance races now held each year at Bathurst’s Mt Panorama circuit.

The 49-year-old Queenslander’s latest success came at the expense of Chaz Mostert, the young Supercar star he partnered to victory in the 2014 Bathurst 1000 from last on the grid in a Ford Falcon FG.

Mostert was leading the production car Six-Hour at the wheel of a new Ford Focus RS LZ in the closing minutes on Sunday, but having lost fifth and sixth gear – to what he admitted was ‘driver abuse’ – he succumbed to the pace and pressure of Morris’ co-driver Luke Searle in a BMW M135i.

Searle and Mostert both broke the production car lap record in those final minutes, circulating quicker than they had qualified.

Morris – who also has won the Bathurst 12-Hour, also in a BMW (a 335i), before it became predominantly a GT event – said 41-year-old Searle, from Newcastle, had been “the right man to have at the end of the (six-hour) race”.

“I rate him as probably one of the best drivers Australia’s had, but he’s just slipped through the (top-level) net,” Morris said of his long-time mate.

A veteran of a quarter of a century in Australian motorsport, Morris said it was “pretty cool” to add the six-hour triumph to his 1000 and 12-Hour successes.

“It’s pretty good to have a matching set – it puts a bit more icing on the other ones,” he said.

Searle muscled past Mostert at The Chase after the sprint down the long Conrod Straight.

“I don’t know where that little Ford found its legs at the end there,” Searle said.

“Chaz was driving the wheels off it; we were driving the wheels off it (the BMW).

“I had to get him (Mostert). I was putting it all on the line.

“I wanted Paul to get the triple – that was always in my mind.

“Paul was phenomenal in the middle stint. He didn’t put a foot wrong.

“To win at Bathurst is the pinnacle in anyone’s career, be it this race or another Bathurst race.

“Bathurst is just phenomenal.

“When you’ve done a lap like we were doing at the end there, you know what it’s all about.”

Mostert conceded that he and Nathan Morcom, who partnered him in last year’s Six-Hour victory and again this Easter, had been “second best” this time, although he said it was “just awesome” to be in the fight for a repeat at the end after starting 16th in the record field of 64 cars.

“[It was] a great effort from the [Barry Morcom] team to win last year [with a BMW 335i] and to release a brand new car this year.

“The lead-up, the practices, the qualifying … all those things we just had little errors.

“Then to put it all together in the race is just awesome.”

The leaders completed 113 laps this year – 12 less than last year, after 11 interruptions that had the safety car out on track at the head of the field for almost half of the six hours.

Still, there were 18 lead changes.

The BMW M4 of Grant and Iain Sherrin that started from pole position led early but dropped three laps after a hose worked loose. They battled back to be in contention to win but then a puncture put paid to their chances.

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X of Supercars driver Tim Slade and Dylan Thomas was out with engine failure after just 20 laps while leading and the Evo IX of John Bowe and David Wall was a second-hour retirement.

The Mercedes-Benz AMG A 45 of Garth Walden with Craig Baird at the wheel blew its engine and caught fire in the last half hour, bringing out the final safety car.

Jim Pollicina and Ryan Simpson wound up third in an Evo X after the A45 of Duvashen Padayachee, Ben Porter and Rob Woods was penalised 32 seconds for a pit stop that was one second shorter than it should have been.

The relegation of that A 45 to sixth lifted the BMW 1 Series M Coupe of Beric Lynton and Tim Leahey to fourth and the Evo X of Andrew Richmond and Karl Reindler to fifth, after having been dropped to 59th on the grid because of a ride-height infringement.

The Audi TTRS 8J of Anthony Alford and Mark Eddy was a lap down in seventh, ahead of Class B1 (high performance, forced induction) victors Jack Perkins and Leigh Burges in the BMW 335i E92 in which Mostert and Morcom won outright last year.

Scott Bargwanna, Paul Lane and Trevor Symonds won Class A2 (extreme performance, naturally aspirated) in an HSV Commodore GTS and finished 12th outright.

Brian Walden, Michael Auld and Richard Bloomfield successfully defended their Class B2 (high performance, naturally aspirated) title, bringing their Commodore SSV Redline home in 27th outright.

Todd Hazelwood and Rob Rubis won the battle for Class C (performance) in their BMW 130i E87 over the similar car of Nicholas Cox and Adam Gosling.

In a battle of Toyota 86s, Chris Reeves and Chris Sutton retained their Class D (production) title by 5.7 seconds over Jimmy Vernon and Mark Caine.

John McCleverty, Brad Zacka and Michael Zacka won the invitational class, finishing 21st outright in their Ford Falcon AU.

See the full Bathurst 6 Hour race results here.