David Wall Bathurst 1000 race report

New South Welshman David Wall has picked up his second top 15 finish at Australian Motorsports Holy Grail – the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama.

#1 Wilson Security, Shannons, Porsche GT3 997 Cup S: David Wall

Photo by: Chris Von Wieldt

David once again completed double duties this weekend at the most important round on the Australian motorsport calendar, returning to his Fujitsu V8 Series challenge with Wilson Security Racing and again joining Karl Reindler in the Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing V8 for the big one.

David had a number of strong runs in the Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing V8 over the weekend, finishing as high as 4th in the Saturday morning session.

“We were relatively happy with our car this weekend and we were confident that, while we may not have had the outright speed in qualifying, we would have a good race car,” said David.

Karl qualified the car in 27th position and also started the race improving to 22nd before the first round of pit stops started and he handed the car over to David.

During David’s first stint the first of the safety cars for the race came out allowing David to come in and top up with fuel and get back out and on with the job of working their way up the order.

After a storming drive in his double stint David handed the car over to Karl in 13th place.

Karl and David then continued the teams fight for position with David handing the car back in 15th place for the final segment of the race.

The team were out of sync with the pit stops of those around them having made the call to come in for a splash and dash early in Karl’s final stint. This paid off when a perfectly timed safety car meant they came out of their final stop in 5th place.

Unfortunately a hairy moment for Karl after he hit oil going through the chase resulted in a flat spotted tyre for the remained of the race. The team then dropped down the order to come home in 14th place.

“To secure a top 15 finish after qualifying in 27th position is very rewarding,” said David.

“It was great to get involved in a number of close tight battles during the race – I really enjoyed fighting for positions out there!”

This weekend David’s Fujitsu V8 Supercar was given a special makeover with the Wilson Security Racing team were transformed into Team McGrath. David’s Fujitsu V8 Supercar and Tony D’Alberto’s car in the main game were given a pink make-over to raise awareness of breast cancer and to support the fantastic work of the McGrath Foundation.

The McGrath Foundation was co-founded by Jane McGrath and her cricketing husband Glenn after Jane's initial recovery from breast cancer. The McGrath Foundation raises money to fund McGrath Breast Care Nurses in communities right across Australia and to increase breast awareness in young women.

“Bathurst is always special and I am really proud that I was able to use this huge event to help the McGrath Foundation again as the work they do is amazing,” said David.

David continued his run of solid results in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series finishing eighth in the first race after qualifying in 11th.

Unfortunately a broken steering rack ruined David’s second race with the failure causing him to take swift action to avoid hitting the wall hard at the top of the mountain when he was in 9th place. Whilst this was a disappointing way to end the weekend – overall it was good to get another solid run under his belt.

While David is no stranger to double duty – this was the first he was jumping from his Fujitsu V8 Supercar and into a main game car. In the past two years it was out of his Porsche in the Australian GT Championship and into a main game V8.

“Switching from my Porsche to the V8 was actually quite easy given how different they are to drive, but I did not have any problems adjusting between each V8 this weekend,” said David

“My thanks go to both the Wilson Security Racing team and the Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing teams – they have both worked really hard all weekend through some pretty terrible weather to ensure I had the best possible car.

“And of course thank you to Paynter Dixon, Wilson Security, Shannons and Mount Aqua for their continued support.”

David will return to the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series in five weeks as a part of the Norton 360 Sandown Challenge in November.