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Holden young gun Rick Kelly fired the first salvo at Ford by flaunting the past seven Bathurst victories by the Commodore at Mount Panorama.
The two-time winner said it was Holden’s preparation and race management was superior to Ford, and that his rivals "thrashed" their cars too early, "chewed up tyres" and let them get into dangerous spots.
They were fighting words that revved up Ford boss Tom Gorman who issued an ivory tower edict: Ford must win.
Gorman said the Bathurst trophy plagued him everyday and has demanded that his highest paid driver, Craig Lowndes, return the trophy to Ford’s cabinet.
Earlier Ford driver Russell Ingall showed some spirit after his best test day of the season.
Despite being 500 points behind Lowndes, Ingall said the test lead up to the big day was going so well that his team had more confidence than a few months ago.
CARSguide will feature all race preview news as well as live coverage from our team on the ground in the pits.
Our bathurst preview coverage can be seen at carsguide.com.au/motorsports, where you can take the Bathurst trivia test, stack the Poll with your favorite team, and get the full schedule and facts for all the races.
There's also a monster pic gallery and story about Mini as they celebrate 40 years at Bathurst, plus a good history of racers and the option for you to name your all-time favourite driver.
In our ongoing tribute to Peter Brock, CARSguide’s readers are invited to share their favourite Brocky memorabilia like Adam Pawlowski has, plus send in your best snaps of the day for the Bathurst Bird’s Eye view gallery.
The best Bathurst snaps from CARSguide readers will feature in the Bathurst Bird’s Eye view gallery, and can be images of crowd action and race action. It’s up to you how Bathurst is remembered.
Send your pics low resolution (under 200 kilobytes each), and send to feedback@NOSPAMcarsguide.com.au. Remove the words NO SPAM, and to make sure we notice your mail, you’ll need a subject heading clearly labelled "BATHURST PICS".
