Erebus pair shoot for Bathurst greatness

Pole-sitters and reigning champions David Reynolds and Luke Youlden have given themselves every chance of ending two long streaks in Sunday’s Bathurst 1000.

They can be the first team to go back-to-back on Mount Panorama since Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup’s stunning three-peat from 2006 to 2008.

And they can snap a nine-year wait for a shootout winner to back up in the 1000km race.

Not since 2009, when Garth Tander set the fastest Saturday time in his VE Commodore before backing it up on race day with Will Davison, has a pole-sitter won the Great Race.

Both those achievements are within sight for Reynolds and Youlden after a remarkable 12 months.

Their win last year was a remarkable come-from-the-clouds affair.

Going into the race, Reynolds was yet to win in 48 starts with battling outfit Erebus Motorsport and given very little chance before triumphing in a chaotic, rain-soaked affair.

This year, he’s arrived with last year’s experience under his belt and plenty of form from the Supercars season.

Reynolds says the experience of winning the biggest race in Australian motorsport only made him hungrier to succeed again.

« Since being part of the winning thing you understand what it means, » he said.

« Ideally at the start of the year you want to win the championship. But we’re not in the hunt. So of course I want to win this race.

« It’s got to continue tomorrow (on Sunday) though. 161 laps.

« I’m taking it one lap at a time, 161 times. »

Car No.9’s biggest challenger sits next to him in the grid.

Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell won at Sandown last month and came within nine-thousandths of a second of pole.

Further threats aren’t far behind.

First-time Bathurst sensation Anton de Pasquale is third on the grid, alongside championship leader Shane van Gisbergen.

Then come Ford’s leading duo, on the last outing for the Falcon on Mount Panorama.

Scott McLaughlin is fifth, with Cam Waters sixth.

McLaughlin was quickest in Sunday morning’s warm-up, the only driver to dip below two minutes and five seconds around the 6.2km circuit.

The session was temporarily suspended when a punter lost his jacket onto the course.

The race begins at 11.10am (AEDT), with an expected finishing time about 6pm.