V8 Supercars: Mostert/Morris score Bathurst 1000 upset victory from last

Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris (right to left, ABOVE) claimed victory on the final lap of an incredible 2014 Bathurst 1000 as Jamie Whincup ran low on fuel.

The messy race featured 10 safety cars, was red-flagged for only the third time in the event's history, and ended up being fought out between two cars that had started at the back.

Mostert made great progress from last on the grid during his opening stint, but his hard work came undone when former full-time V8 Supercars driver Morris took over at the wheel of the Ford Performance Racing Falcon and went into the wall at Griffins Bend. The corner had caught a number of drivers out during the early phase as the track surface there broke up, prompting a stoppage on lap 61 of 161.

The FPR pair had fallen back to the rear of the field once the race resumed after an hour delay, but thanks to large number of incidents during the final two thirds of the event and subsequent safety car periods, they were in contention with just 10 laps to go.

At this point Mostert trailed Triple Eight pair Whincup – who produced one of the greatest first stints in the race's history, as well as overcoming a lap deficit later on – and Craig Lowndes, plus leader Mark Winterbottom in the sister FPR car.

The Holden duo were forced to converse fuel as the race drew to a conclusion and Lowndes was subsequently hit with a drive-through penalty for spinning erstwhile leader Winterbottom with seven laps to go just after Whincup passed the Ford.

Whincup (LEFT) pressed on in his Holden, seemingly ignoring pleas from his team to save fuel, but it was too late by the time he acknowledged the request as Mostert was right on his tail with less than half a lap to the finish.

"I think he could hear us," Whincup's  race engineer David Cauchi told v8supercars.com.au. "To be fair to him, we thought we had enough fuel to make it. And it turns out that we didn't. We'll have to look it up from our end. We did what we did, there's plenty of things we said we should've, could've, but at the end of the day we decided to run with the strategy and it didn't work for us and that's what happened.

"That's what makes this race so special, because there's so many little things it takes half a kilo, half a litre of fuel that can make or break your day. That's the beautiful Bathurst race."

Young Kiwi Mostert took the lead at Elbow and cruised to an unlikely victory, ahead of the battered Nissan of James Moffat, whose co-driver Taz Douglas also had a moment at Griffins Bend early on and lost track position limping back to the pits.

"I never even thought I would get into the top 10. It's fantastic. Who would know that we would go from 25th to first," said Mostert. "It's my third win in the series so to have it at Bathurst is unbelievable. I grew up watching Peter Brock and it was unbelievably sad when he left us. Now to be just 22 years old and hold the Peter Brock Trophy and take it back to FPR is definitely very emotional."

Nick Percat could not replicate his 2011 Bathurst success in the Walkinshaw Holden, but both he and Briton Oliver Gavin were in the mix for all eight hours of the race and fully deserved the final spot on the podium.

Amid all the commotion around them, brothers Will and Alex Davison had a fairly quiet race for Erebus and managed to claim fourth ahead of Whincup, whose Holden spluttered its way to the finish line.

Winterbottom recovered from his altercation with Lowndes to take sixth alongside co-driver Steve Owen. The pair had been on course to repeat last year's success, having timed their last fuel stop to perfection, before things went awry.

Bathurst veterans Lowndes and Steve Richards eventually finished 10th, ahead of the Super Black wildcard entry of Andre Heimgartner and Ant Pedersen, who put in a great performance in the FPR-run Falcon on their debut.

There was heartache for Shane van Gisbergen, who led the majority of the second half of the race, but stalled his Tekno Holden during the penultimate pit stop and could not get it going again. The team eventually brought it back to life, but the Kiwi and co-driver Jonathon Webb lost three laps.

Volvo duo Scott McLaughlin and Alexandre Premat had been Tekno's main rivals for most of the race. Their downfall came on lap 119 when McLaughlin went into the wall at The Cutting and suffered a puncture, taking them out of contention for a possible race victory.

Other incidents in the often bizarre race included a safety car for a kangaroo on the track and Lee Holdsworth's Erebus Mercedes being tipped upside down in a clash with Russell Ingall. Holdsworth was taken for precautionary medical checks.

• VIDEO: On board  for Scott Pye's heavy Bathurst crash

RESULTS - 161 LAPS: