Mount Panorama has drawn plenty of blood over the years, but V8 Supercars veteran Craig Lowndes doesn't feel it'll be any more dangerous with a shiny new surface despite anticipated higher speeds.
The famed public road circuit recently underwent a $2 million facelift that has most tipping track records to fall in the lead up to Sunday's Bathurst 1000.
Lowndes currently holds the fastest lap time around the mountain in a V8 of two minutes 6.8012 seconds, set during practice in 2010.
But it's four-time Bathurst champion Greg Murphy's qualifying record from 2003 that many drivers see as the one to beat.
Dubbed the Lap of the Gods, Murphy eclipsed the rest of the field in the top 10 shootout with a 2:06.8594 for pole position.
"It doesn't matter what happens this weekend, those two laps are still the greatest laps of all time and always will be," said championship leader Jamie Whincup, who holds the record for the fastest race lap.
"Even if we have a resurfaced track and we go quicker, it's not going to wipe anything away from those performances from Murph and Lowndesy in those years.
"It was phenomenal. I was just as much a fan as anyone watching that unveil."
The stickier new tarmac will provide the ever-improving new generation of V8 Supercars much more grip through the corners and allow for greater speeds.
But Lowndes doesn't believe higher speeds will mean more crashes around the already-challenging 6.213km track.
"No, I don't think so," the Red Bull Racing star said.
"The speed of the race will probably be faster and obviously the lap times are going to come down. But then the fuel consumption goes up.
"Every team will go into the race with one or two strategies and it's just a matter of how it plays out over the course of the day."
Lowndes, a five-time winner of the Great Race, narrowly missed out on a podium with new co-driver Steve Richards at the traditional Bathurst warm-up race at Sandown last month, finishing fourth.
They bookended a quartet of Holdens from factory-backed teams - led by teammate and winner Whincup, with Holden Racing Team's James Courtney second and Garth Tander third.
It's no surprise, then, the four Commodores are favourites to take out Sunday's 1000km epic.
A win would be the Red Lion's 30th at Mount Panorama - nearly double Ford's 18 victories.
"But there's still a lot of rivalry between the two Holden teams," said Richards, who's won the race three times including last year with Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom.
"As much as it's nice for Holden to have its 30th (win), we'd like to be that 30th."
All 26 cars will take to the track for three practice sessions from 11.05am (AEST) on Thursday.
Share
