It marks two decades since the most emotional Bathurst 1000 in the event’s history.
The 2006 Bathurst 1000 was the first after the death of nine-time winner Peter Brock and one of the largest crowd in the event’s history arrived at the Mountain to celebrate the legend’s life.
Occurring a month after Brock’s death while competing in a West Australian tarmac rally, the Supercars industry came out in force in a display of solitude to pay their respects and there was massive pressure surrounding the biggest stars of the sport.
After losing his mentor and long-time friend, Craig Lowndes more determined than ever to break his decade-long Bathurst drought.
Lowndes’ relationship with Brock spanned his entire life as his father Frank was a Holden Dealer Team mechanic during the early-1970s.
Both lived in the Diamond Valley area of the Melbourne metropolitan area and when Lowndes made his meteoritic rise at the Holden Racing Team, Brock was his teammate.
Brock played an integral part in mentoring Lowndes during his early career leading to a close bond between the pair.
Lowndes endured a turbulent time when he first joined Ford in 2001, but linking up with Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2005 proved a masterstroke and elevated the star into title contention.
When Jamie Whincup joined prior to the following season, the team was set for the next decade.
Mark Skaife was also under a lot of pressure.
Leading the Holden attack, Skaife owned the factory team sporting black bonnets on the pair of Commodores as a sign of respect to a driver permanently linked to the Australian manufacturer.
Skaife rose above the pressure to set pole in the Shootout, but the race ended quickly due to clutch slip and heavy contact was made by an obscured Jack Perkins on Mountain Straight to conclude the day after one corner.
Lowndes started the race, but it was a struggle after emotionally breaking down while driving Brock’s 1972 Bathurst winning Holden Torana GTR XU-1 on a parade lap prior to the event.
Despite this, Lowndes was at the top of his game and alongside a 23-year-old Whincup outlasted the opposition for most of the day until the closing stages when a major challenge arrived.
Brothers Rick and Todd Kelly emerged as key rivals during the closing stages of the race sharing the HSV Dealer Team entry.
In a race full of drama, the two leaders were inseparable throughout and it was Whincup making the crucial move to allow Lowndes to finish off the job in emotional circumstances by just 0.586s.
It means Lowndes’ name will sit atop the Peter Brock Trophy forever.
“It is probably the most emotional race that I’ve had to do and it will always be the best victory that I’ll ever achieve,” Lowndes told Supercars.com.
“There’s no doubt that for me, it’s a race I look back on and am really proud to get through that side of it.
“We had a little bit of luck, which is something you need there over the course of the day at Bathurst.
“To have that battle with Rick Kelly at the end of the day was amazing.
“Having our name engraved on the Brock Trophy for the first time was quite special.”
Lowndes has added his name to the Peter Brock Trophy a further five times to clock up a total of seven victories at the Mountain and returns this edition for his 33rd start to surpass Brock for the second most appearances in the 1000.