James Moffat and Taz Douglas steer Nissan to second place at Bathurst 1000

• - James Moffat and Taz Douglas finish second in dramatic Bathurst 1000
• - Three Nissans finish inside top 10 in amazing day at the mountain

Mount Panorama (New South Wales), Australia October 10-12, 2014) -Bathurst 1000, the 12th round of the Australian V8 Supercar series, was held from the 10th-12th of October at Mount Panorama.

James Moffat started the race from 7th place after his first appearance in a Top 10 Shoot-out that took place on Saturday.

Moffat and Taz Douglas ended a frantic, controversial and historical race on the podium after sustaining substantial damage to their #360 Norton Nissan Altima.

Douglas was involved in two incidents at Griffiths Bend (Turn 2). The first came after contact with Cameron Waters and the second was due to track surface break-up that eventually led to the race being stopped after 61 laps.

The result gives Nissan its first podium result in the Bathurst 1000 since 1992 when Jim Richards and Mark Skaife won the weather affected event.

There were also reasons to rejoice for the two Jack Daniel's Nissans, with Todd Kelly/Alex Buncombe finishing seventh, one place ahead of Rick Kelly/David Russell.

Both Jack Daniel's cars stayed out of trouble for the majority of the day but were forced to drive on a tight fuel strategy towards the end. To claim a pair of top 10 results was an excellent achievement.

The fourth Nissan of Michael Caruso and Dean Fiore, carrying Nissan's special heritage livery, endured a difficult day when a power steering issue dropped them down several laps. Having topped the morning warm-up session, the car eventually finished 15th.

The next event of the V8 Supercars Championship will be held at the Surfers Paradise street track for the Armor All Gold Coast 600 in two weeks time.

QUOTES:

James Moffat, #360 Norton Nissan Altima
"What an amazing day. The red flag, in a way, saved us because we were able to repair the car, and from that point on, it was just about staying out of trouble. The cars were really sketchy to drive. I was screaming on the radio to the engineers, giving them an ear bashing, but the result is unbelievable. I can't thank the team enough for the amount of work they've done on this program to get it to this point. I know every team in V8s works hard, but I haven't been involved with a harder working bunch of guys. We're definitely making ground, and to finish 2nd is hopefully a reward for all of their hard work, as well as our great supporters Nissan, Norton, Toshiba, Steadfast and all our team partners. And finally, a special thanks to my good mate Taz Douglas. He brought me back a car that looked like it had come out of a scene from Dukes of Hazard, but it was good enough for me!"

Taz Douglas, #360 Norton Nissan Altima (co-driver)
"It was a pretty hectic day for myself. Our car was very quick by itself, but we struggled in the pack. The team gave me some clean air in the opening laps and I was able to punch out some quick times, but when the Safety Car came out, it bunched us up and Cam Waters edged me into the fence. I wasn't even challenging him. Then later, I went a tiny bit off on the marbles and I was straight into the fence. There was plenty of smoke, but mechanically, the car was fine. The boys were able to fix it under the red flag ... and here we are!"

Michael Caruso, #36 Norton Nissan Altima
"Our morning started really well. We topped the warm-up and I felt we had a car that could have challenged for a really strong result. But my #36 Norton Nissan suffered a power steering problem in the opening stages and we dropped down four laps. Back in the old days of the Bathurst 1000, you could almost make up that ground, but these days, there's no chance. We plugged away for the rest of the day, but really, all we were doing was burning up fuel and tires!"

Dean Fiore, #36 Norton Nissan Altima (co-driver)
"It wasn't an ideal race for us. It's just a massive disappointment. We were really quick and very consistent, but to have a mechanical bite us in the bum is hard to swallow. There's promising signs there for the future and something for Michael and I to work on."

Todd Kelly, #7 Jack Daniel's Nissan Altima
"We didn't quite have the ideal balance for the race in our car, it was a long tough race, I've never really seen anything like it. It was an amazing result to get three cars in the top-ten, especially with our straight line speed deficiency."

Rick Kelly, #15 Jack Daniel's Nissan Altima
"We got off to a pretty good start, it was the first time I had been comfortable in the car all weekend. In the first stint we developed a misfire, but I think we were still the second fastest car on the track at that time, and it felt fantastic. Unfortunately it just got worse, we didn't get Dave in the car at the right time either, which didn't help, and the misfire got that bad that it was costing us a second a lap, and then probably two or three at the end there. It's really upsetting, because the car we had today was a race winning car, no doubt."

• 2014 V8 Supercars Championship Qualifying - (October 10)
• 2014 V8 Supercars Championship Race 29 -Top 15 Shootout (October 11)
• 2014 V8 Supercars Championship Race 30 - 161laps (October 12)

<Related Link>
NISSAN MOTORSPORTS Web Site

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