The 2010 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour will be a weekend to remember for a long time by Pollicina Motorsports. When the Sydney-based team decided to enter this year’s race under the Greg Murphy Racing banner, they were hopeful to be an outside chance for an outright win in the race. But being rookies to the event, the task was somewhat unlikely. The weekend at Bathurst has been a challenge for everyone involved, including drivers Jim Pollicina, John O’Dowd and Simon Middleton.
The end result was a highly impressive top ten finish – seventh overall and fourth in Class A for High Performance All Wheel Drive. Beginning the weekend with a car the trio had never driven before, the ex-Gary Young Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, they took a crash course on how to drive an all wheel drive car from the moment practice began. Slowly, as their confidence grew, so too did the speed and reliability.
In qualifying, they were knocking on the door of the top twenty and just missed out, qualifying 21st. But a technical infringement by the Walden Motorsport Commodore elevated them to 20th a few hours later. Then came who was to start the car - O’Dowd drew the short straw. Despite not doing a standing start at a race meeting before, O’Dowd held his composure well despite baulking the start slightly. Gaining seven places to get as high as 13th in his first stint, Middleton then took the reigns and he too did a sensible job to move up into the top ten.
Then Pollicina took control after three hours and at one point during his stint, he almost ruined the entire weekend when he got a little exuberant in the Esses and glanced the tyre wall. Then he bogged it at The Chase. But luckily, track time lost from that incident was minimal and they only lost a total of three positions from the mishap.
Then began the fight back into the top ten and the objective of staying there. But the fight back was a long and slow process, which included heavy rain, extended safety Car periods and a large gum tree that fell onto Con-Rod Straight and blocked the entire track, stopping the race for 45 minutes. Once the event got under way again, the Pollicina Lancer was fighting tooth and nail with the Hankook Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X RS of Peter Conroy, Mark Brame and Anthony Robson. For hour seven right through to the end, they stayed consistent and swapped places with the Hankook car whilst their opposition crumbled around them, including the Eric Bana Lancer and the works Team Mitsubishi Ralliart entry.
At the end of it, they achieved the objective – a top ten finish. What was better was that they finished seventh overall. For Pollicina, O’Dowd and Middleton, it was a personally satisfying event for them all.
Jim Pollicina – “I’m very happy with the result. It’s been a good day, we have had our ups and downs but the car was consistent. We drove it to the best that we could, we placed it in the top ten and we finished, which was the objective and seven outright is a bonus. So I’m stoked!”
John O’Dowd – “Yeah, it’s good. I’m really rapt with the result. The car was a good little package and the boys done an excellent job. I’m really happy.”
Simon Middleton – “It’s a good result. We all worked together, we all had the same mindset direction and we worked really well together. You couldn’t ask for a better result.”
Jim Pollicina, John O’Dowd, Simon Middleton and everyone at Pollicina Motorsports would like to personally thank Dean Lillie and everyone at Greg Murphy Racing for being professional in their preparation and experience for the 12 Hour. They would also like to thank their sponsors – Martini Racing, McDonals Australia, Poll Performance, O’Dowd Transport, The Killarnee Group, Hammond Electrical, EzeTax, Middletons Geelong Heating & Cooling, Flashair, Breezair, and Daikin.