Holden’s legendary pairing of Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes has crashed out of the Bathurst 1000 after just 33 laps.
In Holden’s last race at Mt Panorama before the iconic Australian motoring brand is retired by General Motors, Whincup’s Commodore spun out and hit a wall not even a quarter of a way through the race.
The incident led to the safety-car being called with pole-sitter Cameron Waters leading the 161-lap enduro ahead of fellow Ford pairing Scott McLaughlin and Tim Slade.
Whincup’s Triple Eight teammate Shane van Gisbergen, partnered with Garth Tander, is the best-placed Commodore car in third.
Lowndes and Whincup, who started the race in ninth, have claimed 11 Bathurst 1000 titles between them.
“This place here, you’ve got to have respect for it because it can bite you,” a shattered Lowndes said of Whincup’s crash.
“We’ve all made mistakes here. It is a shame because the car was working extremely well.”