Minassian debuts in style at Bathurst - October 11th 2003

Minassian for Team Dynamik #45 - Bathurst

The European pairing of Jan Magnussen and Nicolas Minassian went into the race with Nicolas completing two test days between Sandown and the race weekend and feeling very comfortable in the car. 'I have learn't a tremendous amount about these cars during the last few weeks and was able to extract more from them at recent testing, in fact I was very happy with posting quite respectable times,' said Nicolas after testing at Mallala last week.

Jan Magnussen has been busy wrapping up the Danish Touring Car Championship title for this year before heading to Bathurst. Familiar with adapting quickly to different race cars and already having completed testing with the team previously Magnussen had devoured as much information as the team had been able to provide.

Minassian and Magnussen commenced their assault on the famous Bathurst 1000 from a lowly 27th position on the grid but by lap three had already moved up two places to 25th and following their first pitstop on lap 13 had once again improved their position on track by two places to 23rd.

An incident which blocked the track brought out the safety car, giving Minassian the chance to gain another position at the restart, only to be issued with a drive-thru penalty for speeding in the pitlane in his first stop. This aside, the Frenchman was still running a competitive 22nd with many ahead of him yet to pit, all was not lost.

By lap 45 when Minassian pitted to swap driving duties with Magnussen, the #45 Team Dynamik car was in a fine tenth place on track and still on the lead lap, some fine driving from the young Frenchman.

Jan Magnussen exited the pits in 16th and worked hard to move the team up to seventh before running wide at Petfoods corner, rejoining in 18th spot and moving into 17th before Minassian took back the reins on lap 74.

Despite suffering with a stomach upset, Minassian's speed did not seem to be affected as by lap 101 he was up to tenth and flying, putting the car into fifth before switching drivers again on lap 107. With Magnussen behind the wheel, his lack of time in the car proved costly as he dropped the team to 12th position. To be fair some of this time was lost in the pits and during the change, but Team Dynamik made the decision to put Minassian back in the car for the run to the finish on lap 137.

He exited the pits in 13th and in the dash to the finish managed to pull out another two places crossing the line in 11th place, a fine finish for both driver's first attempt at the Bathurst 1000, putting another notch on their belts and providing some great race miles for the future.