IT has often been said Mount Panorama is a track which will challenge rookie and veteran alike, but there is no doubt prior Bathurst 1000 experience is an asset for any driver.

When it comes to this year’s Great Race drivers, Jason Bright has more experience than most.

This Sunday when the Team BOC driver lines up on the grid, he will make his 19th start in the Bathurst 1000.

“It’s been a few and they rack up pretty quickly, believe me,” Bright said.

“I think that the biggest surprise was a couple of years ago when Bathurst had its 50th anniversary and I went ‘Wow’. At that moment I realised that I had been involved in half of those as a spectator or a driver, I think I’d done 16 as a driver at that point, so it was a big shock.

“When I was growing up and was young, it felt like a race that had been going forever, but to have done all most half of them was a bit of a shock.”

Bright made his Bathurst debut in 1997 and 12 months later experienced one of the highlights of his V8 Supercars career when he and Steven Richards claimed the chequered flag at the Mount.

Since then Bright has stood on the Bathurst podium on two more occasions – placing second in 2000 and third in 2002.

Last year Bright teamed up with Andrew Jones for the Great Race. 

The pair had placed fifth in the 2013 endurance epic and were hoping to improve further for a podium finish.

Bright was quick in practice and qualifying, while his one-lap flier of two minutes, 7.0431 seconds in the top 10 shootout saw him start Sunday’s Bathurst 1000 from fourth on the grid.

Though losing position on the opening lap, Bright was in the top 10 when he pitted his Holden Commodore for the first time.

However, on lap 46 his chances were dealt a massive blow. 

Brad Jones Racing team-mate Dale Wood, caught out by a slowing pack running behind a safety car near the top of the Mount, ran into the back of the Bright-Jones entry.

Wood’s car caught on fire and ended up with a DNF, while Bright and Jones’ #8 Commodore suffered significant damage. 

That incident came some five minutes after the team’s third entry of Luke Youlden and Fabian Coulthard had struck a kangaroo.

“We had a quick car last year and I felt that everything went really well for us up until the race. We had three quick cars, but in the race everything fell apart,” Bright, who ended up in 14th place with Jones, said.

“We just needed to be on that lead lap and I felt we could’ve gone on and got a podium.

“Hopefully if we can go there and have a quick car again this year, we can push for that podium.”

Given Bright is closing in on 500 starts and 90 podiums in the V8 Supercars series, he certainly has the experience to get himself a top three result at the famous 6.213 kilometre track.