Bathurst 1000: Youngster sets the pace in qualifying around Mount Panorama
Not one driver was totally confident during qualifying for the Bathurst 1000, with 11th to 24th on the grid now set and the top 10 left to shoot it out on Saturday afternoon.
However, youngster Zach Bates made the most of his machine and the conditions to set the fastest lap and was the only driver to sneak into a 2m 3s time. Bates is in his first full Supercars season and has been quick all campaign.
“Honestly, it’s incredible,” he said afterwards. “I can’t believe it, I’m speechless. It’s just a whole lot of credit to the crew behind me, the boys and girls have been working so hard.
“This is for my mum who passed last year. I can’t believe it. We’ve had a pretty average year as a whole family, so this is definitely a highlight and, yeah, super thankful.”
The Matt Stone Racing driver was ahead of Anton De Pasquale, Cooper Murray, Will Brown, Brodie Kostecki, David Reynolds, Jack Le Brocq, Jayden Ojeda, last year’s winner Matthew Payne and James Goulding.
At the halfway stage of qualifying, the top 20 cars were within a second of each other and a number of drivers who hadn’t featured in the previous four practices were at the top of the timing sheet.
With seven minutes to go, some big names were still to post a top-10 lap, including Broc Feeney, Chaz Mostert, Cam Waters and Kai Allen. At the chequered flag, none of the aforementioned fancied runners had improved and will miss out on the top-10 shootout.
A common thread through practice and qualifying was teams suffering brake issues and drivers not feeling 100% confident about being able to pull the car up at crucial moments. No one could pinpoint why there were problems with brake pad compounds, long pedals and having to bleed the brakes during qualifying.
Ryan Wood and co-driver Jaxon Evans, one of the favourite pairings for this weekend’s race, didn’t make qualifying as Wood had an altercation with the wall on the exit of Forrest’s Elbow during practice. As a result, he and Evans will start from the rear of the field.