Bates claims provisional Bathurst pole as Feeney and Allen miss top 10
The Matt Stone Racing rookie set the fastest Gen3-era lap at Mount Panorama and will run last in the pole-deciding shootout.
A 2:03.938 lap earned Zach Bates provisional pole for the Bathurst 1000, with the 22-year-old Supercars rookie topping qualifying as title contenders Kai Allen and Broc Feeney missed the Top 10 Shootout.
The Matt Stone Racing driver set a Mount Panorama record for the Gen3 era. Bates initially took the lead with a 2:04.002 during the penultimate runs, then lowered his time as the session finished.
Behind Bates, Anton De Pasquale claimed second place and Cooper Murray third. Fourth-placed Will Brown led the Mustang drivers, followed by Brodie Kostecki in fifth. The remaining shootout spots were filled by David Reynolds, Jack Le Brocq, Jayden Ojeda, championship leader Matt Payne and James Golding.
Just hundredths of a second separated Allen, Feeney, Tom Randle and Cam Waters from the top-10 cut-off. Mustang and Camaro entries shared the shootout positions evenly. Toyota Supra driver Andre Heimgartner qualified 15th, immediately ahead of defending series champion Chaz Mostert.
Bates paid tribute to his mother Alison, who died weeks before his first Bathurst 1000 appearance last year. On that debut, he qualified 16th in a Triple Eight wildcard shared with Craig Lowndes.
Saturday afternoon’s shootout will reverse the qualifying order. Bates said there was a slight chance of showers and that preparing the tyres in a single lap would be important. Ryan Wood and Rylan Gray took no part in qualifying after heavy crashes in Friday’s opening practice.
