Supercars: Kostecki claims provisional pole for Bathurst 1000

Current Repco Supercars Championship leader Brodie Kostecki has secured provisional pole position for Sunday’s Repco Bathurst 1000 in a dramatic Friday qualifying session, where both Will Brown and Declan Fraser crashed heavily.

Coca-Cola #99 Camaro driver Kostecki, clinching the provisional pole by a margin of more than one-tenth of a second, clocking in at a blistering 2 minutes and 4.664 seconds.

As a result, he will have the privilege of being the last to run in the Top 10 Shootout taking place tomorrow, which will determine the starting positions for the first five rows of the grid.

In contrast, Shane van Gisbergen, Kostecki’s main championship rival, left it to the last second to secure his spot in the all-important Shootout, posting the seventh-fastest time on his final lap.

Tomorrow’s Shootout, arguably one of the most exciting sessions of the year, will feature six Ford Mustangs and four Chevrolet Camaros.

Seven former Kings of the Mountain, will be represented as either drivers or co-drivers, ensuring they will start at the front end of the grid for Sunday’s race.

Tomorrow’s ARMOR ALL Top Ten Shootout will run in the reverse order of the ten fastest lap times from today’s qualifying, first out will be three Mustangs:

1. Will Davison/Alex Davison – #17 Shell V-Power Ford Mustang
2. Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth – #25 Mobil 1 Optus Ford Mustang
3. Matthew Payne/Kevin Estre – #19 Penrite Racing Mustang
4. Shane van Gisbergen/Richie Stanaway – #97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro
5. David Reynolds/Garth Tander – #26 Penrite Racing Mustang
6. Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup – #88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro
7. Cam Waters/Moffat – #6 Monster Energy Mustang
8. Anton De Pasquale/Tony D’Alberto – #11 Shell V-Power Mustang
9. James Golding/Dylan O’Keeffe – #31 Nulon Racing Camaro
10. Brodie Kostecki/David Russell – #99 Coca-Cola Camaro

Will Brown, Kostecki’s teammate, began dramatically when he collided with the Turn 2 tire barrier early, prompting the first red flag stoppage.

The Toowoomba native managed to recover his damaged #9 Coca-Cola Camaro and return to the pits for repairs. After 10 minutes of work, the session resumed, but before any representative times were recorded, another red flag was waved due to Declan Fraser’s heavy collision with a concrete wall at The Cutting.

The second stoppage worked to Brown’s advantage, allowing his team to make quick repairs and send him back onto the track shortly after the restart. When lap times finally began to drop, Cam Waters became the first driver in a Gen3 car to dip below the 2-minute and 5-second mark, clocking a 2 minutes and 4.990 seconds.

James Golding secured the second-fastest time of the session ahead of Anton De Pasquale who managed to break the 2-minute and 4-second barrier, but Kostecki maintained his lead of over one-tenth of a second.

The top contenders made a final run, but there were no changes at the top, with Kostecki securing the provisional pole ahead of Golding, the major surprise of the session.

Red Bull’s Broc Feeney who is partnered with the great Jamie Whincup this weekend, claimed the fifth-fastest time.

Van Gisbergen spent most of the session outside the top 10 but dug deep to secure seventh place, keeping his hopes of pole position alive.

Rookie Matt Payne, another Kiwi who has been quick in opening practice, ended up in eighth place, followed by Chaz Mostert and Will Davison, who secured the last two spots in the Shootout.

Friday Provisional Pole Results