Brodie Kostecki has put his Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang on top of the time sheets in a riveting qualifying session for this weekend’s Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama.
Kostecki, the defending race winner, set a final lap time of 2m04.0307s to edge this season’s qualifying king Broc Feeney by 0.0064s. The Triple Eight Chevrolet driver had looked to have taken pole before Kostecki snatched it away in the final moments of the 45-minute session.
“I was not sure how good we were,” the 2023 champion said. “We were making small adjustments to the car, we put ourselves in a very good position for the Shoot Out.
“That was probably one of the best laps of my career, it feels good in race trim but it was a little bit evil in qualifying.”
One of the difficult factors for the drivers to handle was the fact that the cars are on the third different Dunlop Control tyre in three years, and that this year’s new, softer tyre is more than 1s faster than its predecessors.
“On this tyre this year it is bloody fast,” Feeney smiled after the session. “My reference lap was out on the last lap, I thought I was looking at a ‘three’.”
Ryan Wood took the third-fastest time of the session in the Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford, ahead of Anton De Pasquale (Team 18 Chevrolet), Cooper Murray (Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet and Chaz Mostert (WAU Ford).
The staggering statistic was that those six cars were split by less than 0.1s around the 6.213km track, marking it as the closest session of its type in recent times.
The shock performer of the session was Murray, the man who replaced Kostecki at Erebus Motorsport. He took the fight right to Feeney early in the session, leaving many of the more fancied drivers in his wake.
Cameron Waters was seventh fastest in his Tickford Racing Ford, ahead of Cam Hill. The Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet driver looked to be right in the battle in the earlier practice sessions, as was team-mate Nick Percat, who made the Shoot Out in ninth position.
Thomas Randle was the last man to make the top 10 in the second Tickford Racing Ford, tipping out Macauley Jones (Brad Jones Racing) by 0.056s.
Will Brown, Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Photo by: Edge Photographics
The big shock of the session was Will Brown, the defending Supercars champion in 12th place, albeit only 0.2880s from Kostecki’s best time.
The other fancied runner to miss the top 10 was Matt Payne, who was back in 18th in the Grove Racing Ford – though even he was just 0.5691s from provisional pole.
Even Bryce Fullwood, who will start Sunday’s race from 25th in his BJR Chevrolet, was less than 1s behind Kostecki’s time.
The Supercars co-drivers will have their own practice session at 10:05am on Saturday, and all drivers can drive at 1:10pm, with both sessions set to run 60 minutes. The Top 10 Shoot Out, which will set the starting order at the front of the grid, is scheduled for 5:05pm (all times Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time).
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
– The Autosport.com Team
