Kostecki storms to Bathurst 1000 pole, Stanaway climbs to fourth

Brodie Kostecki waited until the Top 10 Shootout to set the fastest time of the entire weekend to earn pole for Sunday’s Bathurst 1000.

The reigning Supercars champion set a 2:05.5119 as the seventh driver to run, and the following Broc Feeney, Cam Waters or Matt Payne were unable to better it, seeing the Erebus #1 jump from fourth to first.

Waters came closest to getting ahead of Kostecki, but lost out in the final sector to fall 0.13 seconds short. Feeney was a further two-tenths behind in third.

Richie Stanaway, who was the first to run, was the biggest mover, jumping from 10th to fourth. Stanaway’s first sector remained as the fastest after all ten runs.

Championship leader Will Brown makes for two Red Bull entries in the top five, and lines up next to Jack Le Brocq on the third row.

Contact with the wall exiting Forrest’s Elbow cost provisional pole-sitter Matt Payne, who dropped to seventh, where he’ll start alongside Anton De Pasquale.

Title contender Chaz Mostert could only manage ninth and lines up next to Andre Heimgartner, whose lap was compromised at Turn 1 when he ran off and into the gravel.

Stanaway, who was second quickest in the earlier practice, got proceedings underway and laid down an impressive 2:05.9286, a time two-tenths better than his timed qualifying session time from Friday evening.

De Pasquale was two-tenths slower through the first sector and only clawed back 0.01 seconds in Sector 2 before dropping a further tenth on the run to the flag for a 2:06.2385.

Le Brocq too lost out to Stanaway, but jumped ahead of De Pasquale with a 2:06.1827.

Heimgartner’s enthusiasm of a first appearance in a Top 10 Shootout at Bathurst in 10 attempts lasted as far as Turn 1, with the ITM Taupo Super400 race winner running long and through the gravel trap at Hell Corner. The Kiwi was able to keep the car running and completed a lap, albeit well off the pace.

Mostert lost nearly half a second to Stanaway through the first sector, but made some of that time back by going as the fastest car over the top of the mountain. It ultimately wasn’t enough, with the title contender’s 2:06.5411 only the fourth best of the five runners.

Brown, too, was several tenths slower through the first sector, but was quick over the top of the mountain and down Conrod to jump to second, just 0.021 seconds ahead of Le Brocq, with the Penrite Racing entry’s first time still standing as the benchmark.

Kostecki was less than one-tenth off Stanaway through the first sector and was fastest over the mountain to begin the final sector with a 0.177-second advantage. The reigning champion would get the job done, his 2:05.5119 the fastest lap of the entire weekend and over four-tenths to the good of the field.

Feeney too would better Stanaway’s time, but was 0.35-seconds shy of Kostecki’s flyer to sit provisionally second with only Waters and Payne to run.

Waters sat within one-tenth of Kostecki following the first two sectors, but ultimately fell just 0.131 seconds short of the best effort to fall into second.

Payne was 0.15 seconds down on Kostecki through the first sector, and lost further time as he scraped the wall exiting Forrest’s Elbow. The provisional pole-sitter finished with a 2:06.2373, which dropped him to seventh.

Sunday’s Bathurst 1000 begins at 1.30 pm NZST and will be shown live on Sky Sport. A short warm-up session at 10.15 am precedes The Great Race.

Bathurst 1000 Starting Grid

Header Image: Supercars