Richie Stanaway has driven a superb qualifying session to qualify fifth fastest for tomorrow’s Top 10 Shootout. The result guarantees that the Erebus Motorsport wildcard, shared with New Zealand motorsport icon Greg Murphy, will qualify on the front five rows.
It was a wet session to begin with, the weather clearing over the 40 minute run-time but persistent drizzle lingering. This meant all competitors remained on wets to combat flowing water at The Chase and Griffins Bend.
Cam Waters set the fastest time to earn the last run of tomorrow’s Top 10 Shootout, a 2min 23.616sec enough to pip Lee Holdsworth by .21 of a second.
It was an impressive run for Holdsworth, the time coming as a surprise for many despite him winning last years Great Race as co-driver for Chaz Mostert.
With over 500 races to his name in the series, the veteran put all his experience to the test in challenging conditions to set his time.
Holdsworth will be partnering with Kiwi Matthew Payne for the event.
Mostert himself qualified as the third fastest, the fastest Holden, Kiwi Fabian Coulthard his partner in crime this weekend.
Shane van Gisbergen set the fourth fastest time and was on a flyer as the chequered flag fell. In an attempt to pass Macauley Jones at Skyline, the Kiwi ran into ‘the Esses’ on the outside on the left hander which became the inside at the next turn.
Contact with the right rear of Jones’ car sent him spinning into the wall at high speed, the rear of the car sustaining major damage.
Van Gisbergen continued on with no damage, the incident, however, resulting in a three place grid penalty which will be applied after the shootout.
Stanaway set the fifth fastest time in his return to the series, the 2min 24.35sec only .736 off top spot. He survived a spin on the final corner in the middle of the session by using the escape road to his advantage.
Will Davison, also a strong qualifier with the most poles in 2022, qualified sixth whilst Nick Percat, James Courtney, Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown round out the top 10.
Brown looked set for a miserable day after a crash in practice earlier damaged the recently-repaired car, from the Pukekohe Race 2 incident, the damage not terminal and a quick repair seeing him take part in qualifying. Making the Top 10 Shootout all but turned his, and Boost Mobile Racing’s, day around.
Their was disappointment and heartbreak for Anton de Pasquale and Andre Heimgartner, the duo missing the cutoff by .0077 and .0126 respectively.
Heimgartner will start the Bathurst 1000 in 12th, whilst fellow full-time Kiwi driver Chris Pither will begin in 21st.
Jack Smith, who will share his drive with New Zealander Jaxon Evans, will start 27th.
The result of Friday’s qualifying creates a mixed grid for Sunday’s race. Veteran Mark Winterbottom could only qualify 23rd, whilst David Reynolds starts 18th.
Supercar legend Craig Lowndes put the Triple Eight wildcard in 16th, while Jamie Whincup, who ran as the only co-driver to run in the session, could only manage the 14th best time. Whincup is the partner of full-time rookie Broc Feeney this weekend.
The Top 10 Shootout begins at 7.05pm tomorrow NZ time, wet conditions again the forecast which could throw further surprises on the field.
Whilst qualifying strongly brings good track position come race start, 1000 kilometers of racing will all but shake up the field, Sunday’s Bathurst 1000 all but set to be a good one.
Image: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images
