Kostecki claims provisional pole for Bathurst 1000

Brodie Kostecki broke his own Gen3 qualifying lap record to claim provisional pole for this weekend’s Bathurst 1000.

The defending race winner lapped the mountain in 2m04.0307s in the No.38  Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon to edge out current Supercars Championship leader Broc Feeney by just 0.0064s. The top six cars were all covered by 0.1s.

Kostecki used green tires on his first run, which set the bar at 2.04.7793s. That remained the only lap in the sub-2m04s range until Chaz Mostert reeled off a 2m04.9183s with his second run. That opened the floodgates, and soon it was Cooper Murray in the Erebus Camaro at the top with a 2m04.3624s.

Murray then improved his time to 2m04.0936s, breaking Kostecki’s Gen3 lap record from two years ago in the process, only for Feeney to jump ahead by just 0.056s.

As the session entered its final 10 minutes, Ryan Wood leaped to third with a 2m04.2078s, while Thomas Randle went seventh-fastest behind him, bumping himself into the Top 10 Shootout in the process.

Anton De Pasquale was next to make his move, climbing into the top three with a 2m04.1966s lap and knocking rookie Zach Bates out of a shootout spot in the process.

Several drivers improved their times in the final minutes, but in the end it was Walkinshaw Andretti’s Ryan Wood who finished up third-fastest behind Kostecki and Feeney, while De Pasquale, Cooper Murray, Chaz Mostert, Cameron Waters, Cameron Hill, Nick Percat and Randle rounded out the top 10 and will take part in the shootout for pole position.

Among the notable omissions from the pole battle are Will Brown, who finished 12th-fastest.

Follow the action from the Bathurst 1000 on RACER: Saturday 8:45pm-2:45am ET live on RACER+, and Sunday 10:30am-4:30pm delayed on RACER Network.