Bates springs Bathurst 1000 qualifying surprise for Chevy

Zach Bates and Matt Stone Racing put Chevrolet on top in qualifying for the Bathurst 1000 after an action-packed Friday at Mount Panorama in Australia.

The 22-year-old sizzled around the track and set the two fastest lap times of the 40-minute session, with a time of the 2m03.9376s on his final run. In doing so the Canberra driver set the fastest lap of the Gen3 era and will be the last of the 10 runners in the Top 10 Shoot-Out Saturday.

Bates is a member of Australian motorsport royalty. His father Rick has a long racing history and Rick’s twin brother Neal is a multiple Australian Rally Champion and a long-time factory V8 Supercars co-driver.

“Incredible, I can’t believe it. All credit to the crew behind me,” the younger Bates said. “It is a session we get to do once a year. You get four sets [of tires] and you know that they last one is going to count.

“I had a moment in practice at the last corner but at the end, I got it all together. The fuel comes off, the car gets lighter but it moves around more. You leave a little bit on the table until the last run. I had a little bit of push, but it was good enough to get it done.”

Bates and MSR led a Chevrolet Camaro sweep of the top three places, by three different teams. Anton De Pasquale was second fastest for Team 18, falling just 0.1162s short of taking top spot. Third fastest was Cooper Murray for Erebus Motorsport.

In what has been a tough season, Friday was a highlight for the Chevrolet teams. Six of the top eight cars are Camaros, with David Reynolds slotting the second Team 18 car into sixth, Jack Le Brocq seventh in the other Erebus entry and Jayden Ojeda the best of the PremiAir Racing cars in eighth place.

The rest of the top 10 was filled by Fords. The fastest of the Mustangs was the Triple Eight entry of Will Brown, but the gap to Bates was a disconcerting 0.34s in what was otherwise a very close session. The relative speed of the two makes is not likely to go much to quell talk that the Camaros still have a slight straight-line speed edge over the opposition.

Second-fastest Ford, and fifth overall, was Brodie Kostecki. His Dick Johnson Racing Ford underwent an engine change prior to qualifying, the three-time pole-sitter feeling that he was down on speed in the earlier practice session.

Defending race winner Matt Payne was ninth fastest for Grove Racing, while James Golding scraped into the top 10 by 0.02s in the Blanchard Racing Team Mustang.

There were a number of well-credentialed drivers who did not make the top 10. Payne’s teammate Kai Allen was 11th, Broc Feeney had some braking issues in the second Triple Eight Ford. Even worse off were both Tickford Mustangs, Thomas Randle and Cam Waters both talking about a lack of rear grip on their way to 13th and 14th.

Worse still were the Toyota teams. Andre Heimgartner was the best of the GR Supra drivers but 15th is far from what the Brad Jones Racing driver would have expected. He is one place up on Chaz Mostert, who will start the race from 16th in the Walkinshaw TWG Supra. The leading Toyota was just 0.61s from Bates’s best time, and just 0.05s from the Top 10, but it looks like a busy day for the drivers Sunday.

After a tricky start to their week Thursday, Friday turned out to be a disaster for the Ryan Wood/Jaxon Evans entry. Wood was pressing on with a fresh set of tires midway through the morning practice session when he clipped the inside wall at Forrests Elbow, spearing the WTWG Supra into the outside wall. The result of the 42g impact was some severe damage and the car was out for the day, sending the New Zealand driving pair to the back of the grid for Sunday’s race.

They will line up alongside the Ryan Gray/Tony D’Alberto DJR Ford, after veteran D’Alberto ended the morning session in the wall and likewise, missed qualifying while repairs were made.

The Supercars will be back on track Saturday, with two more Practice sessions and the all-important Top 10 Shoot-Out, which will finalize the grid for Sunday’s 161-lap race.

Zach Bates and Matt Stone Racing put Chevrolet on top in qualifying for the Bathurst 1000 after an action-packed Friday at Mount Panorama in Australia.