Repco Supercars Championship rookie Zach Bates has converted provisional pole to Top 10 Shootout supremacy after a scorching lap around Mount Panorama.
Bates was last out after topping Friday afternoon’s Qualifying session and achieved a 2m 04.206s to prevent a pole position four-peat for Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Brodie Kostecki.
The 2024 Bathurst winner came to the fore and held the benchmark time of 2m 04.491s until Bates defeated it by 0.285s.
Chevrolets share the second row after DEWALT Racing’s Anton De Pasquale set the third fastest time ahead of Cooper Murray for Erebus Motorsport.
The entries of Matt Stone Racing’s Jack Le Brocq and Red Bull Ampol Racing driver Will Brown will share the third row ahead of PremiAIr Racing’s Jayden Ojeda, which is alongside the Snowy River Racing Camaro of David Reynolds.
James Golding was ninth fastest in the Blanchard Racing Team Mustang, while Matt Payne completed the contenders in the Penrite Racing Ford.
Fluid spilt during the prior Super2 race made the early running challenging, though just minor mistakes were made by drivers including Ojeda missing the apex at The Dipper and Payne running wide at The Chase.
For Bates, it was his maiden Repco Supercars Championship pole position and was the culmination of many strong performances in Qualifying throughout the year, which accounts to six Shootout appearances.
Next up for the Repco Supercars Championship is the traditional morning warm up at 8:30am AEDT ahead of the race start at 11:30am AEDT.