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Lowndes, Brown, McLaughlin: Rookie's shot at pole history

04 Dec 2021
Will Brown can become the youngest pole-sitter since Craig Lowndes
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Will Brown has a shot to become the youngest ever Great Race pole-sitter since Craig Lowndes.

On Saturday, Brown became the youngest driver to score provisional pole at Mount Panorama.

Brown will be aged 23 years, five months and 29 days when he rolls out last for the one-lap dash at the Repco Bathurst 1000.

  • Just 0.02s in it: Brown scores provisional Bathurst pole

  • Brown initially thought Bathurst flyer 'wasn't very good'

  • Click here for Qualifying 31 results

Should the Erebus Motorsport rookie convert in Saturday’s Top Ten Shootout, he will become the second youngest Bathurst pole-sitter.

While still a full-time rookie, Brown will make his fourth Great Race start, having made his debut as a co-driver in 2018.

Klaus Ludwig (1987) and Marcos Ambrose (2001) are the only drivers to have taken pole at their first attempt.

A year after he burst onto the scene in 1994, Lowndes scored pole for the 1995 race aged 21 years, three months and nine days.

Lowndes scored the 1995 pole three years before Brown was born.

'Pretty bloody cool!': Brown's ecstatic reaction

In 2017, Scott McLaughlin was aged 24 years, three months and 27 days when he lit up Mount Panorama.

McLaughlin famously dropped in the first ever 2:03s lap of the track in the 2017 shootout.

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Conversely, Dick Johnson was aged 47 years, five months and seven days when he scored pole in 1992.

Johnson’s 1992 effort remains the biggest margin between first and second in a shootout.

Just once this century - Wayne Gardner in 2000 - has a driver aged 40 or older scored Bathurst pole.

That will have to wait to until 2022; the oldest driver in Saturday’s shootout is 39-year-old Will Davison.

History isn't on Brown's side; 15 of 43 provisional pole-sitters have claimed the shootout honours. McLaughlin was last to do it in 2017.

Supercars will return to the track on Saturday for the ARMOR ALL Top Ten Shootout at 5:05pm AEDT. Click here to view the track schedule.

Every session of the event will be broadcast live on Foxtel (Fox Sports 503) and streamed on Kayo.

The Seven Network will provide live free to air coverage of the event. Tickets for the event are on sale now.

Youngest Great Race pole-sitters

21 years, 3 months, 29 days: Craig Lowndes, 199524 years, 3 months, 27 days: Scott McLaughlin, 201724 years, 6 months, 2 days: Mark Skaife, 199125 years. 1 month, 5 days: Marcos Ambrose, 200125 years, 5 months, 2 days: Shane van Gisbergen, 201426 years, 2 months, 14 days: Cameron Waters, 202026 years, 4 months, 16 days: Mark Winterbottom, 200727 years, 6 months, 2 days: Chaz Mostert, 201928 years, 5 months, 4 days: Ian Geoghegan, 196729 years, 4 months, 19 days: Mark Winterbottom, 2010

Oldest Great Race pole-sitters

47 years, 5 months, 7 days: Dick Johnson, 199244 years, 7 months, 4 days: Peter Brock, 198943 years, 5 months, 5 days: Dick Johnson, 198841 years, 7 months, 24 days: Bruce McPhee, 196841 years, 4 months, 8 days: Kevin Bartlett, 198141 years, 1 month, 7 days: Wayne Gardner, 200040 years, 4 months, 10 days: Kevin Bartlett, 198039 years, 11 months, 11 days: Allan Grice, 198239 years, 7 months, 29 days: George Fury, 198439 years, 7 months, 5 days: Klaus Niedzwiedz, 1990

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