Super2 rivals combine for pre-Bathurst training camp
23 Sep 2022
Dunlop Super2 Series talents Declan Fraser and Zak Best are putting rivalry aside as they prepare for next month’s Repco Bathurst 1000.
The youngsters are less than two weeks away from tackling the toughest challenge in Australian motorsport.
For Fraser, it marks his first time facing the gruelling Great Race, and Best’s second.
Super2 series leader Fraser will share a Triple Eight Race Engineering wildcard with seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes.
Best will partner with Tickford Racing rookie Thomas Randle.
Both young guns will be on double duties across the October 6-9 event, firstly competing in the penultimate round of the Super2 Series before turning to their Bathurst co-driver charge.
Despite being on-track adversaries, Fraser and Best are undertaking a two-week pre-Bathurst fitness camp to prepare for the challenge.
Run by Josh Webb from 1 Percent Performance, the competitors will be working out alongside each other for the next 14 days.
“It's going to be pretty chaotic,” Fraser told Supercars.com.
“Zak is my main rival for this championship at the moment, but he's also a really good mate of mine.
“Zak along with Aaron Love and a couple of other guys are coming up and we are all getting together just before the events and doing two weeks of training every day.
“We have a couple of rest days here and there but mainly doing two sessions a day.
“Josh has got it all planned out for us before we even get there.”
Racing 1000 kilometres for six hours or more around the daunting 6.12km Mount Panorama circuit offers a physical challenge like no other on the Supercars calendar.
Reaching top speeds of 300km/h plus, with concrete walls, elevation changes, and temperatures of 60 degrees plus in the cabin, driver's heart rates average around 170 beats per minute.
Preparing themselves for such an arduous task is not the work of a moment, and requires both mental and physical fitness.
“We've got a bit of a mix of everything at the moment,” Fraser said.
“We've got cardio and a lot of endurance training as well, just because of how gruelling the Bathurst track is, especially in the races.
“The training camp has a focus on more muscular endurance and anything else and cardio sort of comes with that.
“You are pushing the pedal a lot and all the time, and especially the brake in a Supercar, it's actually very hard to press.
“There's a lot of leg strength required, but also not just for that one-time push, you got to be pushing it 24 times a lap and every single corner, and you’re doing it for 1000 kilometres.
“There’s a lot of leg strength but also making sure that the leg can last the whole time without any niggly bits, that we saw David Reynolds got a dead leg a couple of years ago.
“It’s about trying to minimise injury as well and making sure that my body can last.
“The upper body needs to as well, in particular, your shoulders because the cars are so hard to handle, especially across the top.
“It’s about making sure that I'm fit enough to be able to hold on to the beast for the whole race.”
Both Fraser and Best have impressed on track this season, Fraser recording dual development series wins to sit 114 clear in the points.
Tickford Racing wildcard Best caused a stir at July’s OTR SuperSprint.
The 20-year-old scored a shock pole and raced to fifth in the Saturday opener.
It comes as the duo looks to rise to the main game in 2023, with several seats up for grabs.
Fraser will take to the #888 Supercheap Auto Commodore at Queensland Raceway this Wednesday for the team’s third and final wildcard test day.
Although seat time aboard the ZB Commodore provides the best training for the 25-year-old, Fraser says having fun during his workouts is most important.
“There’s no better training than actually being in the car, and I'm lucky for me, that I get to do a test so close to the event,” Fraser said.
Best and Fraser (centre and right) will perform double duties in Bathurst
“There's a gym just down the road from me called EMF Performance Centre in Nerang, and they've got everything that we could possibly want,” Fraser said.
“They've got the full recovery centre, MMA, boxing, a fully functional gym, and even a Ninja Warrior course.
“Josh has made sure that we implement everything into our training camp.
“We've also got a couple of fun days planned as well.
“I love to play squash. Shane van Gisbergen and I like to go play squash together, maybe once or twice a week.
“We've incorporated that into the training schedule as well for the next couple of weeks, just to have a bit more fun.
“We've also got a couple of beach volleyball sessions in there too.
“It's a training camp, but it's also a good mental camp to just have some fun and get fit while you're having fun, before Bathurst and all the stress of the event kicks in.”
Tickets for this year's Repco Bathurst 1000 are on sale now.
