Waters beats Holdsworth to provisional pole

Cam Waters has clinched Bathurst provisional pole in a thrilling wet qualifying session.

Waters, the 2020 pole-sitter, paced the session on a 2:23.616s.

Lee Holdsworth was a shock second, with 2021 race winner Chaz Mostert third.

Shane van Gisbergen was fourth, but clashed with Macauley Jones on his final timed lap.

Van Gisbergen was fastest through the first sector, but caught Jones across Skyline.

The series leader hit Jones, who went into the wall rearwards on approach to the Dipper.

Waters, who is 525 points behind van Gisbergen, was pleased to first survive, and then set the pace.

The two-time Bathurst podium-finisher will be last out in Saturday's ARMOR ALL Top Ten Shootout.

"We're stoked; we just wanted to make sure we're in the 10," Waters said.

"We weren't too bad in the dry earlier in the day... with the rain, we weren't sure.

"We did a good job tuning it up between practice and quali.

"The car in general was really nice to drive."

The incident was quickly placed under investigation.

Ambient and track conditions improved as the session wore on.

Through 10 minutes, Waters was the pace-setter with a 2:26.172s.

Waters and Mostert went punch for punch at the top, with Mostert clocking a 2:25.255s.

The former teammates, who shared the three poles between 2019 and 2021, continued to lower the benchmark.

Mostert was first into the 2:23s with a 2:23.836s.

Waters then dropped in a 2:23.616s to return to the top, with Mostert 0.21s behind.

Mostert, on a 2:23.836s, returned to the lane with seven minutes remaining.

Wet-weather maestro Richie Stanaway fired to fifth with four minutes remaining.

The times continued to improve; notably, Holdsworth fired to second with two minutes to go.

Van Gisbergen set the fastest first sector, but failed to improve on fourth.

Waters was just 0.012s from lowering his own benchmark on his final lap.

Van Gisbergen went faster again, but made contact with Jones with provisional pole on the line.

Across the Red Bull Ampol garage, the decision to put hand Jamie Whincup the reins of the #88 backfired.

Whincup was only good enough for 14th, despite regular driver Broc Feeney standing aside for the session.

Will Davison, who paced Practice 1 and 3, was sixth ahead of Nick Percat and James Courtney.

Erebus Motorsport's frantic effort to repair Will Brown's car paid dividends, with Brown qualifying 10th.

Brodie Kostecki made it three Erebus entries in the 10 with ninth, given Stanaway ended up fifth.

Anton De Pasquale was 11th ahead of Andre Heimgartner, with James Golding 13th ahead of Whincup.

Craig Lowndes, aboard the Triple Eight wildcard, was 16th behind Thomas Randle.

Tim Slade brought up the rear of the 28-car field.

Co-drivers will tackle Practice 5 at 10:20am local time on Saturday.

The Top Ten Shootout will commence at 5:05pm.