Dalton fends off Gray in tense Bathurst battle

Lochie Dalton has completed a perfect Friday at Bathurst, winning the opening race of Round 5 of the Dunlop Super2 Series.

Dalton led from lights to flag over series leader and Tickford teammate Rylan Gray, however he had several nervous moments throughout the 17 lap journey.

Gray threw everything he could at the #6 Mustang, and there were question marks over whether Dalton could make the distance on fuel, however he held on for his third win of the season, and provisionally jumps to second in the standings behind Gray.

There was drama before the race for the returning Jonathon Webb, who was disqualified from qualifying after failing the post-session technical inspection. A seventh place start turned into a rear of grid start.

Dalton had a stumble before the start, well overshooting his grid box at the end of the formation lap, however he regrouped to keep the lead off the start over Gray.

Cameron McLeod threatened Gray off third on the grid, however Jobe Stewart was the big loser off the start, dropping from fourth to seventh by Hell Corner.

Jordyn Sinni and Nash Morris both capitalised on Stewart's tardy start, however nearly threw it away when they went wide at The Chase, with Stewart taking to the outside grass on exit in an attempt to round up Morris.

Meanwhile, Reuben Goodall had a productive opening lap, rounding up Stewart off the start, and then diving down the inside of McLeod at Murray's Corner, before finishing the job at Hell on the second time by.

At the head of the field Dalton and Gray cleared away from the teammate Goodall, whilst McLeod stuck on the rear of the #5 Mustang with a small gap over Sinni in the lead Commodore.

Gray started to mow down Dalton's lead on Lap 4, setting the fastest lap of the race on a 2:07.2636, however the Tasmanian responded with a fastest first sector the next time by.

The two leaders were the only cars within the 2:07's, with Goodall and McLeod both setting 2:08.0s lap times, and being gapped by more than half a second a lap.

From 22nd on the grid, Webb had charged his way back to 16th by Lap 6, including bump drafting Max Geoghegan up Mountain Straight, and skating down the inside of Cody Gillis at Forrests Elbow with locked rears.

Matt Hillyer got away with a trip into the tyre wall at Griffins Bend, however the WAU Academy driver dropped to the rear of the field as a result.

As the race wound down, questions started to be posed as to how much fuel Dalton was using to fend off Gray, although it soon emerged all four Tickford Mustangs were being asked to fuel save.

With two laps to go, Gray was right under the rear wing of his teammate, with whom he will make his Repco Bathurst 1000 debut with on Sunday.

Zach Bates' miserable title defence went from bad to worse, as he got spun out of 10th on the penultimate lap at The Chase by Bailey Sweeny, who picked up a 15-second penalty for his efforts.

Dalton's final margin over Gray was 0.4952s, with Goodall completing another all-Tickford podium some 11 seconds off the lead.

The top 10 was rounded out by McLeod, Morris, Sinni, Stewart, Cody Burcher, Brad Vaughan, and Campbell Logan.

The Dunlop Super2 Series return to the track for Boost Mobile Qualifying at 9:05am local time, before the second and final race of the Bathurst weekend at 4:05pm local time.