Kostecki beats Golding in thrilling Bathurst qualifying
Supercars
06 Oct
Kostecki beats Golding to provisional pole by 0.14s in Bathurst
Early minutes punctuated by crashes for Brown and Fraser
Van Gisbergen steals Shootout berth as chequered flag flies
There were six different teams in the first six positions
Brodie Kostecki has beaten James Golding in thrilling ARMOR ALL Qualifying at the Repco Bathurst 1000, with Shane van Gisbergen stealing a Shootout berth after Will Brown crashed.
Championship leader Kostecki was again the class of the field as drivers breached the 2:04s barrier, with the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro quickest with a 2:04.6644s.
Kostecki was trailed by surprise packet Golding, who clocked a 2:04.8133s to seal a Shootout berth for Nulon Racing.
Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang), Golding and Kostecki will be the final three cars to go out on Saturday afternoon, with the Top Ten Shootout to complete the grid for Sunday’s Great Race.
"We've had a great time since we rolled out," said Kostecki, who paced Practice 4 on Friday morning.
"I feel like we're executed really well up until this point, but it's only Friday, there's two more days to go.
"It's crucial to roll out comfortable, these cars are really hard to drive, they're quite tricky with less aero. Big credit to George [Commins, race engineer], he puts in a lot of effort on the program for car 99."
It was a best qualifying result for Peter Xiberras' Nulon Racing squad, which only debuted in Supercars last year after taking over Team Sydney.
“It’s awesome, obviously PB for us as a team,” Golding said.
“Absolutely awesome, can’t thank the guy enough for all the hard work they’ve been putting in. We started at the bottom, and we’ve been making our way up slowly, so it’s just awesome to see."
While Camaros filled the top two positions, Mustangs scored six of the 10 Shootout berths, with Cam Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) fourth ahead of Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro).
Feeney’s teammate van Gisbergen had it all to do at the death, with the reigning champion jumping from 13th to seventh as the chequered flag flew.
David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Racing) was sixth, with teammate Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang), Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) and Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) rounding out the top 10.
Mostert moved from 10th to eighth despite a scare on approach to Skyline, cementing his Shootout spot, before being dropped to ninth as van Gisbergen rescued his afternoon with a 2:05.1823s.
Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang) was the unlucky driver in 11th, missing out by 0.0948s after being bumped by van Gisbergen.
Before a lap was turned in anger, red flags were flown twice after Brown and Declan Fraser crashed at Griffins Bend and Reid Park respectively.
Brown returned to the track after rapid repairs by Erebus Motorsport, but returned to pit lane as cars completed their final laps, with the #9 Coca-Cola Camaro 17th all told.
Supercars will return to the track for Additional Drivers only Practice 5 at 10:00am AEDT, before Practice 6 at 1:00pm.
The ARMOR ALL Top Ten Shootout, which will complete the grid, will round out the penultimate day of action at 5:05pm.
