Bates explains position in silly season scramble

A full-time seat is no certainty for reigning Dunlop Super2 Series champion Zach Bates in the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship, despite a starring wildcard effort with Triple Eight.

Having been announced as the latest young gun to pilot the #888 almost 12 months ago, the long wait paid off for Bates, who stunned on debut in Ipswich.

The #888 Camaro lined up a remarkable fifth on the grid for the final race of the weekend, Bates going fastest among those on used tyres in the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout, before a slow pit stop saw him drop back into a heated mid-pack battle.

Bates ended his three-round program as the highest-ranked wildcard driver in the standings, despite Matt Stone Racing's Cameron Crick having contested one more round than Bates.

His three-round cameo is thought to have impressed within the paddock, with MSR considered to be a frontrunner for the 21-year-old's services. However, Bates maintained that no deals have been finalised as of yet.

"We're working towards being on the grid," Bates told Supercars.com.

"It's nothing in concrete at the moment, so that's all I can really say at the moment.

"My name has come up a lot which is very nice, but until you sign something it's all talk."

Bates has been most readily linked to Matt Stone Racing for 2026, however Triple Eight's expansion to three Mustangs with SCT Motorsport has also seen links pop up there.

However, with Jamie Whincup and Andrew Jones hinting that a driver has already been signed, yet not announced for the SCT Mustang next year, Bates' Super2 rivals Rylan Gray and Jackson Walls have emerged as the top candidates.

That is despite reigning Supercars champion and long-time supporter Will Brown playing a role in securing Bates' wildcard appearances this season, which garnered a maiden top 10 finish in his final start at a wet and wild Bathurst.

"Obviously at the start of it, the natural thinking is that it's such an incredible opportunity at Triple Eight with the amazing job they do to show and give yourself a platform for future plans.

"That was definitely the goal, whether that's come to fruition we're yet to find out, but I'm hoping that those three performances did help my case."

Bates overcame the loss of his mother Alison 'Ali' Drower in the fortnight leading up to Bathurst, and put on a brave face as he competed in both Supercars and Super2.

Despite running off the road twice at Murray's Corner, Bates kept it off the walls to bring home his first career top 10 finish, in a day where Triple Eight stablemates Brown and Broc Feeney both found the wall.

"Ultimately it probably wasn't exactly a perfect weekend for me, but there were parts of it that I was really proud of.

"I think seeing one of the tightest qualifying sessions ever around a track like that, I qualified 16th but I was four tenths off provisional pole, so that was pretty crazy.

"Then in the race it was mental, we didn't quite make the right strategy call there. Ultimately, it probably hurt us a little bit, but we were very competitive in the dry, not quite as competitive in the wet.

"But then by the end, we weren't too bad. To finish in the 10 in my first Bathurst is something to be proud of."

Bates will line up for Eggleston Motorsport in the final round of the Dunlop Super2 Series at the bp Adelaide Grand Final from November 27-30, in what is set to be his final development series appearance.