Jonathon Webb and Bayley Hall engaged in wild Bathurst battle
2016 Bathurst 1000 winner questions Hall's driving tactics
Craig Lowndes believes Hall translated lessions into Great Race
Jonathon Webb believes his heated on-track Super2 exchange with Bayley Hall was "a bit much," while Craig Lowndes believes the battle set his rising star co-driver up for the Great Race.
Webb, who was making a one-off cameo start after Zak Best's departure from Anderson Motorsport, found himself at the centre of a fierce battle for ninth in the final laps of Saturday's race, with Hall fighting tooth and nail.
The 2016 Bathurst winner had a considerable pace advantage over Hall, who slid his way around Mount Panorama in the final laps in a frantic attempt to keep the veteran behind.
Frantic defence turned into desperate defence as the clock ticked down, however, with Hall and Webb colliding on several occasions. Webb would eventually finish ahead of Hall in ninth, and wasn't impressed post-race.
"Well, I think it was just a bit much for where we were," Webb told Supercars.com post-race.
"We were just two blokes in the middle of nowhere and, you know, I guess if he wasn't boxing up so hard, we probably would've pushed up to the cars in front.
"But instead we fought for 10th, 11th, 12th, whatever it was. So yeah, anyway... look, he can race how he wants to race. I didn't enjoy it, but hey, it's good to be at Bathurst in a Supercar.
"We were a bit slow in a straight line, the Commodore seemed to take a bit of aero from us across the top, so it made it very, very difficult, and I think every time I got past him, he ran into me to get back past again. So anyway, we got him finally in the end."
Hall returned on Sunday to finish 10th in the Repco Bathurst 1000 with seven-time winner Lowndes, who was impressed at the young Queenslander's ability to hold out experienced heads at the final Safety Car restart.
"The benefit for Bayley with this program is, he did the solo race at Queensland Raceway, you get the understand the level you're racing at," Lowndes told Supercars' Equip Super Cool Down Lap podcast.
"For that side of it, it's really important. He learned a lot from The Bend, and he came here with a lot of confidence. I know what you're talking about with Super2, but for me, the beauty was, on that restart, he had Thomas Randle in front of him and Broc Feeney behind him, and he was able to maintain his position.
"He drove smart, he drove well."
Webb had a solid weekend in his first weekend back in a Super2 car in 12 months, ending Thursday practice second fastest, though he couldn't quite convert in qualifying.
After climbing from 12th to sixth in the opening race of the weekend, he was disqualified after failing to serve a pit lane penalty for turning Matt Hillyer into the wall at Forrest's Elbow.
Regardless, the 42-year-old still enjoyed his weekend with the Bathurst-based squad, adding: "The car's been good all weekend, credit to Ludo [Lacroix] and the Anderson boys.
"I jumped in it first session, hadn't seen the car, hadn't driven it before Thursday, and just kept getting better and better. So yesterday's race car was really, really good. We tuned it up a little bit today, probably tuned it a bit backwards, but also just got stuck behind Bayley."
Webb made his third consecutive Bathurst round start, having returned with Eggleston Motorsport in 2024, and driving good mate James Masterton's Mustang in 2025. When asked if it scratches the Supercars itch, Webb didn't rule out the possibility of further starts at Bathurst.
"That's exactly right, and that's what I said to everyone, you know? I only do two or three events a year, and that's just enough to scratch the itch," Webb said.
"I think number one's always got to be this place in a Supercar."
The penultimate round of the 2026 DUNLOP Super2 Series will be held at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 from November 6-8.
