Zach Bates has dedicated his historic Bathurst lap to his late mother after becoming the first driver in the current era to break the 2:04 barrier at Mount Panorama.
The 22-year-old from Canberra was a class above the field during Friday’s qualifying session, topping the time sheets in his Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet with a 2:03.938, the first and only driver to break the 2:04 barrier in the Gen3 era which began in 2023.
Bates, who was Craig Lowndes’s co-driver in the Team 18 entry last year, will head into tomorrow’s shootout as the favourite and will be the last driver on track.
Bates dedicated the moment to his mother, who died in 2025.
“I can’t believe it; I am speechless,” he said.
“Whole credit to the crew behind me. The boys and girls have been working so hard.
“This is for my mum who passed last year. We’ve had a pretty average year, the whole family. So this is definitely a highlight.”
The top 10 from Friday’s qualifying session will battle on Saturday for pole position in the Top 10 Shootout.Â
Brodie Kostecki will have a chance to set a new Bathurst record tomorrow in the shootout, striving to become the first driver to secure four consecutive pole positions at Mount Panorama.Â
| Position | Number | Main driver | Co-driver | Team | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | Zac Bates | Aaron Seton | Matt Stone Racing | Chevrolet | 2:03.938 |
| 2 | 18 | Anton De Pasquale | Lee Holdsworth | Team 18 | Chevrolet | +0.116 |
| 3 | 99 | Cooper Murray | Lochie Dalton | Erebus Motorsport | Chevrolet | +0.234 |
| 4 | 888 | Will Brown | Scott Pye | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford | +0.342 |
| 5 | 17 | Brodie Kostecki | Todd Hazelwood | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford | +0.401 |
| 6 | 48 | David Reynolds | James Courtney | Team 18 | Chevrolet | +0.401 |
| 7 | 4 | Jack Le Brocq | Harri Jones | Matt Stone Racing | Chevrolet | +0.407 |
| 8 | 31 | Jayden Ojeda | David Russell | PremiAir Racing | Chevrolet | +0.419 |
| 9 | 19 | Matthew Payne | Will Davidson | Grove Racing | Ford | +0.445 |
| 10 | 7 | James Golding | Richie Stanaway | Blanchard Racing Team | Ford | +0.562 |
| 11 | 26 | Kai Allen | Tim Slade | Grove Racing | Ford | +0.580 |
| 12 | 88 | Broc Feeney | Nick Percat | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford | +0.587 |
| 13 | 55 | Thomas Randle | Reuben Goodall | Tickford Racing | Ford | +0.599 |
| 14 | 6 | Cam Waters | Mark Winterbottom | Tickford Racing | Ford | +0.607 |
| 15 | 8 | Andre Heimgartner | Bryce Fullwood | Brad Jones Racing | Toyota | +0.619 |
| 16 | 1 | Chaz Mostert | Fabian Coulthard | Walkinshaw TWG Racing | Toyota | +0.744 |
| 17 | 9 | Jobe Stewart | Jarrod Hughes | Erebus Motorsport | Chevrolet | +0.755 |
| 18 | 3 | Aaron Cameron | Zak Best | Blanchard Racing Team | Ford | +1.018 |
| 19 | 14 | Cameron Hill | Brad Vaughan | Brad Jones Racing | Toyota | +1.066 |
| 20 | 96 | Macauley Jones | Jordan Boys | Brad Jones Racing | Toyota | +1.100 |
| 21 | 34 | Nathan Herne | James Moffat | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Chevrolet | +1.130 |
| 22 | 15 | Craig Lowndes | Bayley Hall | Team 18 | Chevrolet | +1.178 |
| 23 | 777 | Declan Fraser | Nash Morris | PremiAir Racing | Chevrolet | +1.252 |
| 24 | 11 | Jackson Walls | Jack Perkins | Â SCT Motorsport | Ford | +1.689 |
Two cars miss qualifying after crashes in practice
Ryan Wood crashes during the third practice session of the 2026 Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama. (Supplied: Supercars)
Ryan Wood/Jaxon Evans (number 2 Walkinshaw TWG Racing, Toyota) and Rylan Gray/Tony D’Alberto (Dick Johnson Racing, Ford) will start from the back of the field on Sunday after missing out on Friday’s qualifying session.
Both entrants suffered crashes during practice earlier on Friday, with the damage unable to be fixed in time for the following practice session or qualifying.
Wood clipped the inside wall on the entry to Forrest’s Elbow, which sent his Toyota into the outside barrier with force.
The force of the impact was reportedly recorded at 42 G-forces, with the Kiwi later cleared by medics at Bathurst.
“The boys will work pretty hard and that’s what I feel stink about. It’s given them so much work that they really didn’t need,” he said.
“Kudos to our team — they do everything by the book. To have a 42G impact like that and be able to walk away is pretty good.”
Wood qualified fourth for last year’s Bathurst 1000, but watched from the sidelines on Friday.Â
D’Alberto crashed in the final minutes of the session at The Dipper, with his number 38 Dick Johnson Racing entry taken back to the garage on the back of a tow truck.
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