Zach Bates qualifies on pole for Bathurst 1000

Supercars rookie Zach Bates will start the Bathurst 1000 from pole after beating Brodie Kostecki in the Top 10 Shootout.

The full report

Supercars rookie Zach Bates secured pole position for the Bathurst 1000 after taking the final run in the Top 10 Shootout at Mount Panorama. Bates recorded a lap of 2:04.2062, beating Brodie Kostecki by 0.285 seconds, according to ABC Sport. The result put Bates at the front of the grid for Sunday's race and denied Kostecki a fourth consecutive Bathurst pole. Pole position determines the starting order; it does not decide the endurance race itself.

Kostecki had posted a 2:04.4912 lap earlier in the shootout. Established race winners including Will Brown, David Reynolds and Anton De Pasquale tried to beat that time before Bates produced the decisive lap. The 22-year-old had already shown pace in provisional qualifying, becoming the first driver in the Gen3 era to go below two minutes and four seconds at the circuit. His shootout run was slower than that provisional mark but fast enough for pole.

ABC Sport reported that Bates is only the third rookie to take Bathurst 1000 pole, following Klaus Ludwig in 1987 and Marcos Ambrose in 2001. Bates comes from a motorsport family: his father Rick competed in rallying and Supercars, while his uncle Neal Bates won four Australian Rally titles. The family connection adds context to the result without diminishing the rookie's achievement on the day.

De Pasquale and Cooper Murray were set to start on the second row, while series leader Matt Payne qualified tenth. Those positions give the field its opening shape, but strategy, traffic and race conditions can alter an endurance event over 1,000 kilometres. This report is based on ABC Sport's account of qualifying and does not imply any race result before the chequered flag.

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