Brodie Kostecki has snatched provisional pole position for the Bathurst 1000 after teammate Will Brown was eliminated in 17th after a big crash less than 10 minutes into qualifying.

Kostecki made speed look easy at Mount Panorama, with his fastest time of 2 minutes 4.664 seconds enough to gap the field by 0.149 seconds, having been a half-second improvement on his best effort from afternoon qualifying.

There was more on the table for the title leader too, having been caught in slower traffic on his descent from the mountain on his fastest lap.

“We‘ve had a great time since we unloaded the car, it’s been really fast,” he said. “I felt like we‘ve just executed really well … but it’s only Friday

“I‘m honestly really excited for tomorrow and Sunday.”

But it was mixed fortunes for Erebus, with Brown crashing less than 10 minutes into qualifying.

Brown attempted to carry third gear into the second-gear Griffin’s Bend, the second corner, and sailed directly into the tyre barriers at the outside of the corner.

“Just a balls-up, really, to be honest,” he said. “I locked the front.

“I went in a bit hot and thought, ‘Shit, I’m not going to pull it up’ and did the stupid thing of jumping on the brakes more.”

A red flag was called to repair the barriers, with Brown eventually able to extricate himself from the tyre bundle to crawl back to pit lane for repairs.

A second red flag — this time for Declan Fraser — ensured Erebus got Brown’s car rectified before any driver had set a competitive time, but a suspected splitter maladjustment left him unable to compete for the top 10.

“I think the splitter was up a little bit or something,” he said. “Unfortunately I didn’t make the 10, but it is a really long day on Sunday, so I’m sure we can clow our war back up.”

Without the second Erebus in contention, James Golding snatched headlines by putting his PremiAir Camaro into second place in a superb performance for the two-year-old team.

Anton de Pasquale followed, his Dick Johnson Racing car 0.302 seconds off the pace, with Cameron Waters, Broc Feeney and David Reynolds completing the top six.

Shane van Gisbergen was a last-gasp inclusion into the 10 after having spent the 45-minutes session languishing in the elimination zone.

The Kiwi has struggled to put a clean lap together all weekend, with the big braking zone at the final turn a particular problem for his Triple Eight machine.

He even abandoned the first of what should have been a two-lap final stint to better position himself for an all-or-nothing flyer, but the reigning Bathurst winner duly delivered with a time good enough for seventh, 0.518 seconds off the pace.

Matt Payne was eighth for Grove ahead of Chaz Mostert and Will Davison as the last of the shootout qualifiers.

Tickford’s Thomas Randle was knocked out in 11th thanks to Van Gisbergen’s late flyer; he’ll start ahead of Scott Pye, Andre Heimgartner, Cameron Hill, Jack Le Brocq and James Courtney down to 16th place.

The damaged Brown wills tart ahead of Tim Slade, Mark Winterbottom, Zane Goddard, Bryce Fullwood and Todd Hazelwood down to 22nd.

Nick Percat will line up 23rd for the second Walkinshaw Andretti United entry ahead of Macaulay Jones, DJR wildcard Kai Allen, BRT wildcard Aaron Love, Jack Smith and the crashed Declan Fraser.

Fraser put himself out of qualifying with a heavy smash at Reid Park, having lost control of his car climbing out of the Cutting before careering into the concrete wall in a big hit that put the car momentarily airborne.

The Mustang came to a halt on the side of the road, the lateral load of the crash doing significant internal damage to the car, in particular to the left-rear corner.

Qualifying results

1. Brodie Kostecki (Erebus): 2:04.664

2. James Golding (PremiAir): 2:04.813

3. Anton de Pasquale (Dick Johnson Racing): 2:04.967

4. Cameron Waters (Tickford): 2:04.991

5. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight): 2:05.052

6. David Reynolds (Grove): 2:05.083

7. Shane van Gisbergen (Triple Eight): 2:05.182

8. Matthew Payne (Grove): 2:05.209

9. Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw Andretti United): 2:05.218

10. Will Davison (Dick Johnson Racing): 2:05.285

Starting grid

11. Thomas Randle/Garry Jacobson (Tickford): 2:05.380

12. Scott Pye/Warren Luff (Team 18): 2:05.442

13. Andre Heimgartner/Dale Wood (Brad Jones Racing): 2:05.470

14. Cameron Hill/Jaylyn Robotham (Matt Stone Racing): 2:05.490

15. Jack Le Brocq/Jayden Ojeda (Matt Stone Racing): 2:05.507

16. James Courtney/Zak Best (Tickford): 2:05.511

17. Will Brown/Jack Perkins (Erebus): 2:05.558

18. Tim Slade/Jonathon Webb (PremiAir): 2:05.584

19. Mark Winterbottom/Michael Caruso (Team 18): 2:05.800

20. Zane Goddard/Craig Lowndes (Triple Eight): 2:05.851

21. Bryce Fullwood/Dean Fiore (Brad Jones Racing): 2:05.941

22. Todd Hazelwood/Tim Blanchard (Blanchard Racing Team): 2:05.955

23. Nick Percat/Fabian Coulthard (Walkinshaw Andretti United): 2:06.020

24. Macauley Jones/Jordan Boys (Brad Jones Racing): 2:06.217

25. Kai Allen/Simona de Silvestro (Dick Johnson Racing): 2:06.242

26. Aaron Love/Jack Kostecki (Blanchard Racing Team): 2:06.531

27. Jack Smith/Jaxon Evans (Brad Jones Racing): 2:07.171

28. Declan Fraser/Tyler Everingham (Tickford): No time

QUALIFYING PREVIEW

Can anyone stop Brodie Kostecki?

We’re only four practice sessions in, but that’s rapidly become the central question of the 60th running of the Bathurst 1000.

Erebus has swept three of those sessions, with Kostecki and co-driver David Russell claiming two for themselves — and by massive margins unusual for Mount Panorama.

The field behind car 99 is tightly packed, but at the moment it’s bright Bathurst daylight between Kostecki-Russell and everyone else.

But there’s always gamesmanship afoot at Bathurst. This afternoon is the first time we’ll get a clear pace picture.

The 45-minute qualifying session is all about who makes it through to Saturday’s top-10 shootout. Everyone else will be stuck with where they qualify.

And Kostecki-Russell look good for top spot, everyone else is so densely packed behind him that the jeopardy of some of the sport’s big hitters not making the shootout is high.

The highest placed Triple Eight combination was ninth, with Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup leading the charge. Shane van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway ended fourth practice 17th. The previously impressive Dave Reynolds-Garth Tander were one spot further back.

We’re set for a fascinating fight.

NERVES JANGLING AHEAD OF CRUCIAL QUALIFYING

A nervous energy envelopes the Supercars paddock at this stage on a Friday afternoon in Bathurst, with qualifying next on the schedule.

Qualifying will decide who makes tomorrow’s top-10 shootout, with all positions 11th and lower locked in for Sunday.

Grove heads into qualifying as the second-quickest team, with both cars having set times fast enough in practice 3 to have been second and third in practice 4.

But David Reynolds said his inability to string together a quicker lap in the afternoon session had him nervous.

“That last run just did my head in a little bit,” he said. “I didn’t get the best out of it, didn’t get the best out of myself … could have done a better job.

“I always get really stressed out about qualifying here. I don’t know why, because it’s awesome to be in the shootout, awesome to get on pole … but it’s like an ego thing. You want to be in the shootout.”

Co-driver Garth Tander tried to defuse the tension with a joking threat.

“He told me this morning he gets all anxious ahead of qualifying,” he said. “I said, ‘Mate don’t worry — I’ll do it’!

“I just said, ‘Well, I’ll put my suit on and stand at the back of the garage as motivation. If you’re not doing a good enough job, I’ll jump in and have a go’.”

Meanwhile, Scott Pye, who was actually second in P4, albeit 0.631 seconds adrift of Brodie Kostecki, said he pleased to see the top 10 evenly split between Mustang and Camaro cars.

“I saw the top 10 is a full mix of Camaro and Ford … hopefully in the shootout we get a good mix for the fans.”

He said there was more on offer for his Team 18 car but that the need to avoid a crash kept him on a tight leash.

“I reckon that’s one of the worst sessions you do,” he said. “You’re pushing but you know you can’t make a mistake.

“We hung it out there with a little bit left.”

But Kostecki is surely the man to beat in qualifying, with pace so strong that other drivers should be serious concerned about their pole and victory chances this weekend.

“He’s in some serious form right now,” commentator Chad Neylon said. “That dip into NASCAR in Indianapolis, he came back a different driver from that.

“It made him even stronger, and that’s a scary thought for the other drivers chasing him in this championship.”

Nothing seems to faze him either — he can just roll out there and produce a result like that. He’s lightning fast.”

KOSTECKI RESUMES TOP SPOT WITH EPIC LAP AHEAD OF QUALIFYING

Brodie Kostecki has set a foreboding new fastest lap of the weekend to top final practice ahead of a crucial qualifying session.

Kostecki held a slim advantage over the field for the entire session but waited until after the chequered flag fell to put in a final blinder.

His best time of 2 minutes 5.121 seconds lowered the weekend benchmark by 0.165 seconds and blitzed the rest of the field by a whopping 0.631 seconds.

It was a strong turnaround for Kostecki and co-driver David Russell, who had been unhappy with the balance of the Erebus in the opening laps.

The title leader suspected that Mount Panorama’s rapid track evolution was to blame, having discovered his Camaro car had fallen out of its set-up window in the two hours between practice sessions.

“We’ve sort of tried to pre-empt the track gripping up … but we still haven’t been able to keep up with it,” he said, adding that the Gen3 car’s lack of downforce compared to last year’s model was making it more sensitive to changing track conditions.

That said, Kostecki and Russell set the fewest laps of any driver combination, suggesting Erebus has the strongest understanding of its car around this circuit at this stage of the weekend.

Tickford co-driver James Moffat said most of the grid was struggling with the rapidly evolving circuit.

“The track has evolved so much from Thursday and it will continue to evolve to Sunday afternoon,” he said. “There are probably only a couple of cars in pit lane not doing too many changes. Everyone else is probably in the fine-tuning stage.”

Evidently Erebus struck gold with its changes to Kostecki’s car, but it nonetheless sets up a fascinating picture for the 45-minute qualifying session later this afternoon.

Scott Pye was a distant second in his Team 18 Camaro, with Chaz Mostert a further 0.04 seconds further adrift as the fastest Mustang. Chaz Mostert was 0.004 seconds further back, and Scott Pye completed the top five another 0.011 seconds back.

Shane van Gisbergen three times came close to joining the leaders, but all three times he made a critical mistake that threw away his lap, including a final attempt that saw him run deep into the run-off zone at the final turn. He ended the session 17th.

His offs were the most dramatic of an otherwise sedate session, with no driver willing to risk their car just a few hours before qualifying.

The only exception was a bizarre incident for Dick Johnson Racing’s Will Davison, who found himself stuck in pit lane for more than 10 minutes with a stray piece of metal wrapped around his rear-right wheel hub.

Mechanics took time to extricate the wheel from the steel, which was revealed to have been some blanking on the right-rear brake caliper that had worked itself loose.

The blanking is used to retain brake temperature down the longs straights at the start and end of the lap.

Davison ended the session 13th.

Practice 4 times

1. Brodie Kostecki/David Russell (Erebus): 2:05.121

2. Scott Pye (Team 18): 2:05.752

3. Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth (Walkinshaw Andretti United): 2:05.792

4. Cam Waters (Tickford): 2:05.796

5. Matt Payne (Grove): 2:05.807

6. Anton de Pasquale (Dick Johnson Racing): 2:05.868

7. James Golding (PremiAir): 2:05.893

8. Thomas Randle (Tickford): 2:05.896

9. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight): 2:05.910

10. Jack Le Brocq (Matt Stone Racing): 2:05.998

TICKFORD WARNS OF ‘ROGUE’ RELIABILITY RISK FOR GEN3 CARS

Tickford boss Tim Edwards says increased rubber debris around Mount Panorama this year could lead to an increased reliability risk for the Gen3 cars.

Zak Best had to stop his Tickford Mustang by the side of the road and limp back to pit lane with overheating issues during third practice, which his mechanics put down to a shredded drive belt.

Edwards said he strongly suspected the belt was terminally damaged by a piece of rubber debris that had bounced off the road and into the engine bay, where it had got caught in the pulley.

The drive belt, or serpentine belt, is responsible for several functions that rely on the engine, including power steering and cooling.

“You get a ball of rubber or something going in there and obviously the whole front of the engine’s exposed and it just gets caught between the pulley and then snaps the belt,” Edwards said.

“The first time’s obviously the driver saying, ‘I’ve got no power steering.’ The next thing is everything going all red on the screen there with all the temperatures going through the roof.”

“We’re putting fresh belts on all the time but, unfortunately, it doesn’t matter whether the belt’s done one kay or a thousand kays.

“If you just get that rogue bit of rubber, it just bounces up through.”

The problem is particularly pronounced this weekend, where the soft tyre is in use for the first time. The softer compound is creating a lot of marbles — discarded bits of tyre rubber — on the circuit, turning it into something of a minefield.

Tickford suffered an almost identical failure on Thomas Randle and Garry Jacobson’s car at Sandown, where the supersoft tyre was used.

Edwards thinks the Gen3 car is particularly susceptible to this sort of freak issue given the lack of underfloor bodywork to protect the engine.

“We don’t have the diffuser under the bottom of the car, so it’s a lot more exposed and potentially prone to debris coming in,” he said. “We’re just going to work through it and try and work out a plan.

“You can’t drive around all Sunday sort of avoiding the balls of rubber, so it’s going to be a challenge for everybody.”

GROVE BREAKS EREBUS PRACTICE SWEEP WITH ONE-TWO FINISH

Matt Payne has broken the Erebus team’s practice sweep by leading a Grove Racing one-two ahead of teammate David Reynolds in third practice for the Bathurst 1000.

The Grove pair left their fastest laps until the closing minutes of the session.

Payne steered his Mustang to the session-topping time first, lowering Thursday’s Erebus benchmark by 0.397 seconds with a best time of 2 minutes 5.286 seconds.

Reynolds followed him around the circuit a few minutes later and fell short by a slender 0.088 seconds, albeit with a purple sector through the middle split over the mountain.

Brodie Kostecki, who had led most of the session and had whose teammate, David Russell, had been fastest on Thursday night, retained third, 0.152 seconds off the benchmark.

Kostecki, however, set his fastest time just four laps into the session, when track conditions would have been at their slowest in cooler conditions and with less rubber on the road.

Dick Johnson Racing teammates Will Davison and Anton de Pasquale ended the session fourth and fifth, making it four Mustangs in the top five.

Despite the improved times, the session was largely focused on race procedure, with teams practising pit stops, driver swaps and brake changes.

All cars are required to make at least one brake pad change on Sunday, but teams were also practising rotor changes with varying degrees of success — Tickford was picked up by television cameras suffering significant finger trouble with both cars.

The team’s morning got considerably worse a little later in the session when Zak Best suffered the first technical stoppage of the day.

Best was forced to pull to the side of Conrod with a temperature warning on his dash, forcing a brief red flag that allowed the Mustang driver to limp car 5 back to pit lane for further investigation.

Team boss Tim Edwards put the problem down to belt failure, likely due to debris getting underneath the car.

Matt Stone Racing was the only other team to suffer a technical problem, with Jaylyn Robotham and Cameron Hill stuck in the garage for the first 15 minutes with a clutch problem, leaving car 5 with a restricted lap tally.

The cool and lightly breezy conditions made for productive running, with several drivers feeling empowered to push the boundaries in pursuit of time.

Shane van Gisbergen was pushing perhaps too hard, once spearing over the gravel at the Chase — albeit trying to avoid some debris on the circuit — and then getting too happy on the kerbs at Skyline, forcing him through the stones and close to a massive crash.

Teammate Jamie Whincup in the sister car also locked up at the Chase, while several drivers found themselves locked up at Hell Corner, with both Bryce Fullwood and James Golding going deep into the run-off zone, though bother were able to rejoin without damage.

Practice 3 times

1. Matt Payne/Kévin Estre (Grove): 2:05.286

2. David Reynolds/Garth Tander (Grove): 2:05.374

3. Brodie Kostecki (Erebus): 2:05.438

4. Will Davison/Alex Davison (Dick Johnson Racing): 2:05.499

5. Anton de Pasquale/Tony D’Alberto (Dick Johnson Racing): 2:05.624

6. Cameron Hill/Jaylyn Robotham (Matt Stone Racing): 2:05.628

7. Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup (Triple Eight): 2:05.651

8. Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth (Walkinshaw Andretti United): 2:05.731

9. Cam Waters/James Moffat (Tickford): 2:05.799

10. Andre Heimgartner/Dale Wood (Brad Jones Racing): 2:05.994

TANDER ACCUSES GM RIVALS OF SANDBAGGING

Garth Tander put Grove an unexpected second on Thursday, a day otherwise characterised by Ford’s complaints about parity.

Tander was clearly experimenting with the limits of his car’s abilities, having almost suffered an enormous crash at the top of the mountain before going on to set his quickest time, albeit more than half a second off top spot.

But even that massive gap was suspicious to the five-time Bathurst winner.

“I think there are a few of a particular branded car that are running very, very heavy at the moment,” he said, accusing some of the regular Chevrolet frontrunners of hiding their true pace.

The 2007 champion admitted, however, that there would be more to come from his team today, with plenty left to work after the first day of track action.

“But the session went reasonably well. We’ve still got a lot of work to do with the car — the car’s very, very nervous in the rear.

“A lot to do to improve the car overnight, which hopefully we can do.”

DEAN FIORE DISQUALIFIED FROM P2 RESULT

Brad Jones Racing’s Thursday night ended with Dean Fiore’s car 14 in the wall at the final corner, the only crash of an otherwise clean day.

It cost the 14-race Bathurst veteran precious mileage early in the weekend, though the team said the damage wasn’t too bad, and the car was easily good to go by Sunday morning.

But Fiore has now been disqualified from Thursday evening practice has now been stricken from the books following a stewards investigation that found his car hadn’t been fitted with the mandatory second tow strap, leaving it in breach of the technical regulations.

PRACTICE 2 RESULTS (FRIDAY)

1. David Russell (Erebus, car 99): 2:05.683

2. Garth Tander (Grove, car 26): 2:06.335

3. Richie Stanaway (Triple Eight, car 97): 2:06.384

4. Kai Allen (Dick Johnson Racing, car 98): 2:06.615

5. Zane Goddard (Triple Eight, car 888): 2:06.765

6. Jamie Whincup (Triple Eight, car 88): 2:06.782

7. Alex Davison (Dick Johnson Racing, car 17): 2:06.783

8. Tony D’Alberto (Dick Johnson Racing, car 11): 2:06.800

9. Jack Perkins (Erebus, car 9): 2:06.834

10. Lee Holdsworth (Walkinshaw Andretti United, car 25): 2:07.043