Payne fastest in dramatic Bathurst 1000 qualifying

Matt Payne took provisional pole position for the Bathurst 1000 after a qualifying session of fine margins at Mount Panorama.

Payne and his Grove Racing Ford streaked around the 6.213km circuit in a time of 2m05.6452s to edge out fellow Mustang pilot Cameron Waters by a scant 0.0060s.

“It just seemed to hook up really nicely and it just seemed to turn really well at 'The Grate',” he explained after the lap.

“The previous practice we did not have such a good run on green tyres. I knew the car was better than that. I knew we were going to be in the top five, but P1 is pretty cool.”

Waters, who nearly had a crash at Forrest's Elbow during the session, revealed he had also suffered a reliability scare in the early stages.

“It was a pretty intense session, I had an engine problem to start with and that cleared,” he said.

“Everyone is trying so hard, even in practice one, it was crazy how fast everyone was going. I am just lucky I am not one of the ones crashing.”

The session featured a pair of red flags, with the first coming with 23 minutes remaining on the clock as David Reynolds lost control of the rear of his Team18 Chevrolet Camaro at The Dipper, collecting the wall where team-mate Warren Luff had performed a miraculous escape earlier in the weekend.

Will Davison, Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang GT (Photo by: Edge Photographics)

The second came due to a crash at the same corner after Shell V-Power Racing driver Will Davison destroyed all four corners of his Ford Mustang on his final push. 

This crash ruined Broc Feeney's attempt to top the session, although he remained the highest-placed Chevrolet driver in third. Prior to the red flags being displayed, he had been 0.25s up on Payne's benchmark.

The Triple Eight man was 0.0081s faster than 2023 polesitter Brodie Kostecki, who set the fourth fastest time and clattered the wall at Sulman Park, requiring a mid-session suspension change which cost eight minutes of track time.

Highlighting how close the session was, Kostecki's time was 0.0194s away from Payne.

Championship leader Will Brown secured his shootout position in fifth, having spent the majority of the session out of the window, while Chaz Mostert was sixth. 

Andre Heimgartner, Jack Le Broc, Anton de Pasquale and Richie Stanaway rounded out those who will contest Saturday's shootout.

As a result of causing the red flags, both Reynolds and Davison saw their best times struck from the record, leaving them 21st and 16th respectively.

The Supercars will be back on track at 10:05am Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time [12:05am BST], with a one-hour practice session for co-drivers only. There will be another hour's practice at 1:10pm [3:10am BST] and the top 10 shootout is due to begin at 5:05pm [7:05am BST].

Bathurst 1000 Qualifying Result

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	M. Payne G. Tander Penrite Racing	19		Ford Mustang GT	13	2'05.6452		178.015
2	C. Waters J. Moffat Monster Castrol Racing	6		Ford Mustang GT	14	+0.0060 2'05.6512	0.0060	178.007
3	B. Feeney J. Whincup Red Bull Ampol Racing	88		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	10	+0.0113 2'05.6565	0.0053	177.999
4	B. Kostecki T. Hazelwood Erebus Motorsport Penrite	1		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	7	+0.0194 2'05.6646	0.0081	177.988
5	W. Brown S. Pye Red Bull Ampol Racing	87		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	13	+0.1211 2'05.7663	0.1017	177.844
6	C. Mostert L. Holdsworth Mobil 1 Optus Racing	25		Ford Mustang GT	15	+0.1436 2'05.7888	0.0225	177.812
7	A. Heimgartner D. Fraser R&J Batteries Racing	8		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	15	+0.2816 2'05.9268	0.1380	177.617
8	J. Le Brocq J. Ojeda Erebus Motorsport Penrite	9		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	12	+0.3323 2'05.9775	0.0507	177.545
9	A. De Pasquale T. D'Alberto Dick Johnson Racing	11		Ford Mustang GT	12	+0.3490 2'05.9942	0.0167	177.522
10	R. Stanaway D. Wood Penrite Racing	26		Ford Mustang GT	13	+0.4600 2'06.1052	0.1110	177.366
11	J. Golding D. Russell PremiAir Nulon Racing	31		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	12	+0.5129 2'06.1581	0.0529	177.291
12	C. Hill C. Crick Tyrepower Racing	4		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	15	+0.5229 2'06.1681	0.0100	177.277
13	N. Percat D. O'Keeffe Bendix Racing	10		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	14	+0.5336 2'06.1788	0.0107	177.262
14	W. Davison K. Allen Dick Johnson Racing	17		Ford Mustang GT	12	+0.5628 2'06.2080	0.0292	177.221
15	R. Wood F. Coulthard Mobil 1 Truck Assist Racing	2		Ford Mustang GT	15	+0.6060 2'06.2512	0.0432	177.161
16	J. Evans D. Fiore SCT Motorsport	50		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	15	+0.6080 2'06.2532	0.0020	177.158
17	M. Jones J. Boys Pizza Hut Racing	96		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	13	+0.9204 2'06.5656	0.3124	176.721
18	C. Lowndes C. Murray Supercheap Auto Racing	888		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	12	+0.9429 2'06.5881	0.0225	176.689
19	T. Randle T. Everingham Monster Castrol Racing	55		Ford Mustang GT	15	+0.9504 2'06.5956	0.0075	176.679
20	A. Love A. Cameron Brad Jones Racing	3		Ford Mustang GT	12	+1.0270 2'06.6722	0.0766	176.572
21	D. Reynolds W. Luff Tradie Beer Racing	20		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	4	+1.0355 2'06.6807	0.0085	176.560
22	M. Winterbottom M. Caruso DEWALT Racing	18		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	13	+1.0916 2'06.7368	0.0561	176.482
23	J. Courtney J. Perkins Snowy River Racing	7		Ford Mustang GT	11	+1.1023 2'06.7475	0.0107	176.467
24	B. Fullwood J. Robotham Middy's Racing	14		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	12	+1.2708 2'06.9160	0.1685	176.233
25	T. Slade C. McLeod PremiAir Nulon Racing	23		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	12	+1.3339 2'06.9791	0.0631	176.145
26	M. Chahda B. Vaughan Matt Chahda Motorsport	118		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	15	+2.3071 2'07.9523	0.9732	174.805
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