Prodrive Racing (Australia)’s Chaz Mostert has successfully completed qualifying at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, finishing fourth and making his way into the top ten shootout. Mostert was on the pace for much of the day, topping the twice-interrupted qualifying session early. Despite being a Bathurst 1000 race winner, it is the first time he has officially qualified at The Mountain. Exactly one year since his 2015 crash, completing the session has marked a key milestone in his career and recovery. Teammate Mark Winterbottom has also made it into tomorrow’s top ten shootout, qualifying seventh despite a small mistake made at The Chase. Winterbottom is confident in The Bottle-O Ford’s speed, with the belief the car has top-five pace for the shootout. Super Black Racing’s Chris Pither is pleased with a 12th place effort ahead of Sunday’s race as he builds confidence across the top of The Mountain. Pither and co-driver Richie Stanaway will focus on the car’s race pace in tomorrow’s final practice session. Cameron Waters will also look to improve the Monster Energy Ford’s race pace, particularly with a full tank of fuel after qualifying 13th.
DRIVERS’ VIEW
Mark Winterbottom & Dean Canto – #1 The Bottle-O PRA Ford:
Qualifying: 7th
Mark Winterbottom: “We were actually going pretty good at the end of that run. I just nicked the tyre at The Chase and on the front so I think we could have been probably second there at the end. I think the car’s okay, it’s just hard now because the guys that go out last in the shootout definitely have an advantage. We’ll tune her up and try and get a little bit better and see if we can start somewhere up the front. Just a little, slight lock up and it was either going to be an awesome corner or it was going to lock and it just went on the bad side. Pretty close otherwise and we’ll keep working.”
Cameron Waters & Jack Le Brocq – #6 Monster Energy PRA Ford:
Qualifying: 13th
Cameron Waters: “I’m a little bit disappointed to miss out on the top ten shootout but 13th is not too bad. We just have to work on the race car now and try to make sure we have a good car on a full tank of fuel and you can win it from anywhere here. We just need to work on the race car and make sure that’s good to go.”
Chaz Mostert & Steve Owen – #55 Supercheap Auto PRA Ford:
Qualifying: 4th
Chaz Mostert: “It’s unbelievable. This time last year I just got reminded that I was carted off in an ambulance and this time I qualified for the top ten shootout. Pretty stoked. I think the car is pretty close or there abouts and I feel nice and comfortable in it too. I’m looking forward to another practice, just chilling out tomorrow and working on the race car and having another crack at it in the shootout tomorrow. Overall I’m really, really happy and to 12 months since the big crash and all the people that have backed me all the way, I can’t really thank them enough. We’ve still got a lot of sessions to go this weekend and a big 161 lap race so we’ve still got to try and get through that.”
Chris Pither & Richie Stanaway – #111 Super Black PRA Ford:
Qualifying: 12th
Chris Pither: “Really happy with that session actually. We managed to step up a fair bit compared to where we were at in practice. We made some really good gains with the car and it gave me a bit more confidence and I was able to push a lot harder across the top of the mountain where we were losing a bit of time in the earlier runs. We missed out on the top 10 but we’re in a pretty good position but I think come Sunday night hopefully we have something to celebrate about. Starting from 12th is a good position to be in at this point in the weekend.”
Tim Edwards – Team Principal:
“It’s great to have two cars in the top ten and to be honest, both Chris and Cam are both in a pretty good position tobo. They should both be pleased with where they’re starting. We have tomorrow to work on car setup for the race and to focus on making these cars fast over 161 laps. We’ve got four quick cars and both Frosty and Chaz will have a good chance in the shootout tomorrow. At the end of the day a fast race car is important and I think we have that.”
DUNLOP SERIES
Prodrive Racing Australia’s Garry Jacobson has claimed pole position for tomorrow’s 250km Dunlop Series race after setting a new qualifying lap record for the category. Jacobson’s focus on retaining a calm approach has helped his campaign at The Mountain, with the Challenger Valves FG X reaching upwards of 285kms down Conrod Straight. Teammate Jack Le Brocq will start from sixth position after a frustrating qualifying session. The GoGetta Racing driver believed the team achieved a misguided car setup ahead of the session, which they will look to fix ahead of tomorrow’s race.
Jack Le Brocq – #5 GoGetta Racing PRA Ford:
Qualifying: 6th
“On a whole the car wasn’t too bad on old tyres this morning in practice. Pretty happy with that but it probably still needs a little tune up for the race tomorrow. On the new tyre in practice it wasn’t that great and unfortunately in qualifying it went the opposite way to what we really needed to do so yeah, we just struggled a little bit and didn’t have all that much confidence in the car but tomorrow’s a long race so we’ll see how we go. We will go back towards the direction we had at the start of practice two but we probably need to go further away from that again and back the other way.”
Garry Jacobson – #6 Challenger Valve PRA Ford:
Qualifying: 1st
“Absoltuely stoked with getting the qualifying record today. The Prodrive Racing machine was certainly like an absolute jet. It puts me in a really good spot to start at the front row in terms of trying to control the race and finish with good points for the championship. I just want to keep a cool head now and press on tomorrow, get off the line which will be the first task and after that we’ll just be looking to do some consistent laps.”
DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1) Shane van Gisbergen – Triple Eight: 2248
2) Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight: 2241
3) Craig Lowndes – Triple Eight: 2091
4) Scott McLaughlin – Garry Rogers Motorsport: 1989
5) Mark Winterbottom – Prodrive Racing: 1908
7) Chaz Mostert – Prodrive Racing: 1757
18) Chris Pither– Super Black Racing: 1033
20) Cameron Waters – Prodrive Racing: 993
TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Triple Eight: 4499
2) HRT: 3226
3) GRM: 2991
5) Prodrive Racing Australia: 2926
