The 60th running of the Bathurst 1000 is here, with Brodie Kostecki blitzing the field for pole position as the clear favourite to continue a season to remember by taking out the big race.
There is a sense of unpredictability entering this year’s race though, with all eyes on the new Gen3 cars and how they fare at the Mount Panorama Circuit.
Then you add in the fact the Dunlop Soft Tyre compound will be in use for the first time ever, with six-time Bathurst 1000 winner Mark Skaife declaring one key question could determine Sunday’s race.
Speaking after Kostecki’s statement in the top-10 shootout, Skaife said working out whether this would be a “fuel or tyre race” will be pivotal and that teams could take different strategies, making for an intriguing race to the finish.
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‘I heard everyone cheering’ Kostecki | 02:06
“What you need to do is get out of here as early as you can see,” Skaife said when asked what the focus would be for all teams after the shootout.
“You don’t need to be here to ridiculous o’clock working on cars. Hopefully you can get out of here by eight or nine o’clock and get a good rest.
“The thing that’s important is how far you detune the car from a qualifying car. We already know that the people that weren’t in the top-10 shootout, they’re already working on that. They’ve got those cars already set.
“The cars that were in the top-10, they’ll be looking at what they do, what the strategy is and what we’ve spoken about all weekend — is it a fuel race or is it a tyre race?
“There will be propellers going everywhere on computers with engineers looking at all of the data to understand fuel economy and understand tyre life.”
Skaife went on to add that if it is a fuel race the “critical lap” will be 130 while if it is a tyre race, it will be closer to 140.
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Complicating matters though, according to the six-time winner, is the fact teams won’t know the answer to that question until “about the middle of the day”.
“So, by the time you get through all that and you’re thinking on your feet, I actually think that we’ll see divergence of strategy,” Skaife said.
“I think you’ll see some drivers try to just get as long out of the tyre as they can possibly get and that really becomes about fuel economy then, that’s a really strategic game and you won’t know it until about lunch time.
“So, an interesting scenario going on in the background at every garage.”
Starting alongside Kostecki and co-driver David Russell on the front row on Sunday will be another impressive young gun in Broc Feeney, backed up by four-time Bathurst winner co-driver Jamie Whincup.
Cam Waters, meanwhile, starts in third spot with co-driver James Moffat while James Golding will begin his shot at Bathurst glory in fourth after his best-ever qualifying and shootout result.
BATHURST 1000 STARTING GRID
1. Brodie Kostecki/David Russell (Erebus): 2:04.272
2. Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup (Triple Eight): 2:04.755
3. Cameron Waters/James Moffat (Tickford): 2:04.778
4. James Golding/Dylan O’Keeffe (PremiAir): 2:04.816
5. Anton de Pasquale/Tony D’Alberto (Dick Johnson Racing): 2:04.916
6. Shane van Gisbergen/Richie Stanaway (Triple Eight): 2:04.997
7. David Reynolds/Garth Tander (Grove): 2:05.151
8. Matthew Payne/Kévin Estre (Grove): 2:05.270
9. Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth (Walkinshaw Andretti United): 2:05.831
10. Will Davison/Alex Davison (Dick Johnson Racing): 2:06.417
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
SUNDAY SCHEDULE
Coverage starts at 7:15am on Kayo and Fox Sport
Warm-up: 8:00am (20 minutes)
Drivers parade: 9:00am (20 minutes)
Bathurst 1000: 11:15am (161 laps)
WEATHER FORECAST
There is no rain forecast, with sunny conditions expected on Sunday in Bathurst with daytime temperatures reaching between 17 and 23.
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