Shootout pole for Cam Waters ahead of Bathurst 1000
Cam Waters has continued the brilliant pace of the #6 Tickford Racing Ford Mustang for this weekend’s Bathurst 1000 by taking his first ever pole position at Mount Panorama.
After being the quickest car in four out of the seven practice sessions, Waters was the fourth last car to take to the circuit in the Top Ten Shootout as heavy cloud cover kept track temperatures and lap times lower than all weekend.
Despite an issue while heading down The Esses and towards The Dipper which nearly saw him fence the #6 car, Waters was able to put in the fastest middle sector of all by a long margin, eventually ending up with a gap to second place by nearly half a second with a final time of 2:03.5592.
Though it was Waters’ Tickford team-mate Lee Holdsworth who rolled out on track last after provisionally qualifying on pole yesterday, the speed of car #6 was too much for anyone to catch, even for Scott McLaughlin who has previously starred with one-lap pace in the DJR Team Penske Mustang.
McLaughlin’s #17 car will start alongside the #6 on the front row while the first Holden Commodore on the grid in the marque’s final official outing will be Chaz Mostert, again putting in a top three qualifying performance but for Walkinshaw Andretti United this year.
Rolling out first on the track, Nick Percat dragged the #8 Brad Jones Racing Commodore up to fourth place, the 2011 winner looking strong after putting in a mistake free lap which is more than can be said for fifth-placed Shane van Gisbergen , the Triple Eight driver running wide at The Chase and losing time.
Holdsworth could only manage sixth after being unable to switch on his front Dunlop tyres, ending up over a second away from his team-mate Waters with the Erebus Motorsport #99 of Anton de Pasquale and Fabian Coulthard’s #12 DJR Team Penske machine just over a tenth shy of the spot of the provisional pole sitter.
Taking his lap on roaded tyres hurt James Courtney, unable to get his Tickford #44 Mustang higher than ninth but outqualifying four-time Bathurst 1000 champion Jamie Whincup by over a second, only by virtue of the Triple Eight #888 running off the road at The Chase which means the seven-time series champion will round out the top ten.
Warm-up tomorrow will run for 20 minutes, starting at 0830 and serving as the final pre-race shakedown before tomorrow’s 161 lap, 1000km race at Mount Panorama, getting the green flag at 1100 Bathurst time.
