After a frustrating day in the rain, the Supercars field will return to Mount Panorama for practice and qualifying on Friday ahead of the Bathurst 1000. Join The Roar for live coverage from 8:30am (AEST).
Wet weather made it tough for the teams to get an understanding of where they were at yesterday ahead of qualifying, and it could make the pursuit of a top-ten start high risk, high reward this afternoon.
While the weather today is looking ordinary for the morning, it’s probably going to dry up by the time qualifying rolls around, which means teams will be working with very little idea on balance or pace. What they are aiming for in terms of lap times will be a mystery, so car setup won’t be a straightforward issue.
That all being said, it could throw up some surprises for qualifying, whether raining or not.
While qualifying for a 1000-kilometre race doesn’t see all that important, it’s universally acknowledged that being up front during the early laps while the field sorts itself out is important, with teams wanting to stay out of trouble.
It hasn’t been as much of a problem in the last two years, given neither race has had a crash in the first 90 laps, but that’s all the more reason to be up front this time around, with Bathurst being overdue for an incident-filled start on Sunday.
If it is dry, times from yesterday become almost redundant, however, the two DJR Team Penske teams showed good pace all day, with Scott McLaughlin and Chaz Mostert (and their teammates Alexandre Premat and Tony D’Alberto) up the right end of the pecking order.
It’ll be co-drivers only first up, and Premat was the best of them yesterday, while Rick Kelly’s teammate, Gary Jacobson in the Nissan showed good pace.
The surprise packets were Will Davison, who topped the charts in Session 1, and Richie Stanaway, who did the same in Session 3.
While it was hard to get a read due to minimal laps being completed, none of the Triple Eight racing cars – those belonging to favourites Jamie Whincup and Shane Van Gisbergen or retiree Craig Lowndes – seemed to go around well in the wet which could create a potential story to follow across the day.
Elsewhere on track today, we will also see the Super2 series in their final practice run and qualifying, while the Super Utes, Porsche Carrera Cup and Touring Car Masters also have their first race of the weekend.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of every Supercars and Series 2 session as well as all the support race on Friday at the mountain from 8:30am (AEST) and don’t forget to get involved and drop your comments below.
7:25am – 7:45am: Super Utes qualifying
7:55am – 8:15am: Toyota 86 Racing Series qualifying
8:30am – 9:30am: Supercars practice 4 (co-drivers only)
10:20am – 11am: Dunlop Super2 Series practice 2
11:15am – 12:15am: Supercars Practice 5
1:35pm – 1:55pm: Super Utes Race 1 (6 laps)
2:05pm – 2:50pm: Porsche Carrera Cup Race 1 (16 laps)
3:05pm – 3:35pm: Super2 Series qualifying
3:50pm – 4:30pm: Supercars qualifying
4:45pm – 5:05pm: Touring Car Masters Race 1 (6 laps)
* – Live on The Roar.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Thanks for joining me today on The Roar for our live coverage of Day 2 at the Bathurst 1000. Hopefully you enjoyed the call. Be sure to join Jawad Yaqub tomorrow from 5:10pm (AEST) for the top-ten shootout, and then I'll be back from 11am (AEST) on Sunday with the great race. Bye for now.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Thoughts on the day Roarers?
Scott Pryde
Expert
SUPERCARS QUALIFYING - FULL RESULTS Positions 1 to 10 will drive the shootout tomorrow. Positions 11 to 26 are locked in on the grid. 1. Jamie Whincup 2. David Reynolds 3. Scott McLaughlin 4. Shane Van Gisbergen 5. James Courtney 6. Craig Lowndes 7. Cameron Waters 8. Nick Percat 9. Anton De Pasquale 10. Garth Tander ___________________________________________- 11. Chaz Mostert 12. James Golding 13. Andre Heimgartner 14. Rick Kelly 15. Fabian Coulthard 16. Michael Caruso 17. Richie Stanaway 18. Scott Pye 19. Mark Winterbottom 20. Tim Slade 21. Lee Holdsworth 22. Tim Blanchard 23. Todd Hazelwood 24. Will Davison 25. Jack Le Brocq 26. Simona De Silvestro
Scott Pryde
Expert
END OF QUALIFYING Well, incredible end to the shootout. Whincup has the top spot and will go last in the shootout tomorrow. Full results to come in a moment.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Waters goes into the garage, safely in the ten. Can Coulthard produce it after the buzzer? No! He finishes 15th and will start a looooong way down the grid on Sunday.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Waters in seventh. He is down at Sector 2. Coulthard is 15th and trying to get something out of this as well.
Scott Pryde
Expert
What a finish to qualifying! Tander was on a good lap but ran off the road at The Chase, but we will have some flying laps finishing up here.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Craig Lowndes is on a PB from 14th spot here. Looked to get it right around Murray's Corner and Lowndes is going to the shootout! He is up to fourth spot with a huge lap, cracking the 2.05 barrier. Cameron Waters into fifth, then pushed back to sixth by Mostert. They are then all pushed down with Scott McLaughlin doing a 2.04.2, then Whincup does a 2.04.1! But it's David Reynolds who we should be watching. He has done a PB to the second sector and will go to P2 iwht a 2.04.2648
Scott Pryde
Expert
Rick Kelly just misses out on the top ten this time. 2 minutes to go.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Courtney lost a lot of pace through the final sector there, running wide out of Forest Elbow. Meanwhile, De Pasquale is up to fifth.
Scott Pryde
Expert
James Courtney with the fastest time through Sector 1. He then just about clips every single wall over the top of the mountain and is also at the top through Sector 2.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Running through out laps now with the final burst for a position in the top ten shootout coming up. Seven minutes to go.
Scott Pryde
Expert
GREEN FLAG 9 minutes and 18 seconds to go.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Le Brocq being pulled onto the tow truck here.
Scott Pryde
Expert
ORDER Jamie Whincup, James Courtney, Scott McLaughlin, David Reynolds, Shane Van Gisbergen, Chaz Mostert, Cameron Waters, Nick Percat, Garth Tander, Fabian Coulthard, James Golding, Craig Lowndes, Anton de Pasquale, Richie Stanaway, Scott Pye, Rick Kelly, Lee Holdsworth, Will Davison, Tim Slade, Andre Heimgartner, Michael Caruso, Todd Hazelwood, Mark Winterbottom, Simona De Silvestro, Tim Blanchard
Scott Pryde
Expert
RED FLAG That's gut-wrenching for Cameron Waters. He was just about over the control line with a time that would have had him in the top five, but Jack Le Brocq has gone off the road at Turn 1, so the red flag is out and the clock has stopped with 9 minutes and 18 seconds to go.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Whincup on another good lap here as he gets back onto the track and he goes back to the top! A 2.04.3021 there for Whincup. He holds the best time and that should be his spot locked into the shootout.
Scott Pryde
Expert
10 minutes to go Here is the top ten. Courtney, McLaughlin, Whincup, Reynolds, Van Gisbergen, Mostert, Waters, Percat, Tander, Coulthard
Scott Pryde
Expert
Here comes Fabian Coulthard. Down in 17th for the moment, but he has done a good lap here, getting up to ninth. Lowndes drops out of the ten with that.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Craig Lowndes a little slow out of the second sector, but he is on to get himself into the top half of the top ten and a probable shootout spot here if he can hold it together through the third sector. He doesn't improve though. Poor Sector 3 and he remains tenth.