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Live EPL on SN this weekendSupercars rookie pulls off Bathurst 1000 upset for pole
Joanna Guelas, AAP •  October 10th, 2026 8:30 pm
Supercars rookie Zach Bates claimed pole position for the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama | Photo: Mark Evans/AAP
Not Supercars qualifying king Brodie Kostecki, but rookie Zach Bates will start the Bathurst 1000 in pole position.
Kostecki was on track to become the first driver to snare four straight pole positions after laying a mighty lap of two minutes and 4.4912 seconds as the fifth driver in Saturday's top-10 shootout.
Proven race winners Will Brown, David Reynolds and Anton De Pasquale tried, but failed to knock Kostecki's time.
But provisional pole-sitter Bates refused to waver, proving his mettle as the last driver with a searing lap around the famous Mount Panorama track.
Zach Bates left it late to claim the fastest time of the Top 10 Shootout | Photo: Mark Evans/AAP
A day after becoming the fastest Gen3 racer, the 22-year-old clocked a time of 2:04.2062 to deny Kostecki by 0.285 seconds.
Bates had become the first to go below the 2.04-second benchmark in the Gen3 era after taking provisional pole with a time of 2:03.9376 seconds.
In just his second pursuit of the holy grail of Australian motorsport, Bates is the third rookie to claim pole position after Klaus Ludwig (1987) and Marcos Ambrose (2001).
The Canberra local is the son of former rally driver and Supercars driver Rick Bates, and the nephew of four-time Australian Rally champion Neal Bates.
His surprise success comes after his mother Alison Drower died from cancer weeks before his Bathurst 1000 debut last year, in which he finished 10th as part of the Triple Eight Race Engineering wildcard with the great Craig Lowndes.
Rick Bates was all smiles after his son Zach claimed pole position for the Bathurst 1000 | Photo: Mark Evans/AAP
Team 18 driver De Pasquale will start in the second row with fourth-fastest Cooper Murray, while series leader Matt Payne was 10th.
But Grove Racing star Payne will be far from disheartened, given he had started from 18th en route to last year's epic wet-weather triumph with former co-driver Garth Tander.
Reynolds will start on the grid in eighth after a family of ducks threatened to derail his bid for a second Bathurst 1000 title.
Tickford co-driver Mark Winterbottom was forced to a sudden halt when ducks were spotted crossing the track at Conrod Straight during practice on Friday.
Winterbottom's sudden braking caught out Reynolds' co-driver James Courtney, who locked up and slammed into the rear of the Tickford Ford Mustang.
But both cars were able to return to complete the 60-minute practice session before the shootout.
Two-time Bathurst champion Chaz Mostert will start from 16th in Sunday's race | Photo: Mark Evans/AAP
Defending Supercars champion Chaz Mostert was among the big names to miss out on the top-10 shootout and will start from 16th for the best qualifying result in the Toyota Supra.
Payne's teammate Kai Allen fell agonisingly short in 11th, while title contender Broc Feeney was 12th ahead of Cam Waters in 13th.
Kostecki's rookie teammate Rylan Gray will start from the back row with Ryan Wood after the duo crashed out in separate incidents in Friday's first practice session.
Bathurst 1000 Top 10 Shootout results:
- Zach Bates/Aaron Seton (No. 10 Matt Stone Racing)
- Brodie Kostecki/Todd Hazelwood (No. 17 Dick Johnson Racing)
- Anton De Pasquale/Lee Holdsworth (No. 18 Team 18)
- Cooper Murray/Lachie Dalton (No. 99 Erebus Motorsport)
- Jack Le Brocq/Harri Jones (No. 4 Matt Stone Racing)
- Will Brown/Scott Pye (No. 888 Triple Eight Race Engineering)
- Jayden Ojeda/David Russell (No. 31 PremiAir Racing)
- David Reynolds/James Courtney (No. 48 Team 18)
- James Golding/Richie Stanaway (No. 7 Blanchard Racing Team)
- Matt Payne/Will Davison (No. 19 Grove Racing)
Tune into Sport Nation for live commentary of Bathurst 1000 weekend from 12pm Sunday - download the app today on Google Play and the App Store - find your frequency here.
