Brown beats teammate to take pole on Triple Eight debut

Will Brown will make his Triple Eight Race Engineering debut from pole position after beating teammate Broc Feeney on the first Top 10 Shootout.

A sensational final sector pushed Brown two tenths clear of Feeney and take pole with a 2:06.3740.

Behind the all Triple Eight front row will be Chaz Mostert and the impressive Cameron Hill who will start from a personal best fourth on the grid.

Brown was buzzing to take pole on Triple Eight debut, revealing his homework to find time over the top of the mountain paid off.

“It was awesome out there,” he said. “Had a bit of cloud cover and put a tidy lap together.

“To get pole on the first weekend with Triple Eight is awesome.

“He was doing a good job over the top so there were a few things I had to work on over the top and feel like I got it right over that lap.”

The shootout took place under overcast skies and in fast track conditions.

Richie Stanaway was the first in the 2m06s window but that lap proved no match for Hill, who made the most of his first solo lap around the Mountain with an impressive 2:06.7241.

The time was so strong it stood at the top for runs until the seventh driver Mostert knocked him off by 0.1367s.

Mostert had a mega run over the top of the Mountain, but that could not match the Triple Eight Camaros with both Feeney and then Brown going faster.

After impressing on Team 18 debut in qualifying, David Reynolds was the hard luck story with a flat right rear tyre robbing him of the chance to perform a shootout lap.

Below is how all 10 drivers fared in the single lap assault on the Mountain.

1: Will Brown 2:06.3740

Brown had shown strong pace all weekend on Triple Eight debut and carried that on into the Shootout.

The first sector went to plan, nailing each corner as Brown was 0.290s up on Mostert.

However, he lost a tenth across the top of the Mountain but the speed down Conrod and through the Chase was enough to keep the #87 on top.

“It went well. No major mistakes,” Brown said.

“Thought it was a tidy lap and could have been a bit faster. Overall, I’m pretty happy.”

2: Broc Feeney 2:06.5805

Provisional pole sitter Feeney was the last on track and flowed through first sector but was a tenth down after losing the rear ever so slightly under “the tree”.

He pushed hard for the remainder of the lap but could not do enough to knock off his new teammate, falling two tenths short.

“She was pretty wild over the top and had some big moments

“Got pretty loose heading into the Elbow but a one-two for the team is pretty awesome.”

3: Chaz Mostert 2:06.5874

With slightly more used tyres, Mostert performed the fastest warmup lap to get the tyres up to temp.

Started the lap cleanly and was pushing hard over the top, sending it through over Skyline and into the Esses.

This was where he gained big time on Hill being 0.375s up at the second split.

After rubbing the wall on the exit of the elbow Mostert flew to the provisional pole.

“That was so fun,” Mostert said.

“I love it when the car is hooked up.

“Last year was tough but it makes it worth it when you have a lap like that.”

4: Cameron Hill 2:06.7241

In his first Shootout around Bathurst Hill gave it a red-hot crack.

He had little space left at the top mountain riding over the final crest before McPhillimay Park.

As a result after being 0.003s up on Stanaway on the first sector, strong runs through Forests Elbow and the Chase meant he ended up 0.249s ahead of the Kiwi to take P1 with an impressive time.

“Gee whizz I cannot believe you are talking to me,” a delighted Hill cried on the TV broadcast.

“I remember watching this as a kid so it is an awesome feeling”

5: Richie Stanaway 2:06.9732

Stanaway pushed hard straight away being four tenths up on Percat on first sector.

The Kiwi used up all the road at the top of the mountain and was the first to record a 2m06s in the session.

Stanaway was 0.3786s clear of Percat and was “happy with the lap. The grip was okay and similar to this morning.”

6: James Golding 2:07.0702

In his second straight Shootout at Bathurst Golding was slightly off the Hell Corner apex as his tyres were not quite at the optimal window and was three tenths down on Hill at the first split.

However, Golding was fully committed across the top and down the Mountain to set a purple sector.

But it was only enough to be provisionally third, three tenths behind leader Hill.

“Not the best one I have done,” Golding said 

Tyres were not quite in the window”

7: Todd Hazelwood 2:07.2119

In his Erebus Motorsport debut Hazelwood also made his Top 10 Shootout debut at Bathurst.

He had a slight understeer moment on the exit of The Cutting meant he was down 0.112s at the first split and that deficit grew to 0.3s by the bottom of the mountain.

Slotted in behind Hill, Stanaway and Golding being the best part of half a second away from the #4.

“Little bit disappointing,” Hazelwood said. 

“Could not quite get the thing in, a bit pushy in the first half of the lap but that was my first shootout lap of Bathurst so not all bad.”

8: Nick Percat 2:07.3518

Percat opened the Shootout and produced a tidy lap with limited mistakes recording a 2:07.3518.

Percat was promoted into the Shootout after Ryan Wood lost his place for  speeding through yellow flags.

In his first drive qualifying for Matt Stone Racing he “felt like I maximised what I had”.

9: Anton De Pasquale 2:07.4686

Anton De Pasquale survived a wild moment under “the tree” but could only manage the slowest time of the session.

After riding a lot of the kerb at Griffins, De Pasquale hung the tail out at The Hill and somehow gathered up the Mustang to keep it away from the wall.

As a result he was half a second down at the second split and lost more time down Conrod to be the slowest of the first five.

10: David Reynolds N/A

David Reynolds qualified an impressive third on Team 18 debut but was robbed of the chance to record a shootout lap.

Reynolds was crawling at a slow pace during his warm up lap and it soon became apparent the right rear was down.

“Pressures looked good (but)when we went out of the pit lane the alarm went straight away and the right rear was flat,” Team Principal Adrian Burgess said.

“It is pretty unfortunate,” Reynolds reacted.

“Not sure what happened but we had this in practice 1 where something was going down and there was dirt in one of the valve caps so it could be something simple like that.”

2024 Bathurst 500 Supercars schedule

Friday, February 23

Practice 1: 1: B. Feeney 2: N. Percat 3: W. Brown

Practice 2: 1: W. Brown 2: T. Hazelwood 3: B. Feeney

Saturday, February 24

Qualifying: 10.20

Top 10 Shootout: 13.05

Race 1 (40 laps): 16.10

Sunday, February 25

Qualifying: 09.30

Top 10 Shootout: 12.05

Race 2 (40 laps): 15.05

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