Bathurst 1000 2021 live results, practice, schedule, top 10 shootout
Chaz Mostert has pulled off a mind-blowing hot lap in a stunning top-10 shootout to secure pole position in Sunday’s Great Race. But two drivers are in hot water after a crew oversight.
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Chaz Mostert finally exorcised his Mount Panorama “mental demons” when he defied the memory of the crash that almost killed him to break the Bathurst record.
In a fear defying blast that came just six years after he was airlifted to hospital after his body broke when he hit a concrete wall, Mostert won the top-ten shoot-out with his very own “lap of the gods”.
Scoring pole position with a time of 2:03.37, the injuries sustained in the crash that threatened his career were a long distant memory.
Mostert suffered a broken femur, wrist and knee injuries in the horror 2015 crash at the top of the mountain, which registered 50G.
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The Walkinshaw Andretti United star admitted he had often waged a mental battle against the memories of the smash when he came to race at Mount Panorama.
“I suppose there are points of this weekend where you always fight those little mental demons,” Mostert said.
“Always for me every time you come into qualifying, not that you really think about when you are on track but you know it’s a really crucial moment that was part of your career that put you out for the rest of the season.
“Once you get through qualifying, you tick that box and you just get into enjoying it.
“For me I am just so happy to have a fast car, it was so fun to drive.
“A lot of us drivers sometimes don’t always have the best car and sometimes we take what we do for granted but when you get that perfect day when your car is feeling awesome it’s just so fun to drive, it really rewards what we do in the sport.”
Fully recovered from the broken leg and wrist - but more importantly the mental scars, Mostert now has his sight set on winning his second Bathurst crown.
Mostert claimed his first Bathurst 1000 win in 2014 with Paul Morris in a final lap thriller after starting from last on the grid.
The 29-year-old said the crash the following year had been a major turning point in his career.
“I look at every moment in my life as more positives than negatives,” Mostert said.
“What happened to me in 2015 was a really good wake-up call for a couple of things.
“I looked at it, even though it was so bad at the time that I didn’t get to finish off that year and championship, positively it changed the way I prepped for races, changed the way I do a lot of different things.
“It was something that was needed in my career at the time.”
In what would be his final hit-out before the Bathurst 1000, Lee Holdsworth — who is considered unlucky not to still be driving full-time in the category — won the final co-driver’s practice session to confirm himself and Mostert as serious contenders.
Mostert said his formula for trying to claim another Bathurst win would be simple.
“Consistency and keeping it calm, that is the way to try and win this race,” Mostert.
“The race I won here in 2014 you never thought you were in contention until the last 20 laps so we’ll try and channel a bit of that.”
Mostert won the top-10 shootout ahead of Dick Johnson Racing’s Anton De Pasquale and Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters, whose pole-winning time last year was bettered by Mostert.
Defending Bathurst champion and Supercars champion elect Shane van Gisbergen will start from seventh on the grid.
De Pasquale has been the Supercars’ one-lap qualifying master this year, winning the 2021 pole award, but said he had to dig deep in the shootout.
“Once you have seen a couple of 2:03’s laid down you know you have got to strap up and have a dip otherwise you are going to be left behind,” De Pasquale said.
“It was good enough. The lap was alright, fairly average first sector and then it sort of hooked up after that and then off we went.
“I don’t think we were (getting close) to Chaz today but the rest of us were pretty close there.”
Runner-up in last year’s Bathurst 1000, Waters was hoping he could still go one better starting from third on the grid.
“I couldn’t win it from first last year so I will let Chaz have it, he can try,” Waters said.
“We’ll try different spots. The car has been pretty comfortable for us, we’re happy with where it’s at.
“It’s a long race tomorrow, anything can happen. The biggest thing is if you are confident and happy with your car and we’ve got a great team behind us and we’ll give it a shot.”
Meanwhile, Erebus Motorsport claims it made an “honest mistake” after young guns Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki were disqualified from the top-10 shootout for having underweight doors.
In a dramatic aftermath to the shootout, rookie pair Brown and Kostecki will now start from ninth and 10th on the grid after being disqualified by the stewards.
Kostecki had set the fourth fastest time in the shootout and Brown, who had claimed provisional pole in qualifying, had finished behind him in fifth.
But an inspection from technical personnel after the race found the doors on the Erebus Holdens were underweight.
Erebus said in a statement it had been an oversight by the crew and apologised for the error.
“Erebus Motorsport is disappointed to hear the news that after being reviewed by the stewards at Bathurst today, they have been disqualified from this afternoon’s top ten shootout,” the statement read.
“After thorough inspection it was found that although the overall can weights were by the book, doors on both the Erebus Holdens were underweight.
“It is a small oversight and honest mistake by the crew who have worked tirelessly for six weeks to ensure they represented the team, its partners, and their fans well.”
Although Brown had finished behind Kostecki in the shootout, he will start from ninth in the race due to his higher result in the qualifying session.
The Top 10 shootout - as it happened
Jack le Brocq: 2:05.331. First cab off the rank, le Brocq wasn’t thrilled with his time in his shootout debut, which fell short of the 2:04.4933 which booked his place on Saturday evening. Hit a top speed of 292km/h.
Nick Percot: 2:04.898. Held onto ninth place, pushing a quick time on a track he described as ‘greasy’. Also went within half a second of his qualifying time.
Will Davidson: 2:04.778. A wobbly start with an early error sacrificing some time, but pushed his car to the limit — clipping walls, but recovering to post a good time despite the small errors.
Shane van Gisbergen: 2:04.364. Fast in the first sector — and even better in the second. The defending champion left nothing in the tank but will start back in seventh on the grid.
Brodie Kostecki: 2:03.773.Kostecki laid down a serious marker, posting the fastest lap of the weekend in a blistering run to briefly put himself in P1 in the shootout. “I couldn’t give a shit if anyone beats me, that was awesome,” he says (Later relegated to 10th).
Cameron Waters: 2:03.686. Lifted the tempo yet again, fishtailing his way around the track at times before a monster finish bettered Kostecki’s time by the barest of margins.
Tim Slade: 2:04.050. Knocked Jamie Whincup out of the shootout with a late, late challenge on Friday to book his own spot — and bettered his 2:04.15 lap from qualifying, but couldn’t knock off Waters or Kostecki.
Chaz Mostert: 2:03.373. The Supercars rocktar, sporting a bleach-blond haircut this weekend, absolutely flew around the track with a fearless drive to produce the fastest Top-10 shootout time in history and a very worthy pole position.
Anton de Pasquale: 2:03.663. Mostert proved a hard act to follow, but de Pasquale has become the one-lap master this year — and he nearly did it again, before falling just short to sit in second heading into Sunday.
Will Brown: 2:03.992. The young gun blew everyone away on Friday, but didn’t have the answers — and qualifies for the Bathurst 1000 fifth fastest (Later relegated to ninth).
MOSTERT WARMED UP FOR SHOOTOUT WITH SIZZLING LAP
Chaz Mostert warmed up for a one-lap blitz of Mount Panorama with the fastest time in the final practice before the top-10 shootout.
After finishing third in Friday qualifying, the Walkinshaw Andretti United star delivered a shootout test run with his 2:04.187 lap topping the all-drivers session ahead of Triple Eight’s defending champion Shane van Gisbergen and Erebus Motorsport’s Brodie Kostecki.
Mostert has shown he is going to be a force in the Great Race with co-driver Lee Holdsworth after putting their Commodore in the top three in every session so far at the mountain.
The 29-year-old is already a Bathurst 1000 champion after winning in 2014 with Paul Morris and he finished third in last year’s race.
Dick Johnson Racing’s Anton De Pasquale and Erebus young gun Will Brown, who claimed provisional pole in a qualifying stunner on Friday, completed the top five in the final tune-up for the shootout.
CAMPBELL’S BATHURST LAMENT
Matt Campbell has lamented a brake line fault which forced his exit from Saturday’s co-driver practice session - and some emergency repairs.
Campbell, partnering Andre Heimgartner for Kelly Grove Racing, lost control coming down from the top of Mount Panorama as his Mustang clipped the wall and caused suspected damage to the brake line.
He attempted to nurse the car back to the pits, but was without success as the red flags were called out.
🚩 Co-driver practice is red flagged 🚩
— Supercars (@supercars) December 3, 2021
Campbell/Heimgartner's Mustang has accelerated itself into the wall down Conrod! #Bathurst1000#RepcoSCpic.twitter.com/sqkVNMCRYL
“Coming down the mountain, something started to break and started to veer to the right,” Campbell said.
“Obviously after the crash, it has sheared a brake line or something.
“As I got to the brake pedal, it’s gone to the floor more or less.
“At the same time, the pedal box has accelerated. I couldn’t stop, but I was also going a little bit faster.
“It’s a shame for the second part of the accident; I was going slowly, something broke, I started to veer to the right and there was nothing I could do.
“I feel sorry for the boys, but the car was feeling good.”
HOLDSWORTH DOMINATES CO-DRIVER PRACTICE
Lee Holdsworth has topped the final co-driver only practice for the Bathurst 1000 in a drama-packed session as the Supercars countdown to the top-10 shootout.
Holdsworth continued the strong pace the Walkinshaw Andretti United Commodore he is sharing with Chaz Mostert has shown since hitting the track at Mount Panorama.
The pair has finished in the top three in every session so far this week.
Holdsworth topped the practice session ahead of Team 18’s James Golding (partnering Scott Pye) and WAU’s Warren Luff (Bryce Fullwood).
But it wasn’t smooth sailing for some of the other co-drivers.
There was drama for Kelly Grove Racing’s Matt Campbell - partnering Andre Heimgartner - whose session ended early after he clipped the wall on the top of the mountain.
As he tried to nurse the car home, the damage forced the car to veer into the wall on Conrod Straight, forcing a red flag.
Not long later, defending Bathurst 1000 champion Garth Tander, driving with champion elect Shane van Gisbergen ran off into the gravel after locking the front wheels at the bottom of the Chase.
That's a bad place for something to let go in the front end! 😬😬😬#Bathurst1000#RepcoSCpic.twitter.com/hlSjE2U4qU
— Supercars (@supercars) December 4, 2021
Erebus Motorsport’s David Russell (Brodie Kostecki) also found trouble at the same part of the circuit when he ran off into the kitty litter at high speed.
There is one more practice session for all drivers before the top-10 shootout later this afternoon.
QUALIFYING KING WITH PLENTY TO PROVE
By Rebecca Williams
Ford’s Anton De Pasquale is banking on his Supercars qualifying dominance translating to a shootout flyer as he aims to turn a season of missed opportunities into a Bathurst breakthrough.
In his first season at Dick Johnson Racing after joining the team to replace triple champion turned-IndyCar star Scott McLaughlin, De Pasquale experienced a challenging start to his 2021 campaign when he had four DNFs in the first five rounds.
But since the Supercars restart after the Covid-enforced three-month mid-season break, De Pasquale has proven to be the series’ in-form driver alongside championship winner Shane van Gisbergen, with five wins and a second from 10 races during the four-week Sydney swing.
While De Pasquale admitted he had not expected to challenge van Gisbergen in the title race in his first season with the team, the 25-year-old said his Sydney form had given him a strong launching pad to challenge for the Mount Panorama crown.
“You can never make up for anything that you haven’t got but this is one of the races where if you don’t win the championship, you can win Bathurst and that’s as big in many people’s eyes,” De Pasquale said.
“So I treat every race the same, you want to win every race every day, that is just natural.
“But this is a big one. Most people don’t ever win it and people that do, it might take them 15 years to get there.
“I’ve had a pretty good run up into Bathurst having four weekends in Sydney, getting some wins and some poles and having a really good car and everything there.
“But Bathurst is one of one of those races where it’s anyone’s race to the end and we are in with as good chance as anyone so we will just put our best foot forward.”
De Pasquale has been the Supercars’ top qualifier this year, clinching 11 pole positions to claim the series’ overall pole award ahead of van Gisbergen’s six.
He hoped he could tap into that qualifying pace to the mountain in a bid to become the new shootout king.
“The shootout here is the coolest session to be a part of for the year,” De Pasquale said.
“Obviously the race is good but having the track to yourself and that special five minutes by the time you start and finish is quite unique.
“I’ve been fortunate to be in a few now so I know how special it is.
“If we’re lucky enough to get there this year, and be a part of it, and the weather holds off, I’m probably going to have the best car that I’ve had previously to have a shot at it.
“We have had a good qualifying car … we’ve obviously got to display that at one track so we want to see how that translates to here.”
De Pasquale lamented the impact his early-season struggles had on his 2021 campaign but expected to be in a stronger position to challenge next year.
“It was always going to be some sort of learning year and we were always going to get better throughout the year,” De Pasquale said.
“We obviously missed a lot of race results that we could have under our belts due to some DNFs ... I think I’ve had more DNFs than anyone else in the field through all sorts of reasons.
“I don’t think we were ever going to compete with Shane this year for a whole season, just in spurts.
“But we are building a toolbox in our back pocket where we plan to use it in a championship fight next year.
“We all start on zero points again but Bathurst is its own race away from the championship.”
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Originally published as Bathurst 1000 2021 live results, practice, schedule, top 10 shootout
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