Zach Bates drives the #888 Supercheap Auto Chevrolet Camaro at Queensland Raceway.
Last year’s Dunlop Super2 Series winner will make his Repco Supercars Championship debut at the Ipswich Super440 this weekend.
Bates will drive the #888 Supercheap Auto-backed Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro before joining Craig Lowndes for the Endurance Cup.
Bates is the son of former rally driver Rick Bates and nephew of Neal Bates.
Rick and Neal were prominent in rallying but competed in the Supercars Championship in the late 1990s and early 2000s as Bathurst 1000 regulars.
Zach’s father Rick made eight Bathurst 1000 starts, of which four were in the V8 Supercars era from 2000 to 2003.
The second-generation racer will make his first Supercars start nearly 8000 days on from his father’s last.
“It’s very surreal,” said Bates.
“It’s what we’ve worked towards all our sponsors and everything and myself.
“It’s very surreal to be making the Supercar’s debut with Triple Eight and Supercheap Auto, it’s fantastic.
“It’s been a while since Dad – he raced in Supercars – did a few Bathursts and whatnot.
“Obviously the family’s more known for rallying here in Australia. So both Neal and my dad Rick have done some circuit racing and Supercars.
“They’ve been very successful in their rallying endeavours. To basically have the name back in Supercars now is very special and I hope that I can fly the flag nice and high.”
Bates will clock the most racing kilometres of any driver this weekend having committed to racing in the Super2 Series as well.
The 21-year-old said he’d be leaning on Triple Eight drivers Will Brown, Broc Feeney, and his Endurance Cup co-driver Lowndes for support.
“Obviously a new format makes for a very busy weekend on its own, let alone adding Super2,” said Bates.
“I’m gonna be running around like a headless chicken, but you’ll be able to see me on the TV screen a lot.
“That’s probably one of the positives – but look, it’s gonna be a big challenge. I’m probably a little bit fortunate the heat’s not gonna be incredibly high.
“That’s on my side, but nonetheless, it’s gonna be a huge task.
“Debut weekend in Supercars, I’ll be thinking about enough, let alone Super2, so it’s gonna be a challenge, but hopefully I can do a good job.
“I’m so fortunate to be able to lean on guys like Will and Broc and obviously Craig as well,” he added.
‘They’re at the top of their game right now, so it’s amazing to be able to look at what that entails and how they’re doing it and it’s possible to get to that point.
“Obviously they’re fantastic drivers and incredible athletes. It’s great to see how it all happens.”
Action at the Ipswich Super440 gets underway on Friday with Practice 1 at 12:05pm AEST and Practice 2 at 2:20pm.
2025 Supercars Ipswich Super440 – Schedule, how to watch, TV times & more
