Brodie Kostecki is eyeing a slice of Australian motorsport history after nabbing provisional pole at the Bathurst 1000.
Kostecki set a qualifying record at Mount Panorama, putting down a lap time of 2 minutes and 4.030 seconds on Friday.
It is the fastest qualifying time at the circuit in the Gen3 era, with Kostecki breaking his 2023 record by 0.241 seconds.
Brodie Kostecki is looking to win back-to-back Bathurst 1000 races. (Getty Images: Robert Cianflone)
Kostecki, last year’s Bathurst 1000 winner with co-driver Todd Hazelwood, will have a chance to secure pole for Sunday’s race in the top-10 shootout, which will be staged on Saturday.
He has started at the top of the Bathurst 1000 grid since 2023 and will join legendary duo Allan Moffat and Peter Brock in the history books if he claims a third consecutive pole position for the race.
“It’s a pretty incredible feeling to have this place to yourself, leaving nothing on the table [in the shootout],” Kostecki said.
“I was pretty happy with my lap, but I still believe we’ve got a lot to find.”
Supercars championship leader Broc Feeney trailed Kostecki by 0.006 seconds to be second-fastest on Friday, followed by Ryan Wood.
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Feeney will be chasing his 15th pole of the season as he seeks to get on top of Kostecki on Saturday.
Meanwhile, his teammate and defending Supercars champion Will Brown struggled to find pace and only qualified in 12th position.
Wood’s teammate Chaz Mostert bounced back from a horror start to go fastest in the final practice session on Friday before finishing sixth in qualifying.
Two-time Bathurst 1000 winner Mostert had slammed into the tyre barrier at the top of Mountain Straight after locking up the front right wheel of his Ford Mustang during Thursday’s opening practice.
Anton De Pasquale also made the shootout as fourth-fastest, followed by rookie Cooper Murray.
AAP