Full marks to Bates here, given he\u2019s a rookie going up against a seasoned veteran.<\/p>\n
\u2018JLB\u2019 is fractionally ahead on qualifying average, but it\u2019s in race conditions where he has really put his experience to use.<\/p>\n
Blanchard Racing Team: Aaron Cameron<\/a> 12, James Golding<\/a> 10<\/p>\n BRT started the year on fire before gradually sliding down the pecking order.<\/p>\n Both drivers have tended to qualify well, but Golding is well ahead on points accumulated.<\/p>\n Walkinshaw TWG Racing: Ryan Wood<\/a> 15, Chaz Mostert<\/a> 7<\/p>\n Wood started this qualifying trend last year and has run with it through the Toyota transition.<\/p>\n Just 24 points separate these two in the championship though, making them the most evenly matched teammates by that metric.<\/p>\n Tickford Racing: Cam Waters<\/a> 16, Thomas Randle<\/a> 6<\/p>\n This scoreline had read a slightly closer 11-5 before Waters roared to form in Darwin and Townsville.<\/p>\n Triple Eight: Broc Feeney<\/a> 16, Will Brown<\/a> 6, Jackson Walls<\/a> 0<\/p>\n After being trounced 32-2 by Feeney last year, Brown has made some definite inroads in 2026.<\/p>\n It was always going to be a tough task for rookie Walls, especially operating from the other end of pitlane in a customer capacity, but he has on occasion beaten one of the Red Bulls.<\/p>\n Brad Jones Racing: Andr\u00e9 Heimgartner<\/a> 15, Cameron Hill<\/a> 5, Macauley Jones<\/a> 2<\/p>\n Tassie aside, it has been a somewhat tricky start to life with the Supra for Brad Jones Racing.<\/p>\n But hats off to Heimgartner, who has found a bit of a mojo against Hill \u2013 who\u2019s previously proven to be very speedy \u2013 after being outdone by Bryce Fullwood<\/a> more than expected in 2025.<\/p>\n Erebus Motorsport: Cooper Murray<\/a> 17, Jobe Stewart<\/a> 5<\/p>\n It has been slim pickings thus far for Erebus, with Murray the man most likely to threaten the top 10. The #99 driver is responsible each of the team\u2019s best six qualifying results to this point.<\/p>\n PremiAir Racing: Jayden Ojeda<\/a> 17, Declan Fraser<\/a> 5<\/p>\n Keep in mind that two on Fraser\u2019s scoreboard are from Albert Park sessions where Ojeda did not take part.<\/p>\n Ojeda ranks second on qualifying averages among the eight Chevrolet drivers and has delivered all seven of PremiAir\u2019s top 10 starts this year.<\/p>\n Team 18: Anton De Pasquale<\/a> 18, David Reynolds<\/a> 4<\/p>\n Reynolds was Team 18\u2019s lead qualifier for the most recent race in Townsville. He also got ahead once at each of Albert Park, Symmons Plains and Hidden Valley; other than that it\u2019s been one-way traffic in De Pasquale\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n Grove Racing: Matt Payne<\/a> 21, Kai Allen<\/a> 1<\/p>\n The one chink in Allen\u2019s armour has been the extent to which he has been outqualified by Payne.<\/p>\n It has happened on 19 occasions in a row, in which time Payne has recorded 14 top-three starts to Allen\u2019s none.<\/p>\n Dick Johnson<\/a> Racing: Brodie Kostecki<\/a> 21, Todd Hazelwood<\/a> 1, Rylan Gray<\/a> 0<\/p>\n The rookie versus the champ scenario was always going to leave Gray with his work cut out, and he remains the only driver in a two-horse race without a score on the board \u2013 even including the day that Kostecki missed.<\/p>\n The positive is that the 2025 Super2 title winner has been making steady progress, as evidenced by his maiden Top 10 Shootout appearance in Townsville.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WITH seven rounds in the books and seven still to come, it feels like an appropriate time to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-815124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RGP-2026-betr-Darwin-Triple-Crown-_05A0626-1024x576.jpg\")
Pic: Ross Gibb<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/undercut1.png\")
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