Payne beats Waters as big crashes bookend Bathurst qualifying

Tight margins and big crashes have headlined thrilling Boost Mobile Qualifying at Mount Panorama, with Matt Payne beating Cam Waters to provisional pole at the Repco Bathurst 1000.

In a dramatic final stanza to the dramatic session, Payne, Waters, Broc Feeney and Brodie Kostecki ended up covered by just 0.0194s.

While Penrite Racing young gun Payne will have the honour of rolling out last for Saturday's Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout, Team 18 and the Shell V-Power Racing Team are facing overnight repairs after big hits for David Reynolds and Will Davison.

Reynolds and Davison both suffered large impacts into The Dipper, with the latter coming after Payne went to the top with a 2:05.6452s.

Will Brown and Chaz Mostert snuck into the Shootout after a final flying run to the chequered flag, with Andre Heimgartner, Jack Le Brocq, Anton De Pasquale and Richie Stanaway rounding out the top 10.

“To be P1 in provisional qualifying is pretty cool,” a delighted Payne said.

“I didn't really think we quite had it. I knew we were going to be in the top five, but to be first is really good.

"It's amazing how tight the top four are, really. We're all within the same tenth. The competition's incredible out there. Everyone's driving at such a high limit.

"I think I got out of the car and I'm like almost about to have a heart attack because I'm breathing that hard.It's probably more from excitement."

Feeney kicked off the session with a 2:07.5481s, with Payne (2:07.3076s) and Reynolds (2:06.1542s) quickly lowering the benchmark. However, few drivers looked more at home than Kostecki, who nailed the fastest lap of the weekend, a 2:06.1542s, to go to the top.

Feeney returned serve with a 2:06.5201s, but was still 0.3659s from Kostecki's flyer. Le Brocq then went third, but was also 0.3994s behind his teammate.

As the balance of the field stopped after their first runs, the top 10 was comprised of Kostecki, Feeney, Le Brocq, Reynolds, Stanaway, Payne, Waters, Heimgartner, Davison and Ryan Wood, with Brown 20th and Mostert 23rd.

Mostert set about pushing towards the top, but bailed out of his first flyer after a slide at The Cutting. As cloud cover enveloped the Mountain, several drivers made significant gains, with Waters throwing down a 2:06.0204s to go to the top.

Seconds later, Reynolds lost control coming down the Mountain, and whacked the concrete into The Dipper. The session was immediately red-flagged, with the #20 TRADIE Beer Camaro sustaining major front-end damage.

At the time of the stoppage, Waters, Kostecki, Brown, De Pasquale, Payne, Le Brocq, Stanaway, James Golding, Feeney and Jaxon Evans filled the top 10 spots, with Mostert 14th.

Reynolds was fourth, but was demoted to 12th after losing his fastest time. Reynolds would ultimately end up 21st.

After the resumption, Le Brocq, Golding and Feeney quickly jumped towards the top. Feeney pressed on and shot to the top with the first 2:05s of the weekend, a 2:05.7745s, to put 0.2459s on Waters.

All the while, Erebus Motorsport was forced into quick repairs after Kostecki slapped the wall on the run to McPhillamy Park.

Stanaway jumped up to fourth with a 2:06.1052s, with Payne jumping from 10th to fifth with a 2:06.1480s. Mostert was unable to improve from eighth, with teammate Wood jumping to ninth, dropping Brown to 12th.

Ahead of the final runs, Feeney, Waters, Le Brocq, Stanaway, Payne, Kostecki, Golding, Mostert, Wood and Davison held down the top 10 spots, with Brown 12th.

Under pressure, Brown delivered with a 2:05.7663s, with Waters and Payne jumping above Feeney. Feeney threatened to go faster again, but was unable to deny the fast Fords once attention turned to the Davison incident.

Percat, who ended up 13th, pulled over to check on Davison, who walked away from his damaged car. Davison would end up 16th on the time sheets, with Golding missing a Shootout berth by 0.0529s.

Supercars will return to the track on Saturday morning, with co-driver only Practice 5 at 10:05am AEDT. Tickets for the Repco Bathurst 1000 are on sale now.