Stanaway fastest in final Bathurst co-driver session
Supercars
07 Oct 2023
Stanaway fastest in final co-driver practice
Teams gathering critical race run data ahead of Shootout
Estre turns most laps with 25, several drivers clock 24 laps
Richie Stanaway has gone fastest in the final co-driver session at the Repco Bathurst 1000 as teams completed significant race runs at Mount Panorama.
An early flyer by the Kiwi helped Triple Eight Race Engineering top a session at the Mountain for the first time this weekend before teams set about gaining race data.
Stanaway clocked a 2:06.0486s early in the 60-minute session aboard the #97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro, which he is sharing with Shane van Gisbergen.
The 31-year-old completed 23 laps in the session, which ran green for its entirety and without incident.
Kevin Estre recorded the most laps for the session with 25 aboard Matt Payne’s #26 Penrite Ford, with several cars clocking 24 laps of the 6.213km circuit.
Garth Tander, in the sister Penrite Mustang, ended up second in the session, having set a 2:06.5108s on his third of 17 laps.
“We made a pretty big change to the car overnight,” said Stanaway, whose co-driver van Gisbergen qualified seventh on Friday afternoon.
“Just wanted to validate that this morning, really happy with it. We’re not quite sure if we’re going to lock it in for the race yet, but Shane will give it a crack later on today.
“We’re still waiting on track evolution, you never know what you're going to get with the race. We’ll judge how we’ll set the car up for the end of the race tomorrow.
“We’re still quite far from that in terms track evolution. It’s difficult to get a read to lock in a race setup on Saturday morning.”
Stanaway set the fastest three laps of the session, finishing 0.4622s clear of Tander. Stanaway's first run consisted of a 2:06.8321s, a 2:06.2480s, a 2:06.1545s and a 2:06.0486s.
The morning wasn’t without drama, however — the two cars that crashed in Friday qualifying, Will Brown’s #9 Coca-Cola Camaro and Declan Fraser’s #56 TRADIE Beer Mustang, had teething issues.
The Brown car, with Jack Perkins at the wheel, had handling issues and completed 10 laps to end up 26th. Tyler Everingham completed just seven laps, the fewest of anybody, after the #56 encountered a power steering issue.
Zane Goddard put the #888 Supercheap Auto wildcard Camaro in third ahead of David Russell, whose co-driver Brodie Kostecki claimed provisional pole on Friday in the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro.
Jayden Ojeda (#34 Truck Assist Camaro) and Jaylyn Robotham (#35 Truck Assist Camaro) were an impressive fifth and sixth for Matt Stone Racing, with Tony D’Alberto (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) seventh.
Jake Kostecki put the wildcard #7 Petronas Ford in eighth, with Jamie Whincup (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) and Warren Luff (#20 Toyota Forklifts Camaro) rounding out the top 10.
Supercars will return to the track for all-in Practice 6 at 1:00pm. The ARMOR ALL Top Ten Shootout, which will complete the grid, will round out the penultimate day of action at 5:05pm.
