Heavy crash ends Dunlop Series qualifying

ZAK Best secured a sweep of the Dunlop Series pole positions at the Bathurst round after a rival’s heavy crash prematurely ended qualifying for Race 2.

Friday race winner Aaron Love had just laid down the second-fastest time, 0.23 seconds shy of Best’s pole lap, when he crashed at Reid Park.

Replays showed that Love clipped the apex wall on the right, which fired the Blanchard Racing Team Ford Mustang into the concrete wall on the left.

SCHEDULE: 2023 Repco Bathurst 1000

SLEUTHING: The other Gen3 Camaro at Bathurst

“I had a little bit of time to make up in the first sector so that’s probably where the error came from,” he explained.

Love was unhurt in the crash but the resulting red flag meant the loss of his second-fastest time, which means he’ll start Saturday afternoon’s race from the rear of the grid should his car be repaired in time.

“(The crew is) definitely going to have a red-hot crack at it,” Love added.

“If they have all the parts and it all goes smoothly, and they don’t have anything sprung on them, they’ll work hard and we’ll have a good chance of getting it out there and we’ll have a good go in the race.”

The crash, which happened with three minutes remaining, also resulted in the session being declared.

Love’s mishap means the front row will be identical to that of Race 1, with Best’s record-resetting pole time – the first time a Super2 car has registered a ‘four’ around Mount Panorama – giving him a 0.7s margin over Kai Allen, with Ryan Wood, Zane Morse and Brad Vaughan rounding out the top five.

Zach Bates was next from Cooper Murray, his Eggleston Motorsport Holden repaired after his crash in the closing stages of Friday’s race, with Nash Morris, Aaron Cameron and Super3 runner Cameron McLeod securing 10^th on the combined grid.

Super3: McLeod slides to ninth pole
McLeod took another weekend sweep of the Super3 poles, this time seeing off a strong challenge from points leader Jobe Stewart.

The pair traded blows in the closing stages of the 15-minute segment devoted to the third-tier runners.

McLeod held sway early, surviving a scare at Reid Park where the back of his Altima stepped out and was just millimetres away from tapping the wall.

Stewart then took the top spot away, before McLeod edged ahead by just 0.0052s.

The Image Racing Holden pilot went faster again on his next lap to pip his rival by 0.0239s, before McLeod laid down back-to-back faster laps to end up 0.3059s clear when the chequered flag waved.

Mason Kelly looked poised to buy into the battle, setting fast first sector times before settling for third place, just 0.5849s shy of McLeod’s time.

Valentino Astuti was another to escape a wild moment during the session.

Last year’s Australian Formula Ford Champion had his Nissan snap sideways under brakes at Hell Corner on his first flying lap of the session, and just avoided tapping the barriers.

Undaunted, he returned to the track in the closing stages to pip Jett Johnson to the fourth-fastest time.

The second and final 18-lap race for the Dunlop Series at the Bathurst 1000 is scheduled to get underway at 3:55pm AEDT.

RESULTS: Qualifying for Race 2, Bathurst Dunlop Series

V8 Sleuth’s ongoing coverage of the Dunlop Series for Super2 and Super3 is proudly presented by Biante – Fuel your passion with winning model cars. Visit Biante here to check out their range of model cars in a range of scales from 1:64 to 1:10.