BRODIE Kostecki’s first pole position for the Repco Bathurst 1000 has put him among some elite names from the sport’s history, and not just for the feat itself.
The Erebus Motorsport driver put in a storming lap in Saturday afternoon’s Top 10 Shootout, his 2m04.2719s time almost half a second faster than any of his rivals had managed.
That margin – 0.4830 seconds, to be exact – is the largest dry-weather pole margin at the ‘Great Race’ since Greg Murphy’s ‘Lap of the Gods’ run in 2003, which was over a second quicker than that of second-placed John Bowe.
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Kostecki’s margin also edges him ahead of a several impressive pole laps from the past two decades.
It’s fractionally larger than Scott McLaughlin’s gap back to David Reynolds in 2017, when the DJR Team Penske pilot lobbed the first ‘three’ in a Supercar around Mount Panorama.
McLaughlin’s 0.4114s margin over the field in 2019 was also smaller than that Kostecki managed, although that lap was subsequently scrubbed from the record books.
Cam Waters also put over 0.4s into the field in the 2020 Shootout, while Shane van Gisbergen (2014) and Mark Skaife (2006) had over 0.3s margins after their pole-winning laps.
TOP 10: Biggest dry-weather Bathurst 1000 pole margins since 2003
| Rank | Year | Driver | Team | Car | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2023 | Brodie Kostecki | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 | 0.4830s |
| 2 | 2017 | Scott McLaughlin | DJR Team Penske | Ford Falcon FG X | 0.4434s |
| 3 | 2020 | Cameron Waters | Tickford Racing | Ford Mustang GT | 0.4429s |
| 4 | 2014 | Shane van Gisbergen | Tekno Autosports | Holden Commodore VF | 0.3122s |
| 5 | 2006 | Mark Skaife | Skaife Sports | Holden Commodore VZ | 0.3071s |
| 6 | 2021 | Chaz Mostert | Walkinshaw Andretti United | Holden Commodore ZB | 0.2898s |
| 7 | 2009 | Garth Tander | Walkinshaw Racing | Holden Commodore VE | 0.2768s |
| 8 | 2005 | Craig Lowndes | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Falcon BA | 0.2581s |
| 9 | 2022 | Cameron Waters | Tickford Racing | Ford Mustang GT | 0.2128s |
| 10 | 2013 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Holden Commodore VF | 0.1939s |
Note: In 2015, David Reynolds claimed pole position by 1.1545s, but that was in a rain-affected Top 10 Shootout.
