Championship leader Brodie Kostecki records fastest lap at Supercars Bathurst 1000 qualifying after two red flag delays

Chaos reigned in the opening 10 minutes of qualifying at the Supercars Bathurst 1000, with crashes in the opening 10 minutes of qualifying raising two red flags.

An apparent steering problem in Will Brown’s Coca Cola Camaro caused the Erebus to crash into the tire wall in the first five minutes on the way to Mount Panorama.

Brock Feeney led the peloton back onto the track, but less than four minutes later the red flag was dropped again.

Declan Fraser’s first Bathurst qualifying as a full-time driver came to an abrupt end when the left side of his car crashed into the wall at Reid Park.

This unfortunate move means Fraser and co-driver Tyler Everingham will start at the back of the peloton on Sunday.

Friday’s qualifying determined the starting positions for those finishing from 11th, while the top 10 positions will be determined in Saturday’s Top 10 Shootout (photo, Mount Panorama)

Will Brown returned to the field a short time later after Erebus made quick repairs to the car, but was called back to the pit lane during the closing laps and finished 17th.

Championship leader Brodie Kostecki recorded the fastest lap of the session with 2:04.664.

He was followed by James Golding in the 31 Camaro, who recorded his fastest lap in 2:04.813.

While Camaros took the first two spots, the rest of the top 10 field was filled by Mustangs.

Anton De Pasquale and Cam Waters came third and fourth with a time difference of 0.024 between them.

Brock Feeney was fifth fastest on track, while his Red Bull teammate, reigning Bathurst champion Shane van Gisbergen, jumped from 13th to seventh in the final two minutes of qualifying after struggling for grip.

Supercars championship leader Brodie Kostecki (above) recorded the fastest lap in qualifying on Friday

Together, David Reynolds recorded the sixth fastest lap, while the rest of the top 10 was completed by Matthew Payne, Chaz Mostert and Will Davidson.

Kostecki thanked his team after a successful training session on Friday gave a positive outlook for the weekend.

“We’ve had a great time since we rolled out,” he said Supercars news.

“I feel like we’ve executed really well so far, but it’s only Friday, there’s still two days to go.

‘It’s crucial to be able to coast comfortably, these cars are really difficult to drive, they’re quite tricky and have less aerodynamics. Big thanks to George (Commins, race engineer), he put a lot of thought into the program for car 99.”

Supercars will return to the track on Saturday at 5.05pm for the Top 10 Shootout to determine the final positions for the Bathurst 1000.

The top 10 cars from Friday’s qualifying return to the track on Saturday for the Top 10 Shootout to determine the final positions for the Bathurst 1000 (photo, Brodie Kostecki’s Camaro)