Zak Best is entering the 2023 Dunlop Super2 Season finale with a “different mindset” given he is the hunted rather than the hunter this time around.
The Anderson Motorsport driver starts Round 6 of the season in Adelaide with a 30-point lead over Eggleston Motorsport’s Kai Allen, with 300 points on offer.
While it is a relatively slim margin, Best is tantalisingly close to a breakthrough Super2 title after finishing second for the past two years.
“I’ve come second, the last two years in a row and this year we’re going in being not being the chaser, so it’s definitely a different mindset going in,” he said.
“I’ve just got to finish all the races in front of Kai – that’s probably the main goal – but really, we just want to go out there and win races like we have at every round this year.”
Best was again a Tickford Racing driver for this year’s enduros, but made the move to Anderson for Super2 competition.
It has seen him drive an ex-DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang with Brendan Hogan as Race Engineer, a combination which has the potential to deliver Anderson’s first Super2 title just a fortnight after it fielded Jude Bargwanna to the V8 Touring Cars title, and a year after it took Brad Vaughan to Super3 glory.
“It’s been a great first year for the team and to possibly get the championship in their first year is pretty surreal,” remarked Best.
“Brendan Hogan and Michael Anderson [team owner] have been great to work with this year, so I’ve have learned a lot from Brendan with just car set-up and a lot other mindset things, in and out of the car. It’s been great to work with those guys.
“Things that I’ve learned the most this year would just be managing a race with pressure and stuff like that,” added the 22-year-old.
“I’ve led more races this year than probably last year and we had some pretty good speed there last year, myself and the DJR car was quick there last year.
“So, hopefully we can maximise that and just continue our pace that we had at Bathurst as well.”
Practice 1 starts at 12:10 local time/12:40 AEDT and is set to unfold on a wet track, with intermittent showers all morning in Adelaide.
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