Dalton beats Bathurst 1000 co-driver to Super2 pole

Dalton took provisional pole position on Friday morning, topping the all-in session on a 2:05.479s.

He threatened to go even faster on his final flying lap, but had to take to the escape road at Skyline after a moment over the brow.

In the Shootout, Dalton set a 2:06.0063s to put two tenths on Gray’s best effort.

The top five was completed by Kelly Racing’s Cameron McLeod, Image Racing’s Jobe Stewart, and Tickford Autosport’s Reuben Goodall.

The Shootout was a relatively drama-free affair, save for Stewart’s lap when he glanced the wall exiting Forrest’s Elbow.

In taking pole position, Dalton became the first Super2 driver to top a Top 5 Shootout at Bathurst.

“There’s nothing else like it,” said Dalton of his Shootout lap.

“It’s so cool having this place to yourself. I don’t know, I just hung on and sent it as hard as I could.

“I almost wrote the thing off in the first quali, so I tried to dial it back a little bit.

“I can’t thank Tickford enough, my family, the Walter family, they continue to back me even when we have long droughts. I can’t thank everyone in my corner enough.

“I was just trying to remain calm, remember everything Frosty (Mark Winterbottom) told us to do. Just deliver the lap and minimise the mistakes.”

Jordyn Sinni was the first driver on the outside looking in, qualifying his Eggleston Motorsport Holden ZB Commodore in sixth.

Bathurst 1000 winner Jonathon Webb narrowly missed out on a Shootout berth too, qualifying seventh ahead of the fourth of the Tickford Autosport entries, Nash Morris.

Blanchard Racing Team rookie Bailey Sweeny was ninth while last year’s champion Zach Bates completed the top 10, the latter suffering a power steering issue on his #1 Eggleston Commodore.

Race 1 of the Dunlop Super2 Series at the Repco Bathurst 1000 gets underway at 3:15pm AEDT.

Results: Repco Bathurst 1000 Dunlop Super2 Series, Top 5 Shootout

Results: Repco Bathurst 1000 Dunlop Super2 Series, Qualifying Race 1