Provisional pole-sitter Cameron Waters expects the Top 10 Shootout for the Repco Bathurst 1000 to be even more challenging than qualifying was if it is also wet.
The Tickford Racing driver topped Qualifying with a 2:23.6168s but also finished with the second-fastest lap of the 40-minute session given he clocked a 2:23.6284s just before the chequered flag, while Lee Holdsworth claimed second on a 2:23.8296s.
Predictably, given the rain over Mount Panorama had stopped by the early minutes of the session, even if it began sprinkling again with about 10 minutes remaining, the laps got quicker and quicker.
The pace had started in the 2:29s and was still mid-2:24s at the halfway point, but the drivers who have made the Top 10 Shootout will not have the luxury of time to ease into that session, nor much of a ‘tram track’ effect.
As Waters points out, they will also not have time to bring their wet tyres up if they need them for the one-lap dash.
“It’s taking a few laps for the tyres to come up, so tomorrow, if it is wet, it will be a little bit more challenging,” said the #6 Monster Energy Mustang pilot.
“But, I’ll be the last car, which will be good; I’ll get to see how all the other guys are going and what the track grip is like.
“Hopefully it doesn’t rain more at the end or whatever – those kind of conditions are a little bit hard for shootout – but it is what it is.
“It’s awesome to make it and be quickest in that session.”
Despite forecasts of rain on all four days, Practice 4, earlier in the day, was the first fully wet session for the Repco Supercars Championship field.
“It was a lot better than what practice was,” remarked the 2020 Bathurst 1000 pole-sitter.
“So, a lot less rivers down those straights and over the top [had] a lot more grip.
“There’s still a couple, like exit of [Turn] 1 [Hell Corner – the kerb off 1 was quite bad – and even the kink at The Chase, but the rest of the lap was actually not that bad.”
Chaz Mostert, who provisionally put Walkinshaw Andretti United’s #25 Mobil 1 Optus ZB Commodore third on the grid, described the water on the exit of Hell Corner as “unreal”.
“It was actually a lot of fun right there towards the end and being in the battle for these two [Waters and Holdsworth] for provisional pole was pushing me on pretty hard out there,” said the two-time Great Race winner.
“I think I was pretty close to maybe getting one last lap in but I found a bit of trouble down there at The Chase with a couple of cars.
“Like Cam said, there was a few rivers but the rivers actually weren’t in too bad spots.
“The one at the kink of The Chase has been pretty sketchy but I’d say that session kind of wasn’t too bad.
“Out of Turn 1, the water running across there is unreal, but everywhere else in the more dangerous spots actually, the track’s in pretty good nick with the way the water flows off.”
The co-drivers will be back in the cars for Practice 5 tomorrow morning at 10:20 local time/AEDT, followed by Practice 6 in the early afternoon and then the Top 10 Shootout.
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