Bates was among those to go on a relatively early green tyre run in Practice 2 at Wanneroo Raceway and produced a 0:55.4149s in the #25 ZB Commodore.

That turned the tables on Eggleston Motorsport, which filled the top three in the day’s earlier 40-minute session and ended up second through fifth in the latter, Jordyn Sinni (#54 ZB Commodore) its best on a 0:55.4799s.

Team-mate Cooper Murray (#88 ZB Commodore) had been quickest out of the blocks with a 0:56.8869s on his first flyer before another Eggleston driver in Cameron Crick (#38 ZB Commodore), who set the pace in Practice 1, clocked a 0:56.4895s and 0:56.4527s on consecutive laps.

Cameron McLeod then punched out three fastest laps in a row – a 0:56.4424s, a 0:56.4172s, and a 0:56.3140s – to put the #92 RM Racing Cars ZB Commodore on top at the end of the opening runs.

However, McLeod’s afternoon quickly came to a premature end when Car #92 developed a power steering leak during his second run, and he was back to the pits for the duration.

Super2 rookie Mason Kelly (#22 Kelly Racing S550 Mustang) then jumped to the top with a 0:56.2215s, before Tickford Racing’s Lochie Dalton (#6 S550 Mustang) moved the marker to a 0:55.8121s.

It became a WAU one-two with just over 10 minutes remaining when Campbell Logan (#2 ZB Commodore) laid down a 0:55.8043s and then Bates reset the fastest lap of the day with that 0:55.4149s.

A full Eggleston assault on the timing screen followed, with that quartet managing to dislodge rookie Logan but not Bates.

Murray went second on a 0:55.7189s before series leader Kai Allen (#1 ZB Commodore) set a 0:55.5311s and Sinni a 0:55.4799s.

Allen was personal-best to the second sector in the final minute of the session but ran wide through Turn 7 and tripped the kerb sensor, meaning that lap and the next one were scrubbed anyway.

The top four was thus Bates, Sinni, Allen, and Murray, with Crick fifth on 0:55.7687s which was slightly slower than he had gone in Practice 1.

Kelly’s Aaron Cameron was first of the Ford contingent with a 0:55.7976s in the #27 S550 Mustang which was good enough for sixth all-told.

The top 10 was rounded out by Logan, Dalton, Brad Vaughan (#5 Tickford S550 Mustang), and Jarrod Hughes (#118 Image Racing ZB Commodore), with McLeod shuffled back to 20th.

Being 15th on combined times, the latter is thus going into Group 1 of qualifying tomorrow, with the split this year being top and bottom 50 percent rather than Super2 and Super3 class.

Qualifying for Race 1 starts on Saturday at 11:00 local time/13:00 AEST.

Results: Practice 2