Quali Fun, But . . .

Cam Waters proved he is the one-lap wonder of 2020 but he is still a long way from winning the Bathurst 1000.

A mega qualifying lap gave Waters pole position for The Great Race, but there are even more questions about the 161-lap contest than usual with rain clouds hanging over Mount Panorama.

Waters is not even sure if he will start from the front, or hand the Monster Mustang to his co-driver – and two-time winner – Will Davison on the grid.

“We’ll probably do rock, paper, scissors,” Waters joked.

“I’d rather not start. But Cam wants me to,” Davison said after watching Waters cut an unbeatable lap in 2 minutes 3.5592 seconds.

“Of course we’re nervous. But I’ve done a few starts in my day.”

Everyone took a big swing during the Top 10 Shoot-out, but there were more misses than hits.

Waters did the best job, Scott McLaughlin was solid in second, and Chaz Mostert was quickest of the Commodores in third.

Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup both under-delivered in the Red Bull HRT Commodores, with Whincup blaming a tailwind down Conrod Straight for a mistake under brakes into The Chase and the slowest lap in the run-off.

“Disappointed. I gave it everything,” said Whincup.

No-one was surprised when Lee Holdsworth slipped from provision pole to sixth.

“I pushed as hard as I could. We’ll press on tomorrow and see how we go,” said Holdsworth.

And that is the real take-out from Pole Day in 2020, as everyone talked about what could happen in a wet race.

“I stopped at the post office this week and got some stamps. We’ll lick them and send it,” Mostert said, only half-joking.

“A few years ago it was wet and we had a fair crack. To be fast here in the wet you need a good car and to be comfortable in the car,” said Mostert’s vastly experienced co-driver, Warren ‘Wazza’ Luff.
“We’re pretty confident that when it rains tomorrow we’ll have a good package.”

Waters also said there would be no major changes to the Monster-mobile.

“You’ve just got to make sure it’s comfortable, and it has been. It’s pretty good, and we don’t usually change the Tickford cars much for the wet,” said Waters.

“Starting from pole obviously sets your race up pretty well. But all the hard work is tomorrow.”

Surprisingly, McLaughlin was skating under the radar after qualifying before reporting car changes on his Shell V-Power Mustang that could make all the difference in his final race before heading to IndyCar in the USA.

“I wasn’t too happy with my car this morning. I was really battling. We had a massive swing at it for the shoot-out,” said McLaughlin.

“Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have a good run in the race. It’s an idea and hopefully it carries over in a positive way.

“I’m relaxed. I’m happy.”

But the Supercars joker, taking over the funny-man spot from a despondent David Reynolds, was Mostert.

“At the moment I’m wearing duck socks that my missus gave me before I left home. So I’ll put on my duck socks before the race and see how we go,” said Mostert.

BATHURST 1000
TOP 10 SHOOTOUT