Supercars rookie Zach Bates has his late mother on his mind as he chases the chance for glory at the Bathurst 1000.
After a "pretty average" year for his family, the 22-year-old became the fastest driver in the Gen3 era after setting a lap time of two minutes and 3.9376 seconds to take provisional pole at Mount Panorama.
In just his second pursuit of the holy grail of Australian motorsport, Bates will have the opportunity to claim the real deal as the last driver in Saturday's top-10 shootout, which begins at 5.05pm (AEDT).
He is the first to go below the 2.04-second benchmark in the Gen3 era and easily blitzed heavyweight Brodie Kostecki's Bathurst 1000 qualifying record of 2:04.0307 seconds.
Bates's surprise pace comes after his mother Alison Drower died from cancer weeks before his Bathurst 1000 debut last year, in which he finished 10th as part of the Triple Eight Race Engineering wildcard with the great Craig Lowndes.
The Canberra local is the son of former rally driver and Supercars driver Rick Bates, and the nephew of four-time Australian Rally champion Neal Bates.
"It's incredible. It's been a pretty average year for the whole family," Bates said.
"I lost Mum last year, so to be able to come here this time last year, be able to do this, is pretty special.
"I'm fortunate to be born into a family of rich motorsport heritage, so definitely got a big leg up in that aspect.
"It's fantastic to be able to repay all the hard work that my whole family has done to get me to this point.
"A proper pole tomorrow would be incredible."
Bates has never won a Supercars race, nor claimed pole position.
He has finished in the top-10 just twice across 29 races this year, with minnows Matt Stone Racing far from title contention.
"I'm surprised that I'm sitting here, but I want to be in the top 10," Bates said.
Standing in Bates's way is Kostecki, who has claimed pole at the last three editions of the Bathurst 1000.
Should he continue his qualifying form, the Dick Johnson Racing star will surpass legends Peter Brock and Allan Moffat as the first driver to snare four consecutive pole positions.
He qualified fifth-fastest, with series leader Matt Payne ninth-fastest.
Defending champion Chaz Mostert will start from 16th for the best qualifying result in the Toyota Supra.
Kostecki's rookie teammate Rylan Gray will start from the back row with Ryan Wood after the duo crashed out in separate incidents in Friday's first practice session.
Those at the back of the pack will take heart from Payne's win last year, with the Grove Racing star pulling off a famous wet-weather victory with former co-driver Garth Tander after starting from 18th.
