Zak Best to take on double duties for Great Race

By James Kleeman

Oct 4, 2022

Teaming up: Benalla’s Zak Best will return to Mount Panorama this weekend for his second outing at the Bathurst 1000, co-driving alongside Tickford teammate Thomas Randle. Photo by Mark Horsburgh

Zak Best returns to Mount Panorama Circuit this weekend to tackle his second Bathurst 1000.

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It looks set to be a mammoth weekend of racing for the Benalla young gun, who is gearing up for co-driving duties alongside Thomas Randle in the 161-lap Supercars race, but will also compete on the mountain in the Super2 series for its fifth event this season.

A round win at Sandown in August has Best well-placed in second in the Super2 championship, as he looks to usurp series leader Declan Fraser at Mount Panorama.

“lt’s going to be a big weekend at Bathurst, I’m pulling double duty again racing main game and Super2, but I’m looking forward to it. It’s a lot of time in the car, which I’m pretty excited about, and I’m confident in the car and the team that we can be up the front all weekend,” Best said.

“Getting the round win at Sandown was great, it got us back to second in the championship and gives us a bit of momentum after Perth and Townsville didn’t really go to plan.

“We have a bit of ground to make up in the championship, but if we can maximise our points and have another strong round it’ll put us in a good position to have a crack at the finale in Adelaide.”

Best will share a Tickford Mustang with teammate Randle this weekend, who secured seventh in 2021 alongside James Courtney.

“Bathurst is always really special, but going there for the first time as a main driver is pretty cool, and being the first proper Bathurst post-pandemic is going to be amazing,” Randle said.

“It’s going to be a huge weekend, but I’m feeling pretty good heading in, and I’m looking forward to getting on track with Zak in the Castrol Racing Mustang.

“We’ve been pretty competitive with car speed the last few rounds, and Zak’s had a really good year between Super2 and his wildcards in the main game, so I’m confident he’ll be able to slot in and do well for us.

“The team’s been very competitive at Bathurst over the years, so I’m optimistic we’ll have a strong car and a great chance to bring home a strong result.”