Just three one-hundredths of a second separated the top three,Brown topping the timesheets just ahead of Anton De Pasquale in the Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang,with Chaz Mostert in the Walkinshaw Andretti United Commodore third.
Supercars legend Jamie Whincup,in his final Bathurst before hanging up his helmet,narrowly missed out on a place in the shootout,finishing 11th:he was on course for a spot in the one-lap dash right until the final seconds,when Tim Slade produced a flying lap to leap into fourth spot to eliminate Whincup.
A delighted Brown could barely contain his excitement. “I had a dip,that was bloody awesome,” he told Seven.
“I don’t know and I don’t care,I am just happy that I am P1. To get provisional pole at Bathurst in my first year,it’s pretty bloody cool. We will have a big crack in the shootout ... we are pumped,” he declared when asked how he had managed to pull off such a sensational performance.
De Pasquale was phlegmatic. “It’s always quite hard round here,the walls are still pretty close. We are looking good for tomorrow’s shootout and hopefully the race. We have changed a lot[on the car]. That was the best session so far,we are learning a lot.”
Whincup can now only hope to recover lost ground during the race itself.