During Friday’s qualifying at Mount Panorama, Zach Bates recorded a lap of 2 minutes 3.938 seconds in his Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet. The time is the first sub‑2:04 lap in the Gen3 era, which started in 2023, and it put him at the top of the Friday time‑sheets.

The Gen3 specification, introduced in 2023, brought new engines and aerodynamics that initially kept lap times above the 2‑minute‑4‑second mark. Bates’s result therefore breaks a technical ceiling that teams have been chasing for more than a year.

Bates, a 22‑year‑old from Canberra, said the lap was dedicated to his mother, who passed away in 2025. The personal tribute resonated with fans, while the speed makes him the favourite for Saturday’s Top 10 Shootout and signals that the Gen3 cars are becoming faster.

If the pace continues, the upcoming Bathurst 1000 could see new records and tighter battles, showing that the Gen3 era is already delivering the performance growth many expected.