Zach Bates: The Rookie Who Nearly Won Bathurst

There is a particular kind of ache that accompanies a near-miss—not the sharp pain of failure, but the dull, lingering awareness of what might have been. For 22-year-old Zach Bates, the Bathurst 1000 delivered both the greatest weekend of his young career and a wound that will take time to heal. He stood on the podium, a remarkable achievement for a rookie. But the victory that seemed within his grasp slipped away not through any fault of his own, but through the cruel arithmetic of a late safety car.

Bates, driving for Matt Stone Racing alongside co-driver Aaron Seton, had positioned himself perfectly for a fairytale result. He was running second behind leader Anton De Pasquale when Chaz Mostert crashed with just five laps remaining, triggering a safety car period that bunched the field and erased the gaps Bates had worked so hard to build . At the time of the crash, Bates had more than a three-second cushion over Brodie Kostecki in third. When the race resumed, that advantage evaporated. Kostecki and Will Brown swept past, relegating Bates to third .

The cruelest twist came moments later. De Pasquale, who had led for much of the race, ran out of fuel on the final lap—a devastating end to Team 18’s afternoon. Kostecki inherited the win, but Bates, boxed in and unable to capitalize on De Pasquale’s misfortune, could only watch as the victory he might have claimed vanished in the rearview mirror .

The weekend had begun with such promise. Bates claimed provisional pole with a record-breaking lap of 2:03.9376, the fastest in the Gen3 era. He dedicated the lap to his mother Alison Drower, who had died from cancer weeks before his Bathurst debut last year . It was a moment of profound personal significance, a son honoring his mother on the biggest stage of Australian motorsport.

The safety car rules that shaped the outcome have drawn scrutiny from fans and observers, who questioned why the gaps built over hundreds of laps could not be reinstated at the restart. Some argued that with modern technology, the timing margins should be recoverable . Others accepted the difficulty of such a logistical exercise. For Bates, the debate offered little consolation.

Yet the weekend was not without triumph. Third place at Bathurst, in a rookie season, is a result that many drivers never achieve in a career. Bates proved he belongs among the elite, that his speed is genuine, and that his future is bright. The pain of what might have been is real—but so is the achievement. In the long arc of a racing career, Bathurst 2026 may be remembered less for what was lost and more for what was announced: the arrival of a driver who will be contending for victories for years to come.

AI Image Disclaimer: All images in this article were generated by artificial intelligence for illustrative purposes only and do not depict the actual drivers, vehicles, or events described.

Sources: Yahoo News Australia, V8 Sleuth, The Canberra Times, Fox Sports