THE temperatures plummeted and rain bucketed down, but the competition for spots in this year's Bathurst 1000 top 10 shootout was still hot.
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After the 40-minute qualifying session on Friday, just 10 of the 26 hopefuls remained in the hunt for pole position.
The times may not have been quick, but that did not matter to those who secured a spot.
Before this afternoon's top 10 shootout, check out what the qualifiers had to say.
ANTON DE PASQUALE
#99 Penrite Racing Holden Commodore ZB (2:29.8288)
"The car is really strong in the dry but not so good in the wet, which is a pretty common trait. It's definitely our weakness so I wasn't really feeling that good, but I was able to push quite hard. That's about all I had so I am really happy to be in the ten.
"It stayed pretty stagnant for most of the session then the last lap dried up a fair bit and I think I was one of the earlier cars across the line and I could see a fair few people still on laps, so it was close.
"We are in the shootout, so we are in the exciting balls-out session of the weekend which is what we aimed for. It's good for the team and the sponsors but obviously the race is the most important thing.
"I think there are a few cars ahead of us that we have technical speed over so we're not in a bad position."
MARK WINTERBOTTOM
#18 Irwin Racing Holden Commodore ZB (2:29.8025)
"Tough conditions, that was pretty sketchy. The rain got heavier, the rain got lighter, we got in on the last lap. Ninth position, that's fantastic.
"A Bathurst 1000 shootout lap is unlike anything else. Great to be in the 10 for a lap of the mountain by myself
"Get to strap in, tighten the belts and have a go... I love the pressure that comes with it! A guaranteed top 10 start is amazing for Richo and Irwin Racing."
CAMERON WATERS
#6 Monster Energy Racing Ford Mustang (2:29.7038)
"It was a bit of a stressful qualifying, obviously I rolled out of Pit Lane and had a misfire in the engine. I thought quali was done, it cut out on the track, but I managed to get it going and get back to the pits.
"The boys fixed it in about half an hour once they worked it out, and I got I think three timed laps in the wet to work it out and do a lap good enough to get in the shootout. It's a massive relief to have made it.
"I think we've got a really good car in the dry, so for me it was just about trying to make it in there, and I'm glad we did."
JAMIE WHINCUP
#888 Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore ZB (2:29.6973)
"High stress day! Obviously, practice wasn't ideal, I was just caught up in somebody else's crash. I felt I did the best I could there. If I had hit him [Richie Stanaway] it would have been a catastrophe. I slapped the wall reasonably hard, but side on, and it sort of distributed the impact in the front left. I slapped the rear right, but nothing major. It was still a lot of work, but all bolt-on parts and nothing majorly structural.
"Everything was all back to normal in the car for qualifying, but we were genuinely P20 out of the pits. The car was so on edge, I scared myself 15, 16 times just trying to keep it on the black stuff.
"We just persisted and chipped away to somehow get to P12 or 13 with one lap to go and just got into the top 10. While we're not celebrating, we're happy that we're in the top 10, but Jesus, it took stupid amount of risk to finish P7.
"Not that I'm saying it should be easy, it's bloody tough and competitive, but we had to hang way too much on the line there just to get in the 10."
NICK PERCAT
#8 7-Eleven Mobil Racing Holden Commodore ZB (2:29.4619)
"The day started off a little difficult with not getting a green run in practice five due to a red flag towards the end of the session. Not having this race run and data to work with leading into quali is never ideal, but unfortunately that was out of our hands.
"I'm really happy with P6 for qualifying and heading into the shootout, it was a difficult one with the weather changing and the rain setting just before the session started.
"With a set of new wets on towards the end of the session I managed to get her back up into the top 10.
"I'm happy with how our results have progressed over these two days. I am really looking forward to the top 10 shootout and hopefully getting the best lap in I can do to have a great starting spot for the big one."
TIM SLADE
#14 Freightliner Alliance Racing Holden Commodore ZB (2:29.3889)
"Really happy with putting Ash and I into the shootout. I felt like I had more control over the car and was able to push it to the limit. I haven't been up in the top five for a while now so it's a great feeling.
"We'll go through our program as normal for the first two practice sessions [on Saturday] before we focus on the shootout. I'm excited at where we are and our preparation for race day, it's all coming along well and having Ash apart of the team again this year has been great. Bring on the shootout."
WILL DAVISON
#23 Milkwaukee Racing Ford Mustang (2:29.2431)
"Very relieved and happy to be in the top 10 shootout. It was an extremely tough session in those conditions.
"Another box ticked for the weekend, we still have a little work to do on our car's dry set-up, but I'm confident we are working well and am confident we can be in the hunt over the weekend."
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN
#97 Red Bull Holden Racing Holden Commodore ZB (2:29.1880)
"A few minor issues out on track, but it was a little bit of everything out there; the car and the driver in the wet conditions for the qualifying session. We didn't stress too much. We had a good start to the day this morning.
"For qualifying we put wets on without changing the set up and just drove the car. We did well considering the car had a dry setup. We were hoping it might dry a little bit in the session but that wasn't the case. In the end it was all good."
CHAZ MOSTERT
#55 Supercheap Auto Racing Ford Mustang (2:280484)
"It's super tough, out there you feel like you run around five or six laps just to kind of build some temperature into the tyres and then start to feel comfortable out there.
"I was quite impressed in the qualifying session not to see one red [flag] out there. I think I had probably about ten or a dozen moments where I thought 'Gee, that was very close,' so I'm thinking a lot of people probably had a similar type thing.
"But it was a world class effort from the whole grid out there to just keep the session going, because those conditions are super, super tough."
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN
#17 Shell V-Power Racing Ford Mustang (2:27.6476)
"I was so nervous before that qualifying session because we had such a good car and this is probably going to be the only wet session that we have, I'm really proud.
"We've been struggling with our wet car, but we had an awesome car from the start. That was hands-down the best wet car I've ever had.
"Thanks so much to the team for giving me the tools to get the job done. We start last in the shootout, hopefully it's dry so we can have a proper crack at it."