Zak Best

Zak Best (born 11 October 2001)[1] is an Australian racing car driver. He currently competes in the Dunlop Super2 Series in the No. 17 Ford Mustang GT, with wins, podiums and poles to his name in the Super2 Series.[2] He also raced in the 2021 Bathurst 1000, finishing in fifteenth.

Zak Best
Nationality Australian
Born (2001-10-11) October 11, 2001
Benalla, Victoria
Super2 Series career
Debut season2020
Current teamAnderson Motorsport
Car number17
Starts26
Wins3
Podiums8
Poles3
Best finish2nd in 2021

Career

Early career

Best made his debut in the V8 Touring Car Series (now known as the Super3 Series) in 2018, finishing second in the opening round at Phillip Island behind defending champion Jack Smith and ahead of MW Motorsport teammate Tyler Everingham.[3] Best would finish the season in second place behind Everingham.[4]

Despite hopes to join the Super2 Series in 2019,[4] Best continued in the Super3 series. Despite winning several races Best was only fourth in the series, which team owner Matthew White blamed on engine issues at the Winton round.[5]

Super2

For 2020, Best moved up to the Super2 Series, still driving for MW Motorsport.[5] He qualified in third place on debut at the Adelaide Parklands Circuit, and achieved a best finish of fifth place in the final round at Bathurst.[6]

Best switched to Tickford Racing for 2021,[6] finishing the series in second place behind Broc Feeney.[7] He remained with Tickford for the 2022 series.[8] He finished runner up again in his 2022 campaign.

Best announced for his 2023 Super2 campaign that he would be making the switch to Anderson Motorsport driving an ex-Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang GT. He will join Tickford Racing for the endurance events. [9]

Supercars

Best made his Supercars Championship and Bathurst 1000 debut in 2021 driving with his Super2 team Tickford Racing. He partnered regular driver Jack Le Brocq in his Ford Mustang GT for the 2021 Bathurst 1000. He was given a late call-up due to Alexandre Prémat being unable to make the trip to Australia. The pair qualified in eighth place were only able to finish in fifteenth place, in part due to double stacking in the pits.[7] Best was described by team principal Tim Edwards as being one of the best co-drivers in that year's race.[8]

For 2022 Tickford announced that they would enter Best in Supercars rounds at Hidden Valley and The Bend as a wildcard.[10] In Sunday qualifying, Best crashed, forcing him to start from the back on the grid in the final two races. In the second of these, Best was involved in a collision with Gary Jacobson, causing Best to retire, with Best highly critical of the driving standards of the drivers towards the rear of the field.[11]

On July 30 2022, Best became the youngest and first Supercars Championship wildcard entrant to claim a pole position, which was done at the 2022 The Bend SuperSprint. Best finished race 21 5th, becoming the highest finishing placed wildcard entrant.

Career results

Aussie Racing Cars 2016 at age 14, Best was the youngest ever to compete and win a race (Phillip Island) and runner up Rookie, in an Aussie Racing Car. CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship 2017 finished 10th. Khumo V8 Supercars 2018, drove Ford FG with MW Motorsport finished Runner Up. Khumo Tyres Super3 2019, drove Ford FG with MW Motorsport finished 4th

Super2 Series results

(key) (Race results only)

Super2 Series results
Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Position Points
2020 MW Motorsport Nissan Altima L33 ADE
8
ADE
8
ADE
11
SYD
11
SYD
7
BAT
6
BAT
5
6th 549
2021 Tickford Racing Ford FG X Falcon BAT
4
BAT
2
TOW1
4
TOW1
4
TOW2
3
TOW2
1
SMP
15
SMP
C
BAT
4
BAT
4
2nd 1077
2022 Tickford Racing Ford FG X Falcon SMP
2
SMP
1
WAN
Ret
WAN
7
TOW
2
TOW
12
SAN
2
SAN
3
BAT
1
BAT
C
ADE
4
ADE
3
2nd 1257
2023 Anderson Motorsport Ford Mustang GT NEW
3
NEW
1
WAN
3
WAN
7
TOW
8
TOW
1
SAN
2
SAN
12
BAT
2
BAT
2
ADE
ADE
1st 1227

Supercars Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Supercars results
Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Position Points
2021 Tickford Racing Ford Mustang GT BAT1
R1

BAT1
R2

SAN
R3

SAN
R4

SAN
R5

SYM
R6

SYM
R7

SYM
R8

BEN
R9

BEN
R10

BEN
R11

HID
R12

HID
R13

HID
R14

TOW1
R15

TOW1
R16

TOW2
R17

TOW2
R18

TOW2
R19

SMP1
R20

SMP1
R21

SMP1
R22

SMP2
R23

SMP2
R24

SMP2
R25

SMP3
R26

SMP3
R27

SMP3
R28

SMP4
R29

PO
SMP4
R30

PO
BAT2
R31

15
39th 120
2022 Tickford Racing Ford Mustang GT SMP
R1
SMP
R2
SYM
R3
SYM
R4
SYM
R5
MEL
R6
MEL
R7
MEL
R8
MEL
R9
BAR
R10
BAR
R11
BAR
R12
WIN
R13
WIN
R14
WIN
R15
HID
R16

21
HID
R17

21
HID
R18

Ret
TOW
R19
TOW
R20
BEN
R21

5
BEN
R22

19
BEN
R23

Ret
SAN
R24

PO
SAN
R25

PO
SAN
R26

PO
PUK
R27
PUK
R28
PUK
R29
BAT
R30

Ret
SUR
R31
SUR
R32
ADE
R33
ADE
R34
39th 162
2023 Tickford Racing Ford Mustang GT NEW
R1
NEW
R2
MEL
R3
MEL
R4
MEL
R5
MEL
R6
BAR
R7
BAR
R8
BAR
R9
SYM
R10
SYM
R11
SYM
R12
HID
R13
HID
R14
HID
R15
TOW
R16
TOW
R17
SMP
R18
SMP
R19
BEN
R20
BEN
R21
BEN
R22
SAN
R23

12
BAT
R24

6
SUR
R25
SUR
R26
ADE
R27
ADE
R28
32nd 342

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year Team Car Co-driver Position Laps
2021 Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S550 Australia Jack Le Brocq 15th 161
2022 Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S550 Australia Thomas Randle DNF 0
2023 Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 Australia James Courtney 6th 161

References

  1. "Zak Best". Supercars. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  2. Pavey, James (9 July 2022). "Best edges Everingham in thrilling qualifying". Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  3. "Benalla's Zak Best shines at Winton". Triple M. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  4. Williams, Bruce (29 May 2019). "Best looking to Super2 in 2020". Auto Action. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  5. Herrero, Daniel (17 January 2020). "Best moves up to Super2 with MW Motorsport". Speedcafe. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  6. Williams, Bruce (14 December 2020). "Tickford Recruit Best". Auto Action. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  7. Chapman, Simon (13 December 2021). "Best satisfied with Bathurst 1000 debut". Speedcafe. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  8. McCarthy, Dan (15 February 2022). "Best re-signs with Tickford". Auto Action. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  9. Pavey, James (13 February 2023). "Best reveals 2023 Super2 plans". Supercars. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  10. Jackson, Ed (22 April 2022). "Rookie gets wildcard run in Supercars". 7 News. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  11. McCarthy, Dan (19 June 2022). "Best critical of rear of grid driving". Auto Action. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
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