Benalla’s Zak Best has suffered a difficult initiation to his Supercars career but will take plenty of positives from the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown Event at the weekend.
Best started last in all three races in Darwin in his Supercars wildcard debut, with a small incident in the first qualifier forcing him to try and make his way from the back of the grid for the remainder of the event.
After finishing 21st in each of the first two legs, Best ended the final race with a crash into the turn six wall after clashing with Garry Jacobson, triggering a safety car period.
The damage broke the steering on Best’s Mustang, ending his day, while Jacobson was handed a drive-through penalty for the incident.
“We were just struggling a bit with the guys around us roughing us up a bit,” Best said after the race.
“Obviously they don’t like the new guy coming in the category, but did our best to try and hold our ground and just came off second best.”
Best will return for his second wildcard appearance next month at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia, hoping to improve on his debut showing.
“That was my first Supercars weekend here in Darwin, it was a very positive weekend even though the results don’t show it,” he said.
“I learnt a lot, I was just battling with a few guys in the back, it was good racing even though it was tough and hard, but I learnt a heap about how these guys race and how the tyres wear.
“I have a bit to work on with qualifying, I had a shunt in the first session this morning (Sunday) which knocked us out of both sessions, but we’ll build on it and go again in Tailem Bend, have another crack, and hopefully move further up there.”