This performance was simply the Best.
Benalla’s star Supercars export Zak Best has announced himself on the big stage, after he claimed pole position for the opening race of the Supercars OTR SuperSprint in Tailem Bend at the weekend.
Racing as a wildcard entry, the Tickford Racing speedster edged out reigning champion and series leader Shane Van Gisbergen to pole for race 21 by an astonishing 0.02 seconds.
Best debuted at the 2021 Bathurst 1000 as a co-driver and competed at The Bend in just his second SuperCars event as a solo driver.
“I wasn’t expecting this, I don't really know what to say. We did the best we could,” Best said after the race.
“Had a big go into turn one, we were losing a bit to Cam (Waters).
“Had a look, pieced it all together finally and it was good enough for pole.”
Best’s Tickford teammate Cam Waters started third behind Best and van Gisbergen, alongside Chaz Mostert.
The top four were separated by just 0.19 seconds.
The Benalla young gun was unable to back up his early heroics over the weekend, but nevertheless secured P5 in race 21 after leading the opening 10 laps.
Best then got over the line in 16th in race 22, navigating several crashes in Sunday afternoon’s sprint.
He was forced to retire early in race 23 after a wiper failure in wet conditions at The Bend.
Eventual SuperSprint winner van Gisbergen praised Best’s weekend, labelling him ‘the star of the day’ after his pole on Saturday.
Tickford boss Tim Edwards was also full of praise for the young gun.
“Supercars is what he’s dreamed of his career being as an individual,” Edwards told Speedcafe.com.
“That’s exactly what he needed to do (on Saturday) and I think he did himself proud in the race.
“He was racing the legends of the sport, the best drivers in this country and he was doing himself proud.
“He wasn’t doing anything stupid, running off the track; he just drove as though he had been racing with them for the last 10 years.”
There was no shortage of big moments for the Best family over the weekend, with Zak’s sister, Ellexandra, getting behind the wheel for another SuperUtes stint at The Bend.
Treena Best, the mother of the two young speedsters, said she and husband Darren had to make a mad dash from celebrating with Zak after he made pole.
The two raced to Ellexandra’s garage to watch their daughter compete immediately after, where she secured ninth in her first race.
Treena said Zak’s pole had been a special moment for the family, on a weekend filled with action.
“It was a magical moment,” she said.
“His expectation was to aim for the top 15, Darren and I said to each other we reckon he might get top 10, then in practise when he popped up at the top of the times, it was just a huge moment.”
Ellexandra had a big day behind the wheel to round out the weekend of racing for the Best’s.
The 23-year-old picked up 11th in race two and 12th in race four, and was performing well in the third race which had to be declared after five laps due to curve damage on the track.