Matt Stone Racing has wrapped up a busy Sandown 500 weekend, with the jam-packed event format delivering two 250-kilometre races across Saturday and Sunday, with teams tackling both the Soft and Super Soft tyre compounds. It was also a big weekend off the track for MSR, with the announcement that Zach Bates and Bendix Racing have both committed to multi-year agreements with the team, while Jack Le Brocq will also continue to steer the No.4 Sherrin Rentals Camaro next season.
Unlocking qualifying speed proved tricky for JLB and the No.4 Camaro in both qualifying sessions, missing out on a place in the Top Ten Shootout on Saturday and Sunday by a handful of positions. With Sandown’s tight layout often producing close and hard-fought racing throughout the midfield, Jack held his own impressively across both 250-kilometre races, bringing home a P16 and P11 respectively. A special mention must go to the MSR Tyrepower Pit Crew, who worked efficiently to repair damage sustained by the No.4 in Race 34, getting Jack back out on track in impressive time and allowing him to continue fighting to the finish.
Jack Le Brocq, No.4 Sherrin Rentals Camaro: “We had some decent pace across the weekend and were pretty close to making the Shootout on both days, so there’s definitely some positives to take away. The racing was pretty tight out there, as you’d expect at Sandown, but the boys did a great job getting the car repaired after Saturday’s race and giving us another crack to fight our way through the pack. A big thanks to everyone in the garage for their efforts.”
Zach Bates and the No.10 Bendix Racing Camaro once again demonstrated that they are a serious threat when it comes to one-lap pace. Zach narrowly missed out on Saturday’s Top Ten Shootout by less than one-thousandth of a second, before comfortably securing his place in Sunday’s Shootout and qualifying an impressive P5 for Race 34, putting him on the 3rd row of the starting grid. Carrying that speed into the races, Zach delivered two clean performances to secure finishes of P10 and P12, adding another pair of solid results to his growing Supercars resume. With a Bathurst podium already under his belt and a newly secured multi-year contract extension, the rookie continues to build momentum as he approaches the pointy end of his first full-time Supercars season.
Zach Bates, No.10 Bendix Racing Camaro: “It’s been another positive weekend and great to have some good speed in the car, particularly over one lap. Missing the Shootout by such a small margin on Saturday was tough, but we bounced back well on Sunday and had a really good qualifying session. Both races were pretty clean, and we came away with some solid results. There’s plenty to be happy with, and I’m looking forward to carrying that momentum into the final rounds. The response to myself and Bendix’s contract extension was mind-blowing, and it’s awesome to have that level of support behind us and the team as we look towards Adelaide and 2027.”
Matt Stone, Team Owner, Matt Stone Racing: “Overall, it was a clean and solid weekend for the team. Both cars showed some solid speed across qualifying, and it’s great to see Zach continuing to build on what has already been a really impressive first full-time season. A massive thank you to everyone in the team for their efforts across the weekend, particularly the crew who worked hard to get the No.4 back out there after Sunday’s damage. It was also fantastic to see so many of our valued team partners join us for our Ride Day on Monday. Jack and Zach took around 80 of our partners for the ride of their lives around Sandown Raceway in our Gen3 Supercar, which was a great way to round out the weekend and say thank you to our amazing partners network for their continued support.”
From now we look ahead to the Grand Final on the streets of Adelaide in two short weeks time, where Matt Stone Racing hopes to finish out a strong season on a high.
