Zak Best (born 11 October 2001) is an Australian racing car driver. He currently competes in the Dunlop Super2 Series in the No. 78

Ford FG X Falcon The Ford Falcon (FG X) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia. Introduced in 2014, it is a restyled second and final iteration of the seventh generation Falcon FG. While external and drive train changes were significant, the inte ...

, with wins, podiums and poles to his name in the

Super2 Series The Dunlop Super2 Series (formerly known as Dunlop Series, Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series, HPDC V8 Supercars Series, Konica Minolta V8 Supercars Series and Konica V8 Supercars/Lites Series) is an Australian touring car racing competition, specifical ...

. He also raced in the

2021 Bathurst 1000 The 2021 Bathurst 1000 (known as the 2021 Repco Bathurst 1000 for commercial reasons) was a motor racing event for Supercars held on the week of 30 November to 5 December 2021. It was held at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wa ...

, finishing in fifteenth.

Career

Early career

Best made his debut in the

V8 Touring Car Series The Super3 Series (formerly the Kumho Tyres Super3 Series, Kumho Tyres Australian V8 Touring Car Series and V8 Touring Car National Series) is an Australian motor racing competition for touring cars. In 2019 it became the official third tier serie ...

(now known as the Super3 Series) in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

, finishing second in the opening round at

Phillip Island Phillip Island ( Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. The island is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explore ...

behind defending champion Jack Smith and ahead of

MW Motorsport MW Motorsport (formerly known as Matthew White Racing) is a motor-racing team that is competing in the Dunlop Super2 Series. The team currently races with Nissan Altimas, with Thomas Maxwell, Angelo Mouzouris, Tyler Everingham and Declan Fr ...

teammate Tyler Everingham. Best would finish the season in second place behind Everingham. Despite hopes to join the

in 2019, Best continued in the Super3 series. Despite winning several races Best was only fourth in

the championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

, which team owner Matthew White blamed on engine issues at the Winton round.

Super2

For

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

, Best moved up to the Super2 Series, still driving for MW Motorsport. 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. Best switched to

Tickford Racing Tickford Racing (formerly known as Prodrive Racing Australia and Ford Performance Racing) is an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Supercars Championship. The team currently campaigns three Ford Mustangs, with their current drive ...

for

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, finishing the championship in second place behind

Broc Feeney Broc Feeney (born 18 October 2002) is an Australian racing driver competing in the Repco Supercars Championship for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He inherited Jamie Whincup's No. 88 Holden ZB Commodore following Whincup's retirement from ful ...

. He remained with Tickford for the 2022 series.

Supercars

Best made his Supercars Championship and

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most rece ...

debut in 2021 driving with his Super2 team Tickford Racing. He partnered regular driver

Jack Le Brocq Jack Le Brocq (born 7 July 1992) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, and drives the No. 34 Holden Commodore ZB for Matt Stone Racing. So far, Le Brocq's career highlights incl ...

in his

Ford Mustang GT The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...

for the

. He was given a late call-up due to

Alexandre Prémat Alexandre Prémat (born 5 November 1982) is a French racing driver. He won the Pirtek Enduro Cup for Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Shane van Gisbergen in 2016. He also won the 2019 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with Scott McLaughlin, ...

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. Best was described by team principal Tim Edwards as being one of the best co-drivers in that year's race. For 2022 Tickford announced that they would enter Best in Supercars rounds at Hidden Valley and The Bend as a wildcard. 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. 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)

Supercars Championship results

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

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Best, Zak Australian racing drivers Living people People from Benalla Supercars Championship drivers 2001 births Racing drivers from Victoria (Australia)