Reigning Supercars champion Brodie Kostecki’s race for a maiden Bathurst 1000 victory is set to go down to the wire after a full course reset.
Kostecki, combining with co-driver Todd Hazelwood, has held on to the lead from pole position over 130 laps with little challenge at Mount Panorama on Sunday.
But young talent Matt Payne suffered a major blow in lap 132 after running into the wall following a troublesome gear change at The Cutting, resulting in the first safety car of the race after almost five hours.
The contest had been remarkably incident-free before Payne’s accident, with drivers using the full course yellow flag to return to the pits for a quick tune-up.
The grid-wide pit-stop during the safety car turns the remaining 28 laps into a sprint finish, meaning trouble for Kostecki.
The Erebus pair have so far proved uncatchable, at one point boasting a buffer of 18 seconds against Broc Feeney and his co-driver, four-time Bathurst champion Jamie Whincup.
Kostecki, who won a maiden Supercars championship last year, has yet to break through for a Bathurst 1000 win from five previous attempts.
He finished runner-up with then-co-driver David Russell in 2023, having been upstaged by Shane van Gisbergen’s experience and class.
A flying Feeney is proving threatening, having shaved the deficit to four seconds before the safety flag was called.
The 21-year-old will be looking for redemption on the mountain after his last attempt ended in tears, experiencing gearbox issues in lap 137 when he and Whincup were placed second.
Championship leader Will Brown and co-driver Scott Pye were third at the time of the safety car, but had not shown the same speed as their Red Bull teammates.
Kostecki’s Erebus teammate Jack Le Brocq was in fourth, with Cam Waters fifth.
Waters suffered a challenging start to the race, first slipping down into fourth when his wheels spun out, before he suffered a major lock-up on lap 23, which dropped him from third to 10th.
