Dick Johnson Racing has pulled a “Herculean” overnight effort to repair Brode Kostecki’s smashed up Mustang so his car can get back on track for Sunday qualifying in a bid to save his finals hopes.
The DJR crew finished up work on Kostecki’s heavily damaged Ford after 5am on Sunday morning and headed home for a quick freshen up before returning to the track at 7am to start preparing it for race day.
Kostecki’s car was wrecked after a massive qualifying crash, which ruled the former series champion out of Saturday’s first 250km race.
Four photographers shooting behind the concrete barriers were injured and sent to hospital for assessment in the impact.
Sitting ninth in the standings, Kostecki is now in the danger zone for elimination from the finals and needs a win or strong result to keep his championship hopes alive.
“A Herculean effort. A massive night. A crew like no other,” DJR posted on its social media on Sunday morning with a picture of Kostecki’s repaired car.
“The #38 Shell V-Power Mustang is ready to race.”
Kostecki revealed on Saturday night he had “reached out” to those injured in the crash.
“Grateful everyone’s okay after a scary one in qualifying today,” Kostecki wrote on Instagram on Saturday night.
“I’ve reached out to most that were involved – big thanks to my mate Steve Peach from Motorsport Ministries for keeping me up to date.
“Appreciate all the messages – I’m all good! The car took the hit, and the tyre barrier did its job perfectly.”
MOSTERT REVELS IN GOLD COAST WIN
From consoling beers with the punters at Mount Panorama to spraying champagne on the Gold Coast, Ford star Chaz Mostert hailed a return to form at the “right time of the year” to give his finals hopes a major boost with a stunning win on the streets of Surfers Paradise.
Mostert locked in his spot in the second round of the Supercars finals with his victory on a bruising day on the Gold Coast street circuit as the hopes of several title hopefuls came unstuck in the concrete jungle.
On a day of carnage on the Gold Coast, Mostert survived a chaotic race with several safety cars to secure his position in the Supercars semi-finals at Sandown next round in a boost to his quest for a maiden Supercars crown.
The Walkinshaw Andretti United fan favourite claimed his first win at the Gold Coast since 2018 after leading home Triple Eight’s championship leader Broc Feeney and Grove Racing young gun Kai Allen in the first of two 250 km races on Saturday.
Mostert stormed home on fresh rubber after his second pit stop to claim the race lead with 12 laps to go to turn his fortunes around after a heartbreaking Bathurst 1000 when he was left to drink beer with the fans after his race came to an early end with mechanical issues.
The top seven drivers from the Gold Coast progress to the next round of the Supercars finals series, but the winners of the Saturday and Sunday races automatically book a ticket to the semi-finals regardless of their position in the standings.
Mostert was sitting sixth in the championship leading into the finals series, but his win has now catapulted him to third behind Feeney and Bathurst 1000 winner Matt Payne.
Feeney has also guaranteed his spot in the semi-finals after his second-place finish.
It was a day of contrasting fortunes for the WAU crew after Mostert’s teammate Ryan Wood’s race was cruelled by an oil leak after just eight laps after starting on pole.
Mostert, who had not had a win this year since Taupo, said the win had come at the right time after admitting to questioning his form at times throughout the season.
“This definitely makes up for Bathurst, that’s for sure,” Mostert said.
“It has been a bit of an up and down year for us and after you don’t get a result or a win for quite some time, you start to question all those things in your mind. Are you leading the team in the right direction, are you getting the most out of your car?
“I’ve got a young, hot teammate pushing you, nipping at your heels and sometimes out qualifying you and showing you how it’s done.
“So this one is really important for me and at the right time of the year as well.”
A two-time Bathurst 1000 champion, 33-year-old Mostert is still chasing a first Supercars crown.
He has finished third in the championship three times, including last year, but said it was still too early in the finals campaign to start thinking about a breakthrough title win.
“It’s still very early to be talking about that,” Mostert said.
“We had a fast car today and I want to maximise that again (Sunday) and then we got to Sandown and you’re talking about a completely different track surface to what we’ve here this weekend.
“If you can make it to Adelaide, I would probably be confident that we could have a fast car there, but I’m still probably a little bit concerned about Sandown.”
Mostert said WAU’s focus was now on helping Wood, who sits 10th in the standings, recover from his Saturday misfortune to avoid elimination from the finals.
“The focus (on Sunday) will be Woody, 100 per cent for us in the team,” Mostert said.
“He showed amazing speed today and we’ve got to try and get him to Sandown.”
Although happy to have also secured his ticket to the semi-finals, Feeney is now focused on making sure he can head into the next round with a comfortable points gap.
“To know that we’re already through to the next round is awesome,” Feeney said.
“But you want to lead into every round of the finals I think.
“For me coming into this weekend, I had a buffer over into P2 and (I would want it) to be the same coming into Sandown, hopefully we can lead going into there and have a buffer over the rest of the guys. It’s a huge hand, but stoked to be through.
“We need to go back and look (at today). We didn’t just get beaten today, we got smoked … Chaz was in a league of his own today.”
Mostert’s win came as several championship contenders ran into trouble in the opening race of Supercars inaugural finals series.
Dick Johnson Racing star Brodie Kostecki’s finals hopes suffered a major blow after a heavy qualifying crash, which ruled him out of Saturday’s race with the damage to his Mustang too severe to repair in time.
Payne finished 10th after copping a 15-second penalty for an unsafe release in pit lane when he ran into Mostert earlier in the race.
Defending Supercars champion Will Brown recovered from a heavy smash when he ran into the concrete at the beach chicane in the Top 10 Shootout to finish fifth.
Allen hailed his team’s strategy in helping get him onto the podium as he had to save fuel and tyres to get himself home in a monster last stint.
“For me, it was more about trying to salvage a podium,” Allen said.
“To recover to a podium for the team and myself is very special and we’ll get that surfboard out on Sunday night and have a surf I reckon.”
Injured photographer avoids serious injury in Kostecki crash
Sore but with a war story for the ages, injured photographer James Baxter returned to the Gold Coast 500 media centre on Saturday afternoon with a smile on his face.
Baxter was one of the four photographers hospitalised after Brodie Kostecki slammed into the barrier at the first chicane during qualifying earlier in the day.
“I feel sore but everything considered I came out the best of everybody so really grateful for that,” he said.
“It was a bit of a blur, we have the photos though so that’s always good.
“All I remember was he was coming straight at us and when a car’s going that fast you don’t have a lot of time to react.”
Baxter was fortunate to avoid a broken elbow after he felt the full force of Kostecki’s rampaging Ford Mustang.
“I had a puncture wound, so around the size of a 10 cent piece was taken out of my elbow,” he said.
“It was about three centimetres deep so we were worried initially about a broken elbow or a broken arm but we did a bunch of scans and all sorts of things and thankfully that wasn’t the case.
“So very deep, lots of stitches on top and in the middle.”
A seasoned photographer, the Brisbane-based snapper has travelled the globe covering various motorsports events but this was his Supercars debut.
“This is my first time at Gold Coast, that was the corner I specifically wanted to shoot as well so I was grateful I got the shots when I did,” he said.
“I haven’t done the Supercars series but we’ve done the Bathurst 12 hour, we’ve gone overseas as well and done motorsport overseas as well.
“So we’re experienced in terms of being around fast cars and race cars, notably stuff like Spa 24-hour, Nurburgring 24 hour, so not new to it.”
Even after the frightening event, Baxter remained in high spirits as he began his recovery.
“We’ll see how it heals up, I might get the Gold Coast track layout tattooed around it,” he said.
“So I think it’s about time for a beer before the antibiotics and then I’ll rest up for the next three weeks or so.”
“You can’t park there”. Punter’s cheeky jibe after crash
A cheeky punter rubbed salt into the wounds of Cooper Murray after the Erebus Motorsport young gun crashed heavily early in the opening race at the Gold Coast 500.
The spectator was heard on the broadcast yelling out ‘You can’t park that there mate, you can’t park that there’ after Murray smashed into the wall at the beach chicane, prompting the second safety car of the race.
Murray came to grief at the same section of the track where defending Supercars champion Will Brown crashed earlier in the Top 10 shootout.
The Supercars rookie was initially stuck inside his car, struggling to get himself out with his car jammed up against the wall, before his Camaro was cleared away.
Four photographers injured after huge qualifying crash
Brodie Kostecki’s Supercars finals campaign got off to the worst possible start after the 2023 champion suffered a massive crash during qualifying on Saturday.
Kostecki missed out on the top 10 shootout with a 16th placed finish.
The Shell V-Power Racing star’s car was already heavily damaged before makeshift repairs allowed him to return for one final shot at sneaking into the shootout.
The efforts were in vain as the car struggled throughout the final attempt before Kostecki slammed into the wall at the first chicane.
Four photographers required medical attention after the heavy crash, prompting changes to photographer access to that part of the track for the rest of the event.
Kostecki was cleared of any injuries, but Supercars confirmed two photographers sustained ankle injuries, one suffered an elbow injury and a fourth received a head injury.
“All four are alert, talking, very stable and will be transported to hospital for further assessment,” Supercars said in a statement.
“All are in a stable condition.”
Following the incident, Supercars added Motorsport Australia has implemented changes to photographer access in that area of the track for the remainder of the Gold Coast 500.
The serious damage has thrown Kostecki’s chance of competing in both races at the Gold Coast in serious jeopardy, with the DJR pit crew set to face an almighty task to repair the car in time.
Finalists Kai Allen and Thomas Randle also missed out on the top 10 shootout.
Defending champion crashes out of shootout
Defending Supercars champion Will Brown has become the latest casualty of the bruising Gold Coast street circuit after crashing out during the Top 10 Shootout as Kiwi young gun Ryan Wood claimed pole position for the first race of the finals on the Gold Coast.
After his former teammate Brodie Kostecki’s huge qualifying smash, the start of the Triple Eight star’s finals campaign suffered a major blow when he slammed his Camaro at the beach chicane.
The sixth driver out during the Top 10 Shootout, Brown lost control going through the chicane at high speed before ending up in the concrete barrier.
Brown was able to get out of the car on his own and waved to the crowd before his car was transported back to the pits.
Triple Eight faces a big job to get his car fixed before Saturday’s afternoon’s first race of the finals series.
“I got through sector one and I felt like I was on it, I told myself going into the chicane ‘Let’s not screw this up’ and that’s exactly what happened,” Brown told the broadcast after the crash as he walked back to the garages.
“We should just be running some stadium super trucks out there because that’s basically what we are doing through the chicanes, you just straight-line them and hope that you come out. I didn’t come out the other side in that one.
“It’s disappointing but we’ll work hard, we’ve got a fast race car and we’ll work hard and come back this afternoon.
“I’ve got to get through to (those) finals next round.”
Wood claimed the second pole of his career after edging out Broc Feeney to put his Ford Mustang at the front of the grid for the opening 250km race.
After the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver and Feeney, Bathurst 1000 winner Matt Payne, Wood’s teammate Chaz Mostert and James Golding rounded out the top five.
Record shattered in ‘wild’ Gold Coast practice
Records were shattered on the opening practice sessions of the Gold Coast 500 on Friday with the newly laid surface and new spec tires combining to create the fastest laps seen around Surfers Paradise.
With newly laid surfaces at the turn four hairpin and at turn 11, the Gen3 lap record of 1:10.1508 set by Matt Payne last year was shattered in both sessions.
Reigning champion Will Brown laid down the gauntlet in practice 1 with a stellar time of 1:09.266 before Cam Waters shattered the record in the second session with a time of 1:08.573 – more than a second and a half quicker than the previous record set by Matt Payne in 2024.
“It feels pretty cool (to break the record), but no doubt it’s going to be quicker tomorrow so I don’t think it will last long,” Waters said.
“It’s pretty wild out there, it’s super fast, I think the new tire this year has sped things up and the cars just feel faster everywhere.”
It was not all smooth sailing though, as the quicker times made the course all the more challenging for drivers.
Championship contender Brodie Kostecki suffered a minor setback in practice 2 as he hit the tire barrier at turn 12, while Shure Racing’s Bryce Fullwood also had his second session finish early after he made contact with the wall off the exit of the turn 10 chicane which brought out the red flag.
Ryan Wood set the second fastest time of the day, ahead of rookie Kai Allen and said the new surface was a major challenge for him.
“It’s hectic any time you’re here at Gold Coast and now we’ve got more tire grip and everything like, it just ramps up with the new surfacing,” Wood said.
“The way they’ve done the surfacing, it’s obviously not for racing I wouldn’t imagine it’s probably for road life.
“For us it’s like changing in the braking zones and as we turn in, so it’s making the cars quite difficult to drive.
“As a driver it’s super hard to judge but I’m up for the challenge.”
Friday’s practice sessions was Allen’s first taste of racing at the Gold Coast and after a quite first session, showed he meant business with a stellar effort in the second practice.
“It was pretty full-on, pretty sketchy out there, the chicanes caught me by surprise the first few laps but I wouldn’t say I’m comfortable yet I’ve still got a lot to learn overnight,” he said.
“I think that lap there was decent but still I got to put it all together when it comes quali time.”
Originally published as Supercars Gold Coast 500: Chaz Mostert wins and photographers injured amid crashes
