A HARD crash for Thomas Randle caused an early finish to the first race of Supercars’ inaugural Adelaide Grand Final, giving Brodie Kostecki his third win of the 2026 season.
Randle crashed heavily at Turn 8 on lap 20 of 32, the Tickford driver walking away from the car unhurt.
The race was red-flagged in order to repair the concrete wall on the outside of the corner, but with those works unable to be completed before the time-certain finish time, officials called the race complete after lap 22.
That handed Kostecki victory and the $50,000 winner’s prize from finals contender Chaz Mostert and teammate Ryan Wood.
Points leader Broc Feeney finished fourth, with Mostert’s podium reducing his championship margin to 13 points.
Heavy rain that blighted the preceding Porsche Carrera Cup race and canned Super2 qualifying delayed the start, with the race getting underway five minutes late in very wet conditions.
Polesitter Feeney and Mostert banged wheels all the way down to the Senna Chicane, the former eventually prevailing.
Cam Waters was next from a slow-starting Kostecki, with Cooper Murray, Wood, Kai Allen, Anton De Pasquale, Matt Payne and David Reynolds making up the top 10.
Mostert made a dive at the Turn 9 hairpin but ran wide, allowing Feeney to retake the spot.
Will Brown’s disastrous day continued moments later, spinning to the tail of the field at the hairpin following contact with Randle. The incident earnt the Tickford driver a 15-second time penalty.
Kostecki was making up for his getaway by diving past Waters into third in the Staircase on lap 2, but the big mover was his teammate.
Will Davison made up four spots in the first microsector off the start, and was up seven spots to be 17th.
Feeney was the next finalist to fumble, running wide at Turn 4 on lap 3 and allowing Mostert into the lead.
It was only brief, though: Kostecki slid past a few corners later to give three leaders in less than half a lap!
Behind them, Waters had dropped back into the following pack, with Wood now leading the chasing group from Murray and the Tickford pilot.
But it soon ended in tears; Waters tapped Murray into a spin on the exit of the Turn 9 hairpin.
Like his teammate, the incident earnt Waters a 15-second penalty.
A drying line began to emerge within a few laps, and a handful of drivers gambled on early pitstops in the hope of vaulting up the field, including James Courtney, James Golding, Cameron Hill, Reynolds and Jack Le Brocq.
By the 10-lap mark, the leading group had largely begun to spread out following the early madness.
The exceptions were Feeney and Wood, and the title contender submitted early when the Kiwi made a dive at the final corner to take third place.
Meantime, Davison was continuing his epic charge – with 10 laps in the books, he was up to 10th place!
Brown was also amid a strong comeback from his lap-1 tangle, passing Percat for 12th on lap 15.
By the time he caught his lap-1 assailant Randle on lap 19, the rain had started to return.
Second-placed Mostert’s car took off in the wetter conditions, and he started to close quickly in on race leader Kostecki.
In the space of a few laps, he’d brought a three-plus second deficit down to 1.5.
Then, on lap 20, Randle triggered a Safety Car with a hard crash when he aquaplaned into the wall at Turn 8.
The impact eventually led to a red flag period to allow the concrete barrier to be moved back into place, but not before the rest of the field completed their pitstops.
Although several teammates were running close to each other – Mostert/Wood and Allen/Payne the chief ones – double-stacking wasn’t an issue given they were only two-tyre pitstops.
By the time the field formed up behind the Safety Car, the top 10 order read: Kostecki, Mostert, Wood, Feeney, Waters, Allen, Payne, André Heimgartner, De Pasquale, Brown.
However, the Tickford pilot was still yet to serve his 15-second penalty, given his pitstop occurred under Safety Car conditions.
In the end, the damage to the wall proved too much to repair and restart the race before the time-certain finish time, and the race was called with the cars stopped in pitlane after just 22 of 32 laps.
RESULTS: Race 32, 2025 bp Adelaide Grand Final
PosNo.DriverTeamCarMargin138Brodie KosteckiDJRFord22 laps225Chaz MostertWAUFord+1.2985s32Ryan WoodWAUFord+2.0378s488Broc FeeneyTriple EightChevrolet+2.8721s526Kai AllenGroveFord+5.1146s619Matt PayneGroveFord+6.9145s78André HeimgartnerBJRChevrolet+8.8479s818Anton De PasqualeTeam 18Chevrolet+9.8826s91Will BrownTriple EightChevrolet+10.9253s1017Will DavisonDJRFord+12.7544s117James CourtneyBRTFord+13.6063s126Cam WatersTickfordFord+19.2257s1312Jaxon EvansBJRChevrolet+22.9137s14222Nick PercatMSRChevrolet+36.9819s1531James GoldingPremiAirChevrolet+38.1145s1662Jayden OjedaPremiAirChevrolet+50.8984s1796Macauley JonesBJRChevrolet+52.8690s184Cameron HillMSRChevrolet+53.9985s193Aaron CameronBRTFord+54.8743s2020David ReynoldsTeam 18Chevrolet+56.7582s219Jack Le BrocqErebusChevrolet+64.7956s2214Bryce FullwoodBJRChevrolet+66.4317s235Austin CindricTickfordFord+88.1352s2499Cooper MurrayErebusChevrolet+88.8126s2555Thomas RandleTickfordFordDNF
