De Pasquale wins Watkins Glen finale, Kostecki claims title

Third was enough for Brodie Kostecki to clinch the All Series title at Watkins Glen, with Anton De Pasquale the victor.

De Pasquale won his first race of the Cash Converters Supercars Eseries season following an early battle with Kostecki.

Kostecki, who entered the race with an 80-point margin over Richie Stanaway, settled for third.

It was enough to guarantee the title win for Kostecki, with Stanaway fourth at race's end.

The drama began from the time lights went out, with Matt McLean stalling on the line.

Jaylyn Robotham and Andre Heimgartner were worst affected, both cars failing to avoid the stricken McLean.

De Pasquale and Kostecki broke away from the chasing pack, with the pole-sitter just 0.3s ahead after seven laps.

Kostecki made a lunge for the lead at Turn 1 on lap 9, but De Pasquale pitted at the end of the lap.

The undercut worked, with De Pasquale regaining the effective lead when Kostecki stopped on the following lap.

Such was the power of the undercut - coupled with a slow stop for Kostecki - that Matthew Payne emerged a net second ahead of Kostecki and Justin Ruggier.

The BP Ultimate Safety Car was deployed on lap 12, just seconds after Chaz Mostert wiped out title contender James Golding at Turn 1.

It came after Golding sent Mostert into the pit straight wall, with the latter reacting in retaliation.

Payne shadowed De Pasquale at the lap 14 restart, and remained less than a second behind.

Ruggier made a lunge on Kostecki - who brushed the wall - for third on lap 17, but the points leader regained the place down the pit straight.

Stanaway cleared Ruggier for fourth and hounded Kostecki, who struggled to hang onto the final spot on the podium after scraping the wall at the restart.

It allowed De Pasquale and Payne to skip away, with the former crossing the line with a winning margin of just 0.686s.

Kostecki was 4.2s back in third ahead of Stanaway, who clinched second in the standings with fourth.

Ruggier was fifth ahead of wildcard Kyle George, Nick Percat, Cameron Waters, Dylan O'Keeffe and Golding, who recovered to 10th and clinched third overall.