Kostecki, Fullwood bitten as Gold Coast claims first victims

Brodie Kostecki and Bryce Fullwood have become the first victims of the 2025 Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, courtesy of a slow-speed error and a wild Beach Chicane crash.

After a relatively tame Practice 1, Brad Jones Racing driver Fullwood struck trouble midway through Practice 2.

Fullwood took too much kerb through the fast back chicane, tripping over at Turn 10 and careening towards the tyre barriers.

The rear of the #14 Shure Chevrolet Camaro slid into the barriers and clouted the wall with the right rear, before wiping the nose across the concrete.

Fullwood was unable to engage gear, and with the Camaro sustaining front and rear damage, he was ruled out on the spot.

"Fortunately there's a nice cushion of tyres there," Fullwood said on the broadcast after returning to pit lane.

"I'm fine, obviously the race car's worse for wear. Certainly not ideal on Friday, but shit happens sometimes."

Turn 4 to Turn 6, as well as Turn 11, have been resurfaced. The practice/qualifying lap record was lowered in Practice 1, before it was smashed again in Practice 2.

"Every year, we get faster and faster and faster. Turn 4 has been resurfaced, so we're even faster there now," Fullwood said.

"If the car's not four wheels off the ground, you're slow here."

After the resumption, Kostecki went on with it, but never looked like making the Turn 12 left-hander.

While it was a relatively gentle hit into the barriers for the #38 Shell V-Power Ford, it was a hiccup regardless, given Kostecki's status as one of the 10 Finals Drivers.

In the earlier session, title rival Broc Feeney clouted the barriers at Turn 13, but continued on.

"Just made a small little error and got caught out by the shade," said Kostecki, who won the Sunday finale.

"Sorry to the boys for some work, but the car's really speedy, I was one a pretty good lap until then."

Fords rounded out the top three, with Cam Waters leading fellow Finals rivals Ryan Wood and Kai Allen by 0.045s and 0.049s respectively. Two-time Gold Coast winner David Reynolds was first Camaro home in fourth, ahead of Chaz Mostert, Matt Payne and Kostecki.

Track action commences Saturday with Boost Mobile Qualifying at 11:00am AEST/12:00pm AEDT, followed by the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout at 12:35pm AEST/1:35pm AEDT.

The first 250km race of the weekend, which will be held on the Super Soft tyre, will start at 3:15pm AEST/4:15pm AEDT.