How 2025 Finals battle is set up for Bathurst 1000

After 26 races at nine events, the race to qualify for the Repco Supercars Finals Series all comes down to the sport's biggest event, the Repco Bathurst 1000.

Four spots are up for grabs to fill out the 10-man roster of Finals Drivers, with a maximum of 300 points on offer in the final race of the 'regular season.'

There are seven genuine contenders to claim the final spots, with five of them putting their best foot forward in this afternoon's Top Ten Shootout. For the other two, there is a literal and metaphorical mountain to climb.

When the Finals Series begins with the Elimination Final at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 from October 24-26, four of these drivers will be gunning for a championship, while the other three will be left to fight for best of the rest.

Supercars.com analyses the key Finals contenders, and look at what they need to do at the Mountain to punch their Golden Ticket.

On track

Everything is progressing smoothly entering race day for the Finals bids of Anton De Pasquale, Ryan Wood, and Thomas Randle. De Pasquale's Finals hopes looked like they had copped a major blow when co-driver Harri Jones had a heavy crash on Thursday, however fears of lingering performance impacts from have been dispersed, with the #18 Camaro featuring inside the top 10 throughout the weekend. All three drivers start from inside the top 10 tomorrow, with Wood fourth, Randle seventh, and De Pasquale ninth. If they stay there through the day, Finals places will be locked up comfortably. To completely remove any element of luck, De Pasquale must finish in the top 11, Wood the top eight, and Randle the top four.

The duelling teammates

It's looking likely that the 10th and final berth in the Finals will come down to an all-Matt Stone Racing duel. Nick Percat may be retiring at the end of the season, however he has shown that he still has plenty of fight left in him with a late season surge in the enduros. He and fellow South Australian Tim Slade are shaping as a quiet dark horse combination from 10th on the grid. Cameron Hill meanwhile has stated his intentions to end his MSR tenure on a high before joining Toyota-bound Brad Jones Racing next year. Young gun co-driver Cameron McLeod has gained plenty of laps over the weekend in both Supercars and Super2, and in a variety of conditions as well.

At risk

Disastrous Friday qualifying results for Andre Heimgartner and Kai Allen have seen their Finals bids come under serious pressure. Heimgartner was a lowly 19th on a day where Macauley Jones was the shining light for Brad Jones Racing, whilst Allen is mired back in 21st on what has been a tough weekend for Penrite Racing. Forecast rain could be a saviour for Heimgartner, who is one of the best drivers in the field in wet conditions, whilst Allen will be relying on some strategy masterstrokes from Penrite, as well as great race pace.

How does the Finals picture look after Top Ten Shootout?

With the grid now set for tomorrow's 161 lap epic, we have a marker to hand out points. Of course, it goes without saying that absolutely anything can happen over 1000km at Bathurst, especially when you throw weather into the mix as expected. Based upon starting positions, Wood, De Pasquale, and Randle all comfortably make the Finals Series (with Wood jumping De Pasquale into seventh). Allen drops out of the 10, falling two spots to 12th, whilst Heimgartner falls further away to 13th. The battle for the last Finals berth is won by Hill, who provisionally gains three positions, and bests teammate Percat by just 11 points. The difference in the race would be anywhere from one to two positions on track.

Provisional 2025 Finals standings

Based on 2025 Repco Bathurst 1000