Championship blown wide open as Kostecki takes provisional pole
Brodie Kostecki fastest in shock Boost Mobile Qualifying
Will Brown, Cam Waters, Broc Feeney all miss Shootout berths
Brown 13th, Waters 18th, Feeney 20th on the grid for Race 10
The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship has been blown wide open after a dramatic Boost Mobile Qualifying in Taupō, with Brodie Kostecki taking provisional pole.
Kostecki, who finished third in Saturday's second race at the ITM Taupō Super 440, qualified fastest ahead of Cameron Hill and Anton De Pasquale.
Remarkably, the top three drivers in the championship all failed to secure a Top Ten Shootout berth. Will Brown struggled to 12th, Cam Waters made a mistake and qualified 18th, while Broc Feeney failed to progress from Q1.
Kiwis Ryan Wood, Andre Heimgartner and Matt Payne filled positions four through six, with Payne firmly in the box seat to win the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.
"I've been pretty unhappy with the car so far this weekend, and I think everyone is struggling a lot on this new Soft tyre," said Kostecki, who is 142 points behind championship leader Brown.
"It's a real small edge that we're driving the cars to, but pleased to be on provisional pole for the moment, and hopefully we can tune it up a little bit for the Shootout and starting from pole again would be great."
In Q1, Feeney opened proceedings with a 1:26.7841s, before David Reynolds (1:26.7450s), Payne (1:26.69182), De Pasquale (1:26.6802s) and James Golding (1:26.3311s) went faster.
Feeney went around again and clocked a 1:26.5508s, which was still 0.22s down on Golding. After the first runs, Brown and Waters were on the bubble in 17th and 18th, with Kai Allen, Cooper Murray, James Courtney, Wood, Chaz Mostert and Thomas Randle in the drop zone.
Mostert rocketed to the top with a 1:26.1535s, before Wood, Kostecki, Heimgartner and Randle moved ahead. Waters slotted behind Mostert in sixth, before Payne (1:25.7557s) and De Pasquale (1:25.7266s) jumped up.
Feeney remained in pit lane, but ended up 20th and was knocked out. Brown was 18th, avoiding a Q1 elimination by just 0.0042s. Reynolds, Bryce Fullwood, Nick Percat, Courtney and Aaron Cameron joined Feeney in elimination.
The remaining 18 drivers returned with 10 minutes to secure a Shootout berth, with Kostecki and Golding opting for a single run. Brown set off and clocked a 1:26.3677s, which was only good enough for 11th as all drivers bar Kostecki and Golding set their first flying laps.
Wood (1:25.7736s) led the way ahead of Payne, Randle, Allen, De Pasquale, Heimagrtner, Jack Le Brocq, Mostert and Hill, with Waters only 14th and Will Davison 16th.
Wood and Payne opted to watch on as the remaining 16 drivers hit the track. Kostecki laid down a 1:25.6303s to take over top spot, with Brown only eighth with a 1:26.0147s. Hill and De Pasquale both moved up, with Brown dropping out and Waters bowling a wide at Turn 11.
The Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout will commence at 12:50pm NZST/10:50am AEST, with Race 10 to conclude the weekend's action at 3:05pm NZST/1:05pm AEST.
