Historic podium sweep snaps eight-year Ford drought
Brodie Kostecki/Todd Hazelwood led trio of Mustangs at The Bend
Ford sweeps podium in Supercars enduro for first time since 2017
Falcons swept the 2017 Sandown podium, led by Cam Waters/Richie Stanaway
The AirTouch 500 at The Bend was an historic occasion for Ford, with Blue Oval fans celebrating a race of broken droughts.
Brodie Kostecki/Todd Hazelwood combined to win Sunday’s 500km race, with Hazelwood taking the lead from the pole-sitting Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup Chevrolet early.
Kostecki/Hazelwood raced away to victory after an enthralling late battle with Cam Waters, who combined with Mark Winterbottom to finish second. Matt Payne/Garth Tander raced to third for Penrite Racing, which also claimed its first podium as a standalone Grove-owned team on its sixth attempt since 2022.
The 2017 Sandown 500 was Ford’s most recent ‘500’ victory until Sunday, with Holden/Chevrolet undefeated at Sandown between 2018 and 2024.
On that day, Cam Waters/Richie Stanaway defeated Scott McLaughlin/Alex Premat, with Chaz Mostert/James Moffat completing an all-Ford enduro podium, the last of its kind until the events of Sunday.
In Supercars’ PIRTEK Pick the Podium competition, only 4% of fans picked Kostecki/Hazelwood as the winners in their podium submissions.
Fans were more confident in Waters/Winterbottom, which gained 21% of votes as runner-up, with Payne/Tander at 11%. All told, the Feeney/Whincup pairing led the votes, but they only finished 19th after a refuelling issue.
Before The Bend, Ford had also been winless in enduros since the 2019 Bathurst 1000, which was won by McLaughlin/Premat. Having now returned to the top, Ford is determined to stay there in Bathurst after pre-Bend parity changes.
Heading into 2025, General Motors had been undefeated in enduros since the 2019 Gold Coast 600. Between Bathurst 2019 and The Bend 2025, GM had won Bathurst five times, Sandown three times, and twice at Surfers Paradise.
Chevrolets was undefeated in enduros in the Gen3 era, and swept both enduro podiums in 2024. However, come The Bend, and the highest placed Camaro was only fourth, namely Will Brown/Scott Pye.
Fans are encouraged to participate in the PIRTEK Pick the Podium competition to go in the running to win tickets to a Supercars event of their choice, as well as PIRTEK Victory Lane and other event experiences.
The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship resumes at the Repco Bathurst 1000 on October 9-12. Tickets for the Great Race are on sale now.
