Brodie Kostecki holds comfortable lead at Bathurst
Kostecki/Todd Hazelwood Ford jumped to lead in second stop cycle
No Safety Cars through 100 laps of 2026 Great Race
The Brodie Kostecki/Todd Hazelwood Ford is in the box seat as the Repco Bathurst 1000 enters the final dash home.
It's been a relentless start to the 2026 Great Race, the opening 100 laps being run without any intervention from the Safety Car.
A strong double stint from Hazelwood has maintained the #17 Ford's ascendancy over the pole sitting #10 Bendix Camaro of Zach Bates and Aaron Seton, Seton doing a sterling job to stay within touching distance against Hazelwood.
The lead Triple Eight Mustang of Will Brown/Scott Pye currently runs third after leading following the opening round of stops, though has drifted slightly away from the lead pair.
Tyres became a big talking point as the race continued on at a furious, uninterrupted pace, several teams struggling with badly blistered rear tyres.
The race of David Reynolds/James Courtney, already hampered by contact with Matt Payne, completely unravelled when Reynolds completed just 14 laps in his second stint before being forced back in with severe blistering.
The second cycle of pit stops began in earnest when Tim Slade brought the #26 Penrite Ford back in on lap 41, remaining in the car for a second stint.
Anton De Pasquale lost a heap of time stuck in behind Jack Le Brocq as they battled for fourth, having lost 15 seconds to leader Brown before Le Brocq pitted on lap 44. Despite slowly extending his margin at the front of the field, Brown wasn't having an entirely smooth run, radioing in a potential cool suit issue.
The pit stop cycle was nearly tipped on its head when Macauley Jones back the #96 Brad Jones Racing Supra into the wall at The Cutting, and was left to do an awkward multi-point turn to get backfacing the right way.
Instead of calling the Safety Car, officials covered the incident under double yellow flag, while Tony D'Albero suffered a rear left shock failure at the same time in an unrelated incident.
Kostecki and Bates reacted to cover any potential Safety Car intervention, while Lochie Dalton found himself stuck behind the limping D'Alberto in the double yellow zone.
The #17 Ford and the #10 Chevrolet were revealed as the race leaders once the second round of stops were complete, Hazelwood was revealed as the race leader once the second round of stops were complete, with Seton in behind.
The 2024 Bathurst winner was superb in the third stint building a margin over Seton, who also turned in another fine performance to keep the #10 in the game.
Seton fell back towards Pye at the end of the third stint, the #888 Ford having fallen back to third after their early short fill, while Payne also made big ground in against the co-drivers.
The order remained Hazelwood, Seton, and Pye after the third stops of the day, with Penrite Racing electing to throw brakes at the #19 Ford, and put Will Davison back in.
However, it proved a catastrophic stop. First, there was a long brake change, before a loose wheel threatened to roll out in pit lane, with a crew member jumping out of the garage to bring it back in. That was a slam dunk drive through penalty, putting the car that won Bathurst last year well back into the midfield just before the halfway mark.
That promoted the #18 DEWALT entry of Lee Holdsworth up into fourth, with Harri Jones continuing to do a really solid job in fifth in the #4 Sherrin Rentals Camaro.
Hazelwood had a complaint about his comfort behind the wheel of the #17 Ford, but wasn't losing any of his margin, while Nick Percat was complaining of more braking issues with the #88 Red Bull Ampol Ford, which he handed back to Broc Feeney on lap 88.
Seton's fine day ended on lap 90, handing over to Bates to the end, while his fellow Matt Stone Racing co-driver Harri Jones handed over to Le Brocq on lap 92. Pye handed his Ford over to Brown for the final run home on lap 97, while Hazelwood's typically professional job was done on lap 99 for Kostecki to run home.
The fourth pit stop cycle was completed on lap 100, Holdsworth handing over the #18 DEWALT entry to De Pasquale for the run home.
With 60 laps to go, Kostecki led Bates, Brown, De Pasquale, Le Brocq, the off sequence trio of Craig Lowndes, Brad Vaughan, and Zak Best, Davison, and Dalton rounding out the top 10.
