Incidents galore, Golding fastest as rain hits GC500

James Golding emerged top of the time sheets in an incident-packed opening practice session at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.

Blanchard Racing Team Fords went first and third through 25 minutes of practice at Surfers Paradise, which saw plenty of drivers — including a host of Finals contenders — hitting trouble.

Notably, Anton De Pasquale spun at Turn 3, Andre Heimgartner went around at Turn 4, while Ryan Wood, Cam Waters and Cooper Murray all skidded into the Turn 15 barriers.

The session began in wet conditions, with another downpour commencing before the pit exit light went green.

As the field got up to speed in the greasy conditions, it was Chaz Mostert — a Gold Coast winner in 2017, 2018 and 2025 — who lit up the time sheets.

Mostert led the way with a 1:18.7471s after the second flying laps, before returning fire with a 1:18.3168s. Mostert moved the number to a 1:17.8490s, just before De Pasquale came to grief.

Attention turned to the #18 Cub Cadet Camaro facing the wrong way at the exit of the first chicane, forcing drivers to straight line the chicane with double yellow flags waving. De Pasquale kept his car out of the barriers, but given he was unsighted to his rivals, officials had no choice but to throw red flags.

The session resumed with a Mostert/David Reynolds/Brodie Kostecki top three, with Wood — who made a mistake at the final corner prior to the De Pasquale spin — fourth.

After the session resumed, Waters was the next Finals contender to strike trouble, running long at Turn 15 and gently rubbing the barriers. Waters managed to extract his #6 Monster Energy Ford from the barriers, and continued on.

Murray surged to the top with a 1:17.7800s at the 15-minute mark, albeit by 0.07s over Mostert. However, like Waters, Murray slid his #36 PremiAir Chevrolet into the barriers, and returned to the garage with telltale scrapes on the front of his car.

De Pasquale shrugged off his spin with a 1:17.7047s with seven minutes remaining, as the circuit rapidly continued to dry. In response, Payne logged a 1:17.5025s, and pressed on with the fastest Sector 1 and 2 efforts to record a 1:17.4443s.

Mostert, Wood and Cameron Hill created a surprise Toyota top three heading into the final minutes, Mostert quickest on a 1:16.8373s. The Supra of Heimgartner, meanwhile, came unglued into Turn 4, but continued on.

With 90 seconds remaining, Cameron powered to P1 with a 1:16.5639s, with Will Brown third on a 1:16.8847s. Reynolds and Mostert slashed Cameron's deficit, before Wood and Golding marched ahead.

At the death, Golding moved the number to a 1:16.0169s, some 0.5s clear of his closest rival.

Wood, Cameron, Reynolds, Mostert, Zach Bates, Broc Feeney, Waters, Brown and Hill rounded out the top 10, with points leader Matt Payne 11th ahead of De Pasquale and Heimgartner. Murray ended up 16th, with his replacement at Erebus Motorsport, Jarrod Hughes, 22nd.

Waters' teammate Thomas Randle returned from an early misfire in 18th, with Kostecki ending up 19th. Kostecki was the lowest placed Finals driver, behind Kai Allen in 17th.

Practice 2 will commence at 1:50pm local time/2:50pm AEDT.