Wheel heartbreak denies Payne as Kostecki outlasts Allen

Brodie Kostecki has continued to stamp his authority on the Repco Sprint Cup, claiming his fifth win of the season in Race 11 at the Christchurch Super 440.

The 2024 Bathurst winner was never headed as he dominated the opening 120km sprint of Saturday, however he didn't have it all his own way.

In a role reversal from Friday, it was Kai Allen who heaped the pressure on the #17 in the final stint with a tyre advantage, however Kostecki held his nerve to claim the spoils.

It was mixed emotions for Penrite Racing, however, with Matt Payne missing a podium and potential win following a bungled pit stop.

Off the start Kostecki got a clean start off the front row, which is more than could be said for Matt Payne, who flared up into wheelspin off the outside of the front row.

Teammate Kai Allen roared past off the second row, as did Ryan Wood, who got a blinder off sixth on the grid and surged into third by Turn 1, whilst Broc Feeney bumped his way by Payne at Turn 2 to send the Penrite Ford down to fifth.

An equally poor start was had by Aaron Cameron, who tumbled from third back to eighth in the LIQUI MOLY BLAHST Ford.

There was plenty of action back in the pack as Andre Heimgartner chased Thomas Randle all the way to the inside of the pit straight, before Cameron Hill was on the wrong end of a three-wide crunch at Turn 4 of lap 3.

David Reynolds dived down the inside of Jobe Stewart, with the resulting contact pushing the Erebus entry into Hill's Toyota, breaking his steering.

As the #14 Toyota limped back to the pits, it was soon joined by the sister Brad Jones Racing Supra of Heimgartner, who also had busted steering.

While all that was going on, Payne was beginning to work his way back through the field, and by lap 8 was back up to third, whilst a small error from Kostecki at Turn 2 on lap 9 invited Allen onto his rear bumper.

What followed was strategic standoff, and both of the leaders pitted at the same time at the end of lap 16, with Kostecki making a last-minute call to cover Allen.

Dick Johnson Racing elected to only put two tyres on the #17, but it was a slower stop than an anticipated, however Penrite Racing elected to change all four tyres on Allen, with the slow stop for Kostecki a massive boost for the 20-year-old.

By the end of lap 20, the Penrite Ford was all over the 2023 champion, and rattled on the rear bar at Turn 4, with the roles reversed from Friday.

As Kostecki and Allen resumed their battle, it also allowed Payne to just slowly eek out his gap as he ran an ultra-long first stint, finally making his stop at the end of lap 24.

Payne re-entered just behind the the lead duo, however as soon as went out he was straight back in, his right rear wheel parting company with the car after another botched two tyre stop.

Payne would eventually finish back in 19th, and was left to wonder what could've been as he set the fastest lap of the race after putting on another right rear wheel.

The hairiest moment in pit lane went to James Golding, who clobbered the tyre wall on pit entry and almost found himself centre punched by Macauley Jones as he made his way in for a stop, taking to the grass to avoid the CoolDrive Ford.

The biggest battle on track would be the one for sixth, as Anton De Pasquale fended off a flying Cam Waters, the #18 Camaro having made an early stop for four tyres.

Will Brown also began to close on Ryan Wood for third in the dying laps, however ran out of laps as Kostecki won by just over half a second, with Wood finishing four tenths ahead of Brown.

Broc Feeney claimed fifth behind his teammate, ahead of De Pasquale, Waters, Jayden Ojeda, and Cameron, whilst Zach Bates initially finished 10th, only to be handed a 15 second penalty post-race, promoting Rylan Gray to his first career top 10 finish.

Race 12 of the Repco Supercars Championship begins at 4:10pm NZST/2:10pm AEST.