Kostecki overcomes illness to win AGP opener, Payne takes points lead

Brodie Kostecki has overcome illness, Matt Payne and a mid-race Safety Car to claim his win of the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship at the Melbourne SuperSprint.

Three years after he announced himself with dual victories on the streets of Albert Park, Kostecki controlled Race 4 of the 2026 season from pole position, taking maximum points with the fastest lap of the race.

Bathurst champion Payne and Red Bull Ampol Racing's Broc Feeney filled the podium positions, with Penrite Racing driver Payne taking the championship lead from double Sydney winner Feeney.

The race wasn't without incident, with Kai Allen and Aaron Cameron both spinning at Turn 3 either side of the Safety Car, and Jackson Walls spinning off at Turn 11 to trigger the Safety Car itself.

"I think a champagne shower's gonna make me feel a lot better,” said Kostecki, who claimed Ford's first Supercars win at Albert Park since 2019.

“The team will really enjoy this. Just gonna thank everyone at Shell V-Power Racing. The Shell V-Power Ford Mustang's been on song today.

"Matty was breathing down my neck there towards the end, but stoked with how the weekend started so far.

"I've had better days, but the last time I felt like this, I won a race at the Mountain. It seems to be a bit of a coincidence when I seem to feel a bit unwell, I seem to arrive better."

Kostecki lined up from pole position after his harrowing ordeal in qualifying, with James Golding, Feeney, Payne and Chaz Mostert behind. Kostecki got the jump, while Feeney aggressively cleared Golding on the run to Turn 1.

Behind them, Allen was tipped into a spin at Turn 3, while Anton De Pasquale picked up left rear damage. Around the lap, Payne dropped Golding to fourth, with Mostert making contact with the CoolDrive Ford through Turn 12.

Payne challenged Feeney for second, as Cameron grazed the Turn 8 wall on lap 2. At the end of lap 3, Payne made his move stick on Feeney into the penultimate corner, and set after Kostecki, who had opened up a 1.1s lead.

On lap 6, Walls went around into the Turn 11 gravel trap, triggering the Safety Car. Walls made his own mistake, losing the rear while under attack from Allen. The Safety Car brought Kostecki under control, but kept the field under further control for two more laps, pushing the race towards the time certain cut-off.

Kostecki led Payne to green on lap 10, with the top four dropping Mostert into the clutches of Cam Waters. Into Turn 3, Cameron slid into a spin ahead of Will Brown, and dropped to 23rd.

Kostecki continued to hold Payne at bay, with Feeney sitting back in third. Behind them, Waters monstered the rear of Mostert's Supra, bringing Brown into play.

As the clock ticked over to time certain, Feeney had dropped away from Payne, who still had Kostecki within his sights. Feeney, though, had time in hand over Golding, who in turn had dropped Mostert.

Waters caught back up to Mostert as Kostecki commenced the final lap. An attack on Mostert left Waters vulnerable to attack to Brown, who tripped over the Monster Ford into Turn 5 and let Ryan Wood through.

Kostecki held off Payne to the official tune of 0.4685s, with Feeney 2.9818s from victory. Golding, Mostert, Waters, Wood, Brown, De Pasquale and Cooper Murray rounded out the top 10.

Jayden Ojeda, who started last following his practice crash, charged from 24th to 16th. Allen, meanwhile, charged from last on lap 1 back to 11th.

Supercars action resumes in Melbourne with Race 5 on Friday at 5:30pm local time.