Kostecki dominates, Brown denies Wood in chaotic Taupō opener

Brodie Kostecki has continued to assert his dominance on the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship, cruising to his fourth win of the season in Race 8 at the ITM Taupō Super 440.

The 2024 Bathurst winner had to make his #17 Ford wide at the start of the race, but was largely untroubled from that moment on to claim a crushing 16.1s win as Will Brown and Ryan Wood engaged in an epic late battle for second.

Off the front row Broc Feeney looked to get a slightly better start than Kostecki, but was on the wrong side of Turn 1 to do anything about it, and Kostecki made sure he wouldn't get past.

However, that opened the door to Matt Payne at Turn 3, but Kostecki would also push Payne out wide, which promoted Feeney back to second.

Further back Kai Allen would be beaten from pillar to post, first pushed out wide at Turn 6 on the opening lap by Ryan Wood, before Anton De Pasquale roughed him up at the corner exit, before colliding with him once again exiting Turn 7 a couple of laps later.

The last two hits wounded Allen's steering, and as he attempted to limp back to the pits, he caught up in a gaggle of cars at Turn 11, being turned by Aaron Cameron into the path of an unfortunate Jobe Stewart.

Stewart and Allen both returned to the garage with damage, whilst at the head of the field Feeney stuck with Kostecki at the head of the field, with Payne falling behind Will Brown into fourth as he struggled for pace.

Brown then set about closing the gap to the leaders, and roared into the lead group within five laps of passing Payne, with teammate Feeney powerless to stop his advances at Turn 11 on Lap 9.

Another driver on the march was Cam Waters, who after starting 13th on the grid, had worked his way up to ninth by Lap 10, as his season's trend of strong recovery drives continued.

The first driver to suffer severely with tyre wear on the Super Soft was Thomas Randle, who began to plummet through the order as soon as teammate Waters got by him, whilst Broc Feeney also fell back into the clutches of Payne.

However, Payne would get a free kick on Lap 16, as Feeney's car inexplicably lost power exiting Turn 11, which also allowed Walkinshaw TWG Racing duo Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood by.

Mostert would be the first of the leaders to pit the next time by, gassing up the #1 Toyota as he shot into pit lane, and Feeney followed, having regained power after the brief hiccup.

Brown then attempted an undercut on Kostecki, who had bolted at the head of the field, and elected to use up his strategic flexibility in staying out.

Kostecki waited until the end of Lap 20 to pit, and would rejoin just ahead of the #888 Mustang, who threw everything he could at the Shell V-Power Mustang, but to no avail.

Feeney was also flying on his fresh tyres, and closed back up to the rear of Mostert for effective third as Kostecki controlled his pace at the front of the field.

Payne and Waters' races were compromised by an awkward moment in pit lane as Payne was forced to prop on release from his pit bay, as Waters was approaching the Tickford bay ahead to make his stop. Payne would be pinged five seconds for his part.

Mostert fell away from Kostecki and Brown, and had his 2025 championship rival Feeney all over the rear bar of the Mobil 1 Optus Supra, until Feeney locked up at Turn 12 and fired through the run off.

The battle brought Ryan Wood into the mix for what became a three-car battle for third with nine laps remaining, Wood's Toyota the fastest car on track.

Feeney would get the run once again on Mostert the next time by, and the pair clashed three times down the back straight before Feeney made the move stick at Turn 12.

However, his joy would be short lived as the flying Wood powered by on the back straight one lap later, sending the Kiwi fans into a frenzy.

Waters was also hit with 15 seconds for pit lane speeding, and was sent into a spin with three laps to go as Jayden Ojeda got it all wrong at Turn 11, and cleaned up the Monster Mustang.

With two laps to go, Wood caught Brown, and with a substantial pace advantage applied the blowtorch to the rear of the Red Bull Ampol Mustang.

Twice the Kiwi attempted to launch around the outside of Turn 11, however the 2024 champion was having none of it, and fed the #2 Toyota out wide both times, eventually hanging on for second by 0.4s.

Payne finished fourth on road, but was reclassified fifth behind Feeney with the penalty, with James Golding, Mostert, De Pasquale, Jack Le Brocq, and David Reynolds rounding out the top 10.

The second and final race of the day will begin at 3:30pm NZST/1:30pm AEST.