Payne holds his nerve, De Pasquale falls short

Matt Payne has held his nerve to snap a three-month winless streak, and punch his ticket through to the bp Adelaide Grand Final in the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 finale.

Payne had to contend with lapped cars and a flying Anton De Pasquale in the dying laps, with the Chevrolet spearhead falling just seven tenths short of a last gasp win and you're in scenario.

De Pasquale's pain was Chaz Mostert's gain, the reigning champion handing Toyota a fairytale Grand Final appearance in the Japanese giant's maiden season, with Broc Feeney and Saturday winner Brodie Kostecki also in the final four. De Pasquale, Cam Waters and Will Brown were eliminated.

Payne held on to top spot from pole, getting an even launch with De Pasquale off the front row, and maintaining his position at the head of the field through the opening stint.

Further back in the field, Brown's recovery mission from 19th began, and he had gained three positions by the end of the first lap, while Waters dropped from 18th to 19th, and struggled to make up ground.

Kostecki, already locked into the Grand Final, was taken out of contention early when he was slapped with a drive through penalty after turning his engine off as he rolled into his grid box, breaching start procedure regulations.

Kostecki wasn't the only one in trouble, Zach Bates picking up a bad sportsmanship flag after escorting Thomas Randle onto the back straight grass in a heated early battle.

In an uneventful first stint, De Pasquale was the first to pit on lap 26, though Payne had built up a three second buffer, and could easily cover off the #18 Cub Cadet Camaro, while Cooper Murray also maintained position in third.

Waters encountered an unusual issue when his rear view mirror came loose, leaving the Tickford star no choice but to grab it off its one remaining mount and calmly hand it back to his crew at the first stop on lap 32.

Mostert and Brown also ran long in their first stints, pitting on laps 33 and 34 respectively, with Walkinshaw TWG Racing short filling Mostert's #1 Mobil 1 Optus Toyota.

Mostert then put on a charge, passing James Golding, teammate Ryan Wood, and Andre Heimgartner in short order, before Golding was spun by Jack Le Brocq on lap 42 at Turn 12.

De Pasquale's pursuit of Payne was stymied by Randle on cold tyres, the Tickford Mustang squeezing De Pasquale against the inside of the back straight, and picking up a bad sportsmanship flag for his efforts.

Payne made his last stop as De Pasquale was held up on lap 52, with the Team 18 Camaro, Murray, and Feeney all stopping at the same time. Mostert made his last stop on lap 53 after a short middle stint, and was in no mood to hang around as he fired past Randle on lap 61.

That move provisionally put Mostert back inside the the cut line for Adelaide, with De Pasquale needing a win to bump himself in.

His margin slashed to 1.5s before stretching back out again, however with five laps to go Payne caught the lapped cars of Aaron Cameron, Jobe Stewart, Jarrod Hughes, and Rylan Gray.

De Pasquale closed to within a second with three laps remaining, and Payne had a little scare after running wide at Turn 9, but the Kiwi held his nerve to best De Pasquale by seven tenths.

Murray claimed a well deserved maiden podium in just his fourth start for PremiAir, while top fives for Feeney and Mostert punched their tickets to Adelaide.

Brown was eliminated despite charging through to seventh from 19th on the grid, while a frustrating Sunday saw Waters only manage 15th, and fall out of title equations.

Tickets are on sale for the bp Adelaide Grand Final on November 26-29.