Kostecki puts rivals on notice with dominant Taupō pole

Championship leader Brodie Kostecki has put his Supercars rivals on notice with a crushing run to Boost Mobile Pole for the ITM Taupō Super 440 opener.

The Shell V-Power Racing Team driver needed one flyer in Q1 to claim provisional pole, before repeating the dosage in Q2 to secure a third Taupō pole in his last four attempts.

Kostecki will share the Race 8 front row with Broc Feeney, who denied defending Jason Richards Trophy winner Matt Payne a front row start.

Payne and Will Brown will share the second row, with Ryan Wood and Kai Allen behind in fifth and sixth. Chaz Mostert, Thomas Randle, Andre Heimgartner and James Golding rounded out the top 10.

The biggest scalp of the session was Cam Waters, who will start 13th. Waters enters Saturday just 28 points behind Kostecki.

Q1

Under cool overcast skies, all 24 cars rolled out on the DUNLOP Super Soft tyre for the first time this season. No drivers ran the softer compound on Friday.

Waters was first across the line with a 1:28.1665s, before both Penrite Fords jumped into the 1:27s. Mostert moved to second with a 1:27.5127s, before teammate Wood went fastest of all with a 1:27.3205s.

In a big statement, Kostecki put 0.3s on the field with a 1:26.9923s. Through the first runs, Kostecki, Wood, Allen, Mostert, Payne, Brown, Feeney, Anton De Pasquale, Randle and Jack Le Brocq held the provisional top 10 positions. Waters had dropped to 16th.

All drivers bar Kostecki returned to the track, with DJR rolling the dice. Wood, meanwhile, nearly rolled out with his driver side door open, forcing a quick response from his team.

Waters jumped to sixth, before Payne moved to second. Brown, Allen and Feeney also improved, before Wood and Mostert filled out the top three. Waters tumbled down to 13th and pressed on, only to trip over the final complex and remain 13th. De Pasquale, meanwhile, was only 15th.

Q2

The fastest 10 drivers from Q1 returned for a 12-minute crack at Boost Mobile Pole, with Kostecki in the box seat.

Only Kostecki, Feeney and Randle rolled out as the light went green, leaving Wood, Mostert, Brown, Allen, Payne, Heimgartner and Golding in the lane. Feeney (1:27.5515s) and Randle (1:28.1336s) crossed the line, before Kostecki nailed a 1:26.8966s to put his rivals on notice.

Brown was next to hit the track, and moved to second with a 1:27.3182s. Brown, though, was still 0.4s behind his former teammate.

Kostecki stepped out of his car and watched on as rival after rival were unable to land a blow on the #17 Ford. Wood moved to third with a 1:27.5129s, with Mostert fifth.

Payne closed the margin to Kostecki by 0.26s, before attention turned to Feeney. Feeney clocked the best first sector, but after running line astern through Sector 2, fell 0.13s short of a third pole of the season.

Feeney’s effort came with a wheel off the road at Turn 9, which cost the #88 Red Bull Ampol Ford momentum on the run to the hairpin, and a potential shot at a shock pole.

Saturday’s second Boost Mobile Qualifying session will commence at 10:35am NZST/8:35am AEST.

Race 8 of the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship will begin at 12:20pm NZST/10:20am AEST.