“Relieved” Kostecki gets breakthrough DJR victory

Brodie Kostecki is officially off the mark as the new face of Dick Johnson Racing, getting a first win in new colours in the 2025 Townsville 500 opener.

Kostecki controlled the first-ever Towsnville Friday race from pole and beat Cameron Waters by 4s as Anton De Pasquale was a distant third.

It was Kostecki’s ninth win, but first as a DJR driver, writing his name into the team’s storied history.

Not only is it a special moment as he is in the famous Ford colours, but it is also very timely given both team and driver have struggled for pace across the last two rounds.

Kostecki already had two poles, seven top fives and one podium in 2025, so he is delighted to go all the way and get the “monkey off his back” with DJR also not tasting the top step since Townsville 2023, 55 races ago.

“That felt awesome,” Kostecki said.

“Had Cam breathing down my neck, so I knew I could not make a mistake.

“To get the monkey off my back is pretty unreal.

“Fortunate to win some cool races, but this feels really special.

“There is relief for the whole team because we have put in a lot of effort.

“I have not had great starts this year, but thanks to Joshy the clutch master, we nailed it.

“It was about time we found some form!”

It was a dead-even start between the leading mustangs of Kostecki and Waters.

But the Tickford driver chose not to run side by side for too long and pulled into the slipstream at the opening corner.

The top three positions remained unchanged, with De Pasquale snatching fourth from Payne with a big dive down the inside, while Feeney immediately gained the four spots required to return to the top 10.

Jaxon Evans was the only victim of a clean first lap with right front wheel damage and he ended up being the only DNF.

Rookie Aaron Cameron was racing hard for 14^th with the reigning champion, but found himself bullied on the fourth trip through the Turn 5-6 flip-flop.

Both BRT Mustangs searched for the same piece of track at the right-hander and they made significant side-to-side contact, which sent Cameron spearing into the grass and he was lucky to carry on without finding the tyres.

It was the third time this year the teammates clashed.

Kostecki was able to skip clear of Waters as the battle for third erupted on Lap 7.

De Pasquale launched a huge divebomb on Davison at the hairpin and used the DJR driver to make it through the corner.

This opened the door for Payne to pounce and demote Davison from third to fifth in one corner.

Wood was the first to stop from 12^th as early as Lap 10 when he took just two tyres.

Many reacted in the following laps, but the leaders held fire until Lap 20 when Davison dived in.

He took four tyres, but lost ground with a slow left-front change, which allowed the undercutting Wood, Stanaway, Courtney, Fullwood and Mostert all get past.

Kostecki built a 3.8s advantage across the first 23 laps over Waters, who aimed to hit back via the undercut.

Both changed all four tyres as DJR blinked a lap later and despite a late rejoin due to Payne, Kostecki maintained his lead.

De Pasquale also held third, but only just ahead of the undercutting Wood, who soon got gobbled up.

The likes of Payne, Fullwood, Mostert and Davison all passed the WAU Kiwi to see the #2 slip from fourth to eighth.

Feeney lost significant ground over the stops cycle as he fell to 12^th, while Brown leapt up to 10^th with a big undercut.

Despite Kostecki having slightly fresher tyres, Waters had the supreme speed and closed the margin.

However, it only got to as low as a second as Kostecki reconsolidated it in the closing laps.

All eyes turned to the Triple Eight teammates, who were fighting hard to regain positions in the top 10.

Brown was leading the charge with Feeney following in his slipstream and the pair caught Le Brocq for eighth.

Brown looked to be challenging Le Brocq, but a mistake coming out of Turn 8 allowed Feeney to sneak by and grow his Sprint Cup lead even further.

The battle was not resolved until the final lap when Feeney muscled his way past for eighth at Turn 2.

These late changes proved crucial as it allowed Payne, who finished fourth, to jump Brown to second in the standings.

The first of the more traditional and family 200km races take centre stage on Saturday afternoon.

Image: DMAC Photography

Results Race 20 Townsville 35 laps

Pos Driver Team Laps Margin

1 Brodie Kostecki DJR 35 44:30.1054 –

2 Cameron Waters Tickford 35 +4.3158 –

3 Anton De Pasquale Team 18 35 +10.9205 +2

4 Matt Payne Grove Racing 35 +12.0790 –

5 Bryce Fullwood BJR 35 +15.9399 +3

6 Chaz Mostert WAU 35 +16.7388 +3

7 Will Davison DJR 35 +17.4721 -4

8 Broc Feeney Triple Eight 35 +23.0118 +6

9 Jack Le Brocq Erebus 35 +23.5399 -3

10 Will Brown Triple Eight 35 +24.0474 +10

11 Andre Heimgartner BJR 35 +25.9640 +4

12 Ryan Wood WAU 35 +26.9640 -2

13 Thomas Randle Tickford 35 +27.4913 -6

14 Cameron Hill MSR 35 +28.5421 +2

15 Kai Allen Grove Racing 35 +28.6166 -4

16 Richie Stanaway PremiAir 35 +35.1196 -4

17 Cooper Murray Erebus 35 +35.3100 +4

18 James Golding PremiAir 35 +39.8550 –

19 Macauley Jones BJR 35 +39.8851 +5

20 David Reynolds Team 18 35 +40.0362 -3

21 James Courtney BRT 35 +41.6637 -2

22 Nick Percat MSR 35 +46.0502 –

23 Aaron Cameron BRT 35 +55.3867 -10

NC Jaxon Evans BRT 4 +31 Laps -1

2025 Townsville 500

FRIDAY 11th July

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