Payne leads journey to Townsville Shootout

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 12 July 2025

Matt Payne took provisional pole, but many Ford stars struggled in the search of booking tickets to the Saturday Shootout in Townsville.

Will Brown blew his qualifying blues away, but he was beaten to top honours in Q2 by 0.0378s thanks to Payne’s 1:12.6824.

James Courtney impressed to get BRT as high as third with David Reynolds, Bryce Fullwood, Broc Feeney and both the Erebus Camaros and DJR Mustangs making the top 10.

There were some notable omissions, however, with WAU having a particularly tough session.

Ryan Wood struggled to even get time to record a flying lap and got stuck in last, while Chaz Mostert went off at the Turn 7-8 chicane and will start down in 17^th.

This was still better than Cameron Waters however, with the Tickford driver finding the Turn 3 wall and getting knocked out in Q1.

Under beautiful blue skies, this sets up an intriguing fight for Race 21 pole.

The full field rolled out, but interestingly, both Triple Eight teammates set off on laps, only to five into the lane.

Only Murray joined them by not baking an early lap as many went on with it.

Courtney led the way with a 1:13.5886, which proved 0.1416s too fast for the next best Hill and Cameron.

Kostecki was fourth and tried to push on but found Wood in the way going through the chicanes and lost four tenths.

However, the main focus was getting out of the bottom six, which included the likes of Randle, Wood, Feeney and Murray ahead of the last run.

Triple Eight teammates rose under pressure flying from the bottom to the top of the timesheets.

Feeney led the way with a 1:13.3867, but at the same time, Payne recorded a 1:13.1850.

Murray also made an important leap from last to second, but many drivers were making similar jumps.

Kostecki shot from 21^st to first with a 1:13.1193, while Le Brocq also rocketed from the bottom to the top three.

Hill snuck in by the skin of his teeth, clinging onto 18^th and the final progression spot.

All of this saw Waters slide down the order and due to pitting early he could do nothing as the #6 slid to 21^st.

The Monster Mustang did not have a great session, starting on reused tyres and then hitting the wall at Turn 3 which left the Tickford star “dirty on myself.”

He was not the only sad Mustang story with Ryan Wood clearly having issues with the car being 2.1531s off the pace.

Brown lit the times up instantly on new tyres and soared straight into the 1m12s window.

The lap was so good a “stoked” Brown parked it up for the rest of the session and Jamie Whincup could not hide his smile.

With many others on used tyres, this car was away from the rest in the early laps.

The next best was Reynolds and he was a distant 0.5396s away with Rnadle and Heimgartner completing the top four.

Feeney struggled to stop it on used tyres at the hairpin and could only manage sixth.

But there was still a lot to play out with Kostecki, Payne, Le Brocq, Allen and Cameron staying in the lane and waiting for the death.

Payne was the first to make his move, securing second and reducing Brown’s advantage to two tenths.

The Kiwi then carried on by positing a purple first sector on his following push lap.

He needed to as Courtney and Reynolds knocked him out of the top three.

Payne did not stop pushing and even beat Brown’s benchmark by 0.0378s.

De Pasquale was 12^th and had one last gasp, but fell half a tenth short of the top 10.

He joined the likes of Hill, Cameron, Heimgartner and Randle in the drop zone.

Mostert was crying “we need to understand why” over the radio after an off at Turns 7-8 left him languishing down in 17^th.

With little changes to the top 10 at the death, Courtney, Reynolds, Fullwood, Murray, Le Brocq, Feeney, Kostecki and Davison booked tickets to the Shootout.

Image: DMAC Photography

Qualifying Race 21

Pos Driver Time

1 Matt Payne 1:12.6824

2 Will Brown +0.0378

3 James Courtney +0.2008

4 David Reynolds +0.2340

5 Bryce Fullwood +0.2426

6 Cooper Murray +0.2435

7 Jack Le Brocq +0.2985

8 Broc Feeney +0.3082

9 Brodie Kostecki +0.3543

10 Will Davison +0.3634

11 Anton De Pasquale +0.4236

12 Cameron Hill +0.5090

13 Aaron Cameron +0.5367

14 Andre Heimgartner +0.5476

15 Thomas Randle +0.5647

16 Kai Allen +0.5765

17 Chaz Mostert +0.6871

18 Macauley Jones +0.9263

19 Jaxon Evans +0.9795

20 Nick Percat +0.9841

21 Cameron Waters +1.0274

22 Richie Stanaway +1.1782

23 James Golding +1.3135

24 Ryan Wood +2.5900

2025 Townsville 500

FRIDAY 11th July

Practice 1: 1 Ryan Wood 1:13.6345 2 Broc Feeney +0.0783 3 Anton De Pasquale +0.1872

Practice 2: 1: Thomas Randle 1:13.0460 2: Broc Feeney +0.1079 3: Cameron Waters +0.1547

R20 Qualifying: 1 Brodie Kostecki 1:12.5354 2 Cameron Waters +0.0841 3 Will Davison +0.1913

Race 20: 1 Brodie Kostecki 44:30 2 Cameron Waters +4.3158 3 Anton De Pasquale +10.9205

SATURDAY 12th July

10:00am – 10:30am: Qualifying, Race 21 (Fox only)

12:05pm – 12:40pm: Top Ten Shootout, Race 21 (Fox/Seven)

3:00pm: Race 21 (70 laps/200kms) (Fox/Seven)

SUNDAY 13th July

10:00am – 10:30am: Qualifying, Race 22 (Fox only)

12:05pm – 12:40pm: Top Ten Shootout, Race 22 (Fox/Seven)

3:00pm: Race 22 (70 laps/200kms)(Fox/Seven)

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Payne leads journey to Townsville Shootout

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