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Payne hits new heights as Kostecki gamble doesn’t pay off

Payne

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 13 July 2025

Matt Payne set the fastest lap of the Townsville 500 so far to top Race 22 Qualifying, where making the Shootout was the focus.

Payne’s 1:12.5262 was a comfortable 0.1598s clear of Will Davison and Thomas Randle, while the Triple Eight teammates were the only Camaros in the top eight.

Both WAU Mustangs, plus Kai Allen, Anton De Pasquale and Cam Waters also secured tickets to the Top 10 Shootout.

A gamble to save a set of tyres and watch the end of Q2 from the garage did not quite pay off for Brodie Kostecki.

He was happy enough to stay in the lane from fourth, but just got squeezed out by later runners and had to settle for 11th.

Q1

There was a surprise at the top of the timesheets after the opening runs.

Jaxon Evans shot to the top posting a 1:13.7469 until he was pipped by Courtney by 0.0322s.

Kostecki pushed on and eclipsed Courtney by a tenth, while Mostert was the slowest.

The likes of Feeney, Brown, Murray and Hill all watched the opening minutes from the lane and waited until the death when everyone hit the track to avoid missing the cut.

Under pressure, Feeney delivered, going from last to first with a rapid 1:13.0624.

This brought the session into a new dimension with Mostert, Waters, Randle, Payne and Murray all coming within a tenth.

Payne ended up going on with it and finding enough time to post a 1:12.7883.

But more eyes were on the bottom of the leaderboard to see who made it.

Reynolds and Golding were in the drop zone but made important late leaps.

These changes sank Brown to as low as 20th, but he did enough on his late lap to surge to ninth.

Fullwood gave his team plenty of headaches, rising from 19th to 18th to sneak into Q2 by 0.0035s.

This left Le Brocq, Cameron, Evans, Heimgartner, Percat and Jones eliminated.

Q2

Everyone, aside from Payne, Murray and Stanaway put the foot down straight away.

Randle led the charge by posting an early benchmark of 1:12.7588, a tenth and a half clear of Brown and Waters.

As the #1 went into the lane, the Monster Mustang stayed out to make it a Tickford one-two.

Feeney could only manage 10th and left himself on the bubble ahead of the final run, while Mostert was a second off the pace in 15th.

After everyone laid their tyres in the sun, they got the chance to put them on ahead of the final run home.

Everyone hit the track except for Kostecki, who ran the risk of staying out despite sitting fourth.

It proved to be a disaster as the DJR driver watched his name get nudged out.

Improvements by the likes of Davison, Allen, Brown, Mostert and Waters all pushed the #17 to the bubble.

The final blow was made by Wood as his lap to secure sixth knocked Kostecki out and he was forced to start 11th.

He was denied by Waters by half a tenth, while Saturday pole man Reynolds had to settle for 13th.

Feeney also needed to improve and jumped as high as second before both Davison and Randle found more speed.

But the class driver was Payne as he nailed a 1:12.5262 to be well clear of the rest.

This sets the scene for the Top 10 Shootout at 12.05 AEST.

Image: DMAC Photography

Qualifying Race 22

Pos Driver Time

1 Matt Payne 1:12.5262

2 Will Davison +0.1598

3 Thomas Randle +0.2326

4 Broc Feeney +0.2548

5 Will Brown +0.2734

6 Ryan Wood +0.2736

7 Chaz Mostert +0.2783

8 Kai Allen +0.3052

9 Anton De Pasquale +0.3303

10 Cameron Waters +0.3782

11 Brodie Kostecki +0.4079

12 Cameron Hill +0.4518

13 David Reynolds +0.4838

14 James Golding +0.4935

15 Cooper Murray +0.5647

16 Bryce Fullwood +0.5814

17 Richie Stanaway +0.6328

18 James Courtney +0.6343

19 Aaron Cameron +0.9516

20 Jaxon Evans +0.9643

21 Andre Heimgartner +0.9943

22 Jack Le Brocq +1.0110

23 Nick Percat +1.1487

24 Macualey Jones +1.2640

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

R21 Qualifying: 1 Matt Payne 1:12.6824 2 Will Brown +0.0378 3 James Courtney +0.2008

Shootout: 1 David Reynolds 2 Matt Payne +0.1059 3 Broc Feeney +0.1136

Race 21:1 Broc Feeney 1:37:14.6669 2 Chaz Mostert +6.4296 3 Matt Payne +8.1222

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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