Kostecki storms to a hat-trick of Bathurst poles
Brodie Kostecki has joined the likes of Peter Brock and Allan Moffat by taking a third straight Bathurst 1000 pole after another special Shootout performance.
Having made headlines in Friday Qualifying, Kostecki again rose to the occasion to stop the clocks with a storming 2:04.0413.
The DJR star had a massive tenth up his sleeve on the rest of the field with Cameron Waters securing another front row start.
It is an all WAU front row with Broc Feeney the leading Camaro in fifth.
Under perfect blue skies, the Shootout was far from easy with Hell Corner and Skyline hot spots in the biggest one-lap dash of the year.
P7 Thomas Randle 2:04.7354 +0.6941
In his first Great Race Shootout he did not enjoy his best start, having a little slide coming out of Hell Corner.
However, this did not deter him from posting a respectable first sector time.
He even got air over the Esses and used all of the road coming out of the Elbow.
Kept it clean to register a solid 2m04s time and put up a high benchmark.
“I had a little slide off one but hard being the pioneer having to guess the track conditions. Would have bene nice to get a few extra tenths,” Randle said.
P10 Nick Percat 2:05.7354 +1.3879
In his fifth and final shot at a Bathurst Shootout, Percat had a crack.
Made the same mistake as Randle at Hell Corner and was a tenth down at the first split.
Nailed the second sector, but struggled to get it stopped going into Murrays with a big lock up and lost six tenths as a result.
“Didn’t have the right grip I wanted the while lap,” Percat said.
“I thought of its my last one it has to be nice and too late, but all good.
“It was messy and ill be annoyed with myself for the rest of my life.”
P8 Cameron Hill 2:04.8845 +0.8432
Hill enjoyed the spotlight of a Great Race Shootout for the first time and hoped to replicate his Bend heroics.
Elected to use a roaded front tyre and was the first to enjoy a clean exit out of the first turn.
He more or less matched Randle’s first sector and hugged the wall coming into The Dipper, which made a difference as he went purple.
Kept it clean and ended up a tenth short of Randle.
“I was giving it a crack, but needed a bit more,” Hill said.
“It was tidy and just tried to enjoy myself.”
P2 Cameron Waters 2:04.2173 +0.1760
Waters was determined to get his third Bathurst 1000 pole and despite a small lock up, perfected Hell Corner.
A clean run up the mountain helped him edge Randle at the first sector.
However, the Monster Mustang flew across the top to pull four tenths alone and the momentum carried on all the way to the finish.
Waters not only knocked Randle off the top, but also smashed him by half a second and gave himself a well-deserved fist pump across the line.
“Trying to get my breath back, don’t think I took one the whole lap,” Waters said.
“I had bit dip over the top after losing a bit in Turns 1 and 2, so pretty happy.”
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P3 Chaz Mostert 2:04.3582 +0.3169
Mostert enjoyed a great start and had a tenth up his sleeve as early as the first sector.
Used both entry and exit kerbs at McPhillamy and pushed the boundaries coming out of the Elbow and lost a small amount of time.
Found some grass coming out of Murray’s and ended up a tenth adrift of Waters.
“I was pretty happy, but that big Monster has more dog than me,” Mostert said.
“I left nothing across the top and it was a lot of fun. Still proud of it.”
P6 Cooper Murray 2:04.6004 +0.5591
In his very first attempt Murray had booked himself a ticket to the Shootout.
Took third gear through Griffin’s Bend and flowed through the first sector and used all of the road under the tree to find some time.
Sent it into the Esses with a small brake lock and lost four tenths over the top.
Managed to wrestle back a tenth across the final sector.
“It is just a pleasure to be here doing my first Bathurst top 10 Shootout,” Murray said.
P9 Anton De Pasquale 2:04.9111 +0.8698
De Pasquale battled for grip throughout, lost the rear slightly coming out of Hell Corner and caught the grass.
Some understeer also arrived at Griffin’s Bend and even had a small wobble under the tree, setting the slowest first sector at the time.
Ran very wide coming out of Forrest’s Elbow and ended up six tenths off the pace, just edging Percat.
“It did not turn at all somehow so we missed a trick somewhere,” de Pasquale said.
P4 Ryan Wood 2:04.4426 +0.4013
Fast, fearless Kiwi pushed the limits through the first sector and it was worth it, going a tenth faster of everyone else.
Left no margin at the grate, but found some grass at McPhillamy and bounced over the Esses where he lost some time.
Ended up falling 0.084s short of Mostert.
“Not a bad lap and was just pretty excited to be out there,” Wood said.
“Tried to do my own Murph!”
P5 Broc Feeney 2:04.5940 +0.5527
The king of qualifying in 2025 was chasing a sixth straight pole on the biggest stage.
Had two big moments going through Hell Corner while he used a lot of the apron coming out of Griffin’s.
Despite this he was still only 0.042s off at the first split and used every available millimetre at Sulman Park.
He surfed his way through the Esses and somehow gathered it up, maxed out.
This wild moment saw him lose two tenths, and it proved to be the difference, dropping 0.376s short of Waters.
“Pretty disappointed with that, but we are in the mix,” he said.
P1 Brodie Kostecki 2:04.0413
Kostecki was chasing a rare hat-trick of Bathurst poles and nailed it.
Got off to a solid start to the lap and smashed the first sector out of the park.
He already had a tenth up his sleeve and found some grass coming out of McPhillamy and Skyline to the cheers of the crowd.
However, he was fully committed and maintained his advantage over the top and hit his marks in the final two heavy braking zones to do it yet again.
“Pretty special moment to be tied with people I have really looked up to. Thanks to everyone at Shell V-Power Racing. We will see if its good down the straights,” Kostecki said.
Its now time for Bathurst Day.
Image: Peter Norton
2025 Bathurst 1000 schedule
Thursday, October 9
PRACTICE 1 1: R. Wood/J. Ojeda 2:05.1029 2: A. De Pasquale/H. Jones +0.4236 3: K. Allen/D. Wood +0.8132
PRACTICE 2 1: Scott Pye/W. Brown 2:06.8395 2: David Russell/J. Golding +0.1461 3: Tony D’Alberto/W. Davison +0.6345
Friday, October 10
PRACTICE 3 1: B.Feeney/J.Whincup 2:04.9763 2: R.Wood/J.Ojeda +0.0341 3: W.Brown/S.Pye +0.0784
QUALIFYING 1 Brodie Kostecki 2:04.0307 2 Broc Feeney +0.0064 3 Ryan Wood +0.0560
Saturday, October 11
PRACTICE 5 1: Scott Pye 2:05.6647 2: Jamie Whincup +0.0442 3: Mark Winterbottom +0.3516
TOP TEN SHOOTOUT 5:05 PM – 5:50 PM
Bathurst Day, October 12
WARM UP 8:30 AM – 8:50 AM
THE GREAT RACE 11:45 AM (161 laps)
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