Bathurst Hour 5: Wood powers on as De Pasquale and Kostecki hit trouble
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 12 October 2025
As Ryan Wood continues to lead the 2025 Bathurst 1000, the fortunes of Brodie Kostecki continue to slide.
After a clash with Kai Allen, drive-through penalty and now an off at the Chase, the pole-sitting DJR Mustang is now stuck in the garage and out of contention.
However, for Ford fans Wood is still in complete control of the race for WAU, enjoying a 10s advantage over James Golding and Broc Feeney.
Another big-name victim was Anton De Pasquale, who crashed into the concrete in the Esses, leaving his Finals hopes on a cliff.
With 100 laps knocked off, it became a battle of survival in the rain as drivers aimed to buy tickets to the finish.
Following his co-driver’s work, Wood consolidated the #2 Mustang’s lead to 10s over Cameron.
Stewart had fought hard in third and kept a charging Golding and Feeney at bay.
Unfortunately for Team 18, De Pasquale became the latest victim.
He could not stop himself from skating into the outside wall of The Esses.
While he was able to make it back to the pits, the left-hand side wheel assembly was significantly damaged from the hefty whack and he was out of action.
By Lap 107 Golding finally caught the gutsy Stewart and quickly turned his attention to Cameron.
Two laps later, he stole second from the BRT driver with a dive at Forrest’s Elbow.
At the same moment, the Safety Car almost returned when Bates found the sand at Murray’s.
But the Triple Eight youngster used his rallying heritage to somehow reverse himself out of trouble despite making the same mistake a lap later.
He was not the only one as the race took another turn for the worse for Kostecki, who flew off at The Chase and suffered more front-end damage as a result.
By Lap 113, DJR brought the #38 into the garage for repairs.
Many others from Evans and Seton also bowled wides at the section of track.
Erebus made the call to bring Stewart’s mighty stint to an end after holding down fourth against the main drivers.
Feeney found some speed towards the end of the stint and rose to third ahead of Cameron before the BRT driver boxed.
PremiAir kept Golding out until Lap 115, and this ensured he could rejoin 20s ahead of Cameron.
Cameron found himself battling Randle and was presented the position on a platter by being the latest to go off at The Chase.
Brown pitted towards the end of the hour and rejoined ahead of them, but locked up and speared off at Hell Corner.
It was a costly mistake as it allowed Cameron to jump him for seventh.
This kicked off the penultimate round of stops for the leaders as Wood and Feeney followed each other into the lane on Lap 122.
WAU changed tyres and retained the Kiwi’s 13s advantage as the Triple Eight driver emerged slightly ahead of Golding.
But the PremiAir driver had more momentum on warmer tyres and stole second from the #88.
Grove Racing rolled the dice and elected to keep both Payne and Allen on the same used set of wets, ensuring they rejoined in fourth and seventh, respectively.
With only one more stop remaining, this crazy Great Race is nearing a thrilling conclusion.
One driver who did not want to watch the drama unfold was Percat, who went home with his Finals dreams in the dust.
Bathurst Hour 5 leaderboard
Bathurst Hour #1
Bathurst Hour #2
Bathurst Hour #3 report
Bathurst Hour #4 report
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