Brodie Kostecki wins from pole in Townsville opener

Brodie Kostecki grabbed his first win since joining Dick Johnson Racing and Ford with victory in the opening race of the weekend in Townsville.

Kostecki had qualified on pole for the opening race of the weekend at the wheel of his Mustang in a session where the Triple Eight Chevrolets in particular failed to impress – with points leader Broc Feeney back down in 14th and Will Brown only 20th.

When the sprint race kicked off, Kostecki was in dominant form as he led from the front, despite the fact that Cam Waters kept him honest throughout in the battle for the win.

Waters was able to bring the gap between the pair down after the stops, but the 2023 champion was able to ease clear to take the flag with a victory margin of more than four seconds.

Anton De Pasquale would emerge from the race in third having been able to work his way forwards from fifth on the grid.

De Pasquale jumped ahead of Matt Payne at the start and then overhauled Will Davison with a forceful move to take third – a position he would be able to hold to the finish despite being unable to match the pace of the lead pair.

Payne also got ahead of Davison as he slipped down the order, which was enough to see him move up into second in the points at the wheel of his Grove Racing-run Ford, with the top six being rounded out by Bryce Fullwood and Chaz Mostert as Davison slipped back down to seventh by the finish.

Despite his qualifying woes, Feeney was able to race his way into eighth ahead of Jack Le Broq, with Brown rounding out the top ten.

Only one driver failed to make it to the finish, with Jaxon Evans forced out having clashed early on with team-maestro Macauley Jones.