Brodie Kostecki charges through carnage to win final Melbourne race

Brodie Kostecki charged through to claim the final Supercars Championship victory of the weekend at Albert Park and the points lead, surviving a major first-lap incident.

Triple Eight driver Will Brown headed the field from pole as the lights went out ahead of rival Ford driver Thomas Randle.

And action kicked off before the field reached the first corner as Kai Allen and Ryan Wood made contact, sending both cars briefly into the air and back on track with damaged suspensions.

This further escalated as the field reached Turn 1, with Allen tapping then points leader Broc Feeney into a spin. Feeney was then collected by Cooper Murray at high speed, resulting in terminal damage for both as several other cars were caught in the chaos as well.

The incident brought out the safety car for four laps.

As the field was released, Dick Johnson Racing driver Kostecki soon made his way past Aaron Cameron for third place.

Lap seven saw the Ford Mustang driver passing Randle for second place at the penultimate corner of the lap, now setting his sights on leading driver Brown.

Matthew Payne was another driver on the move after the restart, passing Randle for third on lap eight. But the joy was short lived as the Grove Racing driver suffered a puncture and had to pit.

Kostecki quickly closed in on Brown in the fight for the lead and piled the pressure on his Ford rival. Brown braked too late while defending on lap 12/14, an opportunity Kostecki grabbed with both hands.

Kostecki won the race by close to two seconds over Brown as Randle rounded out the podium.

Jack Le Brocq was the top Chevrolet driver for Matt Stone Racing in fourth place, while James Golding and Cameron Waters rounded off the top six.

Kostecki heads the drivers’ standings on 485 points, 28 more than Waters in second place, while Feeney has dropped to third on 442 points.

The next Supercars Championship race takes place at Taupō International Motorsport Park on April 9-12.