Supercars Championship: 2026 Bathurst 1000 Race 30 Report | Kostecki and Hazelwood win in No.17 for Dick Johnson Racing at Mount Panorama
Credit: Shell V Power Racing via Instagram
The Repco Bathurst 1000 is a world-wide famous yearly race track that drives hundreds of exciting fans to rural New South Wales, where a town called Bathurst comes alive.
This week, the mountain has claimed two cars with major damage; Rylan Gray and Ryan Wood each learning the hard way that the mountain is the one that rules what happens in the magical place called Bathurst. Both cars have been repaired and are ready to go for the highly anticipated endurance race.
It's alleged that the Mustang's all endured extensive power loss during the pre-event barometric testing; an estimate loss of 9 kW's were lost due to altitude at Mount Panorama in Ford engines. Supercars approved a change of ESD (Engine Specification Document), which will be reversed before the Gold Coast 500. Toyota Supra's and Chervolet Camaro's remained unchanged
Starting on Pole Position is first-year main-driver, Zach Bates who qualified on Pole Position in the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shoot Out, hitting a quick and pace setting 2:04.206.
Behind the rookie is 2023 Champion Brodie Kostecki, putting the No.17 Dick Johnson Racing Shell V Power Mustang - exciting Ford fans once again.
In the two rows behind, Anton De Pasquale and Cooper Murray pose a serious threat for the front runners.
As it happens
As the field roared ahead, Aaron Seton kept the hard earned pole position his co-driver, and main driver, Zach Bates earned in the No.10 Chevrolet Camaro for Matt Stone Racing.
Just as fans thought it would be a clean first lap at Mount Panorama, two Chevrolet Camaro's made contact - Nash Morris in No.777 and James Moffat in No.34. Moffat's right front tyre looking fairly worse for wear; stewards deciding no further action.
Seton successfully led the first lap of the great race, coming under pressure from the No.17 Shell V Power Racing Mustang driven by Todd Hazelwood.
Lap 2, the exit of the chase had a yellow flag.
Lap 6, the rhythm of the racing comes alive, a few moves made between sister cars at Penrite Racing while the leaders sister car at Matt Stone Racing, the No.4 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Harry Jones starts to come under fire by Kai Allen, Jones keeping his position inside the top ten.
Lap 8, Will Davison in the No.19 Penrite Racing Mustang suggesting there may be issues, however the team confirmed there seems to be no issues within the data, the car is just hot - the Australian Summer is approaching and fast in rural NSW, adding another element to strategies across the paddock.
Lap 10, main drivers at Triple Eight Race Engineering looked to be booted and suited, their Red Bull Ampol Racing Mustang's looking likely to make an early stop.
The Penrite Racing duo's planned a team attack on Jones, each making a great move for position - main driver, Matthew Payne looks to be booted and suited, ready to take over from Davison.
Lap 16, Jobe Stewart in the No.9 Chevrolet Camaro made a move on Andre Heimgartner in the No.8 Toyota Supra, a narrow manoeuvre.
Lap 18, the No.11 -- Mustang is wheeled out of the garage and given another chance to conquer the mountain
Lap 19, rear tyres are replaced for Kai Allen, a driver change taking place for the No.26 Penrite Racing Mustang, Tim Slade taking over the driving duties, while chaos breaks loose for Ryan Wood, the team pictured under the right front tyre arch - no news from commentary at this stage.
Lap 21, its reported that James Courtney endured significant tyre blistering on both rear tyres of the No.48 Chevrolet Camaro; the pit stop featuring a front ride-height adjustment, while disaster almost struck - the right-front-side tyre technician almost left the safety stand under the car. Cameras showed the inner edge of the tyre looking near destroyed, driving style predicted to be too aggressive for this early on in the race.
Lap 25, Seton comes into pit lane, doing a driver change as the No.10 Chevrolet Camaro takes its first stop of the day - Seton doing an incredible job as Bates gets ready to take over - two other teams do a driver change, the No.38 Shell V Power Mustang and the No.19 Penrite Racing Mustang.
Lap 26, a twist occurs - Red Bull Ampol Racing's No.888 makes a jump in pit lane, pit strategy paying off - meaning after all pitstops take place, Will Brown will have the lead.
More chaos irrupts, Payne just missing Jayden Ojeda in an almost catastrophic crash on the front straight - Mark Dutton coming on the Red Bull Ampol Racing radio to effectively suggest all "shut-up" when cars are in the pit-lane as there is far too much noise.
Lap 34, Payne receives a 5-second time penalty for forcinganother driver off the track; the day not yet done; team not worried.
Lap 46, a popular lap to pit for the race leaders as more tyre blistering as Macauley Jones had major contact at The Cutting; an awkward three-point turn being attempted to get back the right way.
The mountain bites back; Gray experiences a left-rear suspension failure; co-driver Tony D'Alberto behind the wheel - no rubber seems to be rubbing on the wheel arch as D'Alberto comes into the lane, the team unsure what exactly has failed.
Lap 48, Nick Percat in the No.88 Red Bull Ampol Mustang looks to be losing pace; struggling with tyre blistering.
Lap 61, more driver changes occurred in the last ten laps, a FireBall Fire Pass showing Chaz Mostert and Mark Winterbottom come very close as they go through The Chase; Fans would say Mostert and the Monster Energy Mustang have always had a magnet effect on one another at Bathurst.
Lap 64, Allen and Slade's No.26 Penrite Racing Mustang made a front end adjustment before Allen swapped over with his co-driver and got on his way.
Up ahead in second position, Seton is under pressure from Scott Pye in the No.888 Red Bull Ampol Racing Mustang - the Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet Camaro very strong in the braking zone.
Jordan Boyce has a very close moment with the old-known Dick Johnson concrete wall, the wall has since been extended since the 1981 Bathurst 1000.
Lap 66, the first brake change of the day begins; Wood's No.2 Toyota Supra giving fans and commentary teams a fright - half of a brake rotor used to rest the heated brake-pads on during the change.
Lap 68, Payne practically pushes Seton into the pit-lane; Seton having a small splitter change in response to alleged vibrations and rejoins without issues, as Payne gets a brake change - the rejoin losing a position to his teammate car.
Lap 76, Payne is dished a drive through penalty due to a pit stop infringement - the day looking to be an interesting mix of podium finishers if mistakes are continuing to be made. The drive through penalty was served the following lap.
Lap 81 marked the halfway point of the Bathurst 1000 - the chaos quietening for now.
Hazelwood is still in the lead, however Lap 85 he suggests on radio that he's very uncomfortable - a potential throttle issue as he complains of his foot feeling on fire; the team unsure of an issue or if he's pinching a nerve. The team instructed he wiggle around in his seat on the straights to see if it is relieved.
Lap 94, Mostert and Reynolds battle it out, Mostert taking a big send down the inside through the chase; eyes no doubt set to Waters in front. Most of the field have taken three to five pit stops each.
Lap 101, Reynold's and Courtney's No.48 Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro had a human error in pit lane; the right rear safety jack was left under the right side of the car again; slowing their pit stop significantly.
Lap 102, Kostecki has been given the low-down on what Brown's stint has been like down in third position. Allen alleges brakes have failed, the pedal hitting the floor; a common issue this season for Penrite Racing.
Lap 104, a FireBall Fire Pass is awarded to a three-way battle between cars No.777, No.3 and No.2 - each battling for position towards the back of the pack as cloud cover gives the track a boost of speed.
Lap 106, Red Bull Ampol Racing are seen bleeding the brakes to reduce any brake issues for car No.88 and give Broc Feeney a solid run as we enter the later stages of the race.
Lap 121 a ferocious battle between Brown and Anton De Pasquale heats up for second - Kostecki with a +19.198 lead up ahead.
Lap 122, Brown heads into the pit lane, popping out behind Bates upon his rejoin. Kostecki has had the opportunity to lap everyone up to position 16 (Slade).
The first car to go off on The Chase is Jackson Walls in the No.11 Mustang, the team experiencing steering failures earlier on.
Lap 125, Kostecki takes what is predicted to be his second last stop - the No.17 Shell V Power Mustang taking dry ice, fuel, tyres, and brake change. He has a +1:12.394 gap to Bates, essentially giving the West Australian a free stop - Allen also in the lane with 37 laps left.
The right front brake change slows the team down as Bates goes through, taking the race lead, placing Kostecki in fifth place.
Lap 128, Allen is still experiencing brake issues; the team suspecting a brake duct had dislodged or failed.
Lap 130, De Pasquale had slight contact at Forrest's Elbow while an angry Kostecki makes an aggressive attempt to regain both the time and positions lost - commentary confirm that the likelihood of a safety car tends to heighten in this half of the race, which has been seen in previous Bathurst 1000's.
Lap 138, Wood makes heavy contact at Reid Park, damaging the left side of his car - he must finish today's race to qualify for the finals.
Lap 139, De Pasquale takes the lead as Bates is in the pit-lane for his final splash and dash to the chequered flag.
Lap 142, Brown leads the field but is yet to stop - the only driver ready to take it to the end is De Pasquale, putting pressure on the teams to adjust their strategies for the final stint of Race 30. Wood's No.2 Toyota Supra is in the garage - the team attempting to bash the wheel off of the hub; it stuck from major contact just laps before.
Bates last set of tyres experienced significant blistering - Lap 143, race leader, Brown heads into pit-lane.
Lap 150, Kostecki takes his last stop, putting him in fourth position, +19.893 behind De Pasquale; the longest ever period for no safety car deployed reached in the history of Bathurst 1000.
De Pasquale looks to already be fuel saving, with just 10 laps remaining - the No.18 Chevrolet Camaro has been asked to fuel save even more so than before, enabling Bates to hit just +7.145 behind the leader.
Nine laps to go, Kostecki hits the fastest lap of the race, creating a lap-record for the newest Gen 3 Supercars spec. The No.17 Shell V Power Mustang hits just one and a half seconds behind Brown, who sits in third position - an angry and determined Kostecki giving it his all.
Lap 155 sees Allen's No.26 Penrite Racing Mustang go off coming to the last turn, having a major brake failure as green flames are seen pushing out the right front tyre.
Kostecki and Brown engage in a very tight battle, Brown heavily defending - the pair side by side at Turn 1 - Motorsport Australia Race Control giving a bad sportsmanship flag to Brown as De Pasquale is told to maximum fuel save.
Five laps to go, on Lap 158, Kostecki gets past Brown in an exhilarating pass - Mostert having heavy front damage on his No.1 Toyota Supra, racing still going green until the leader goes past. The Safety Car now out for the first time today and causing major havoc for teams as the race end has drastically changed.
The field have now bunched up, the safety now back in the lane with three laps to go, Kostecki right on the tail of Bates, making a move and gaining second position - Brown taking third from Bates; blocking the young-gun heavily as Bates and Seton's Father's look on in nerves.
Kostecki has suspected issues with one lap to go - De Pasquale now looking to be out of fuel as Kostecki takes the lead in the 2026 Bathurst 1000, pushing hard as Dick and Jill Johnson look on teary eyed in pit-lane, Dick with his hands on his head, Hazelwood doing the same.
Kostecki crosses the chequered flag and wins for Dick Johnson and Shell V Power Racing, redemption for the team - marking the fifth win for Dick Johnson Racing.
The 2026 Ryco Enduro Cup has now come to a close, Brown and Pye winning this sector of the Championship, bringing another win into the Red Bull Ampol Racing camp.
The Results
Brodie Kostecki / Todd Hazelwood
Will Brown / Scott Pye
Zach Bates / Aaron Seton
Jack Le Brocq / Harry Jones
Matthew Payne / Will Davison
Cooper Murray / Lachie Dalton
Andre Heimgartner / Bryce Fullwood
James Golding / Richie Stanaway
Thomas Randall / Reuben Goodall
Craig Lowndes / Bayley Hall
Broc Feeney / Nick Percat
Jayden Ojeda / David Russell
Aaron Cameron / Zak Best
Cameron Hill / Brad Vaughan
Cameron Waters / Mark Winterbottom
Jobe Stewart / Jarrod Hughes
David Reynolds / James Courtney
Declan Fraser / Nash Morris
Kai Allen / Tim Slade
Macauley Jones / Jordan Boys
Rylan Gray / Tony D'Alberto
Jackson Walls / Jack Perkins
Ryan Wood / Jaxon Evans
DNF Anton De Pasquale / Lee Holdsworth
DNF Chaz Mostert / Fabian Coulthard
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