Supercars Championship: 2026 Melbourne SuperSprint Race 5 Report
- Tayla Purves
- 12 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Credit: Supercars | Instagram
This weekend offers the opportunity for the round winner to receive the Larry Perkins trophy - and the fastest lap of the race is ten extra points.
Starting on pole for Race 5 is Matt Payne, followed by Brodie Kostecki, Ryan Wood, and Chaz Mostert in the row behind.
Race 5 has a mixed grid, with the usual front runners back in the middle of the pack; a fight certain to keep fans on the edge of their seats for nineteen laps on a sunny Friday afternoon at the Australian Grand Prix.
As it happened
On green flag, Payne lepped ahead leading the pack into the first corner. The grid kept it relatively clean until turn 3 - back of the pack saw two cars gfacing the wrong way; Zach Bates in the No.10 Chevrolet and Macauley Jones in the No.96 Toyita Supra had come together again for the second time this week.
Lap one turned hectic towards the end, Will Brown in the No.888 Red Bull Ampol Racing Mustang attempted to make a move on the Chevrolet No.99, Cooper Murray finding his way into the gravel trap, luckily making it back to the track.
Kai Allen hunted down Cam Waters, while the rest of the pack looked hungry to make some moves on the opening lap.
Another battle broke out on lap 2 between Broc Feeney and Chaz Mostert, the back straight holding up their fight for a while.
Brown made his way past Golding, same method tried out with no gravel contact, sending the No.7 Mustang backwards as he was swallowed by fellow competitors.
Rylan Gray on the back of the pack made his way up the grid by seven spots as an alert came up for a lap one investigation on Brown and Murray. This investigation turned into a penalty for Brown.
Lap 4 on Turn 11, Mostert was barged out of the way by Feeney, two moments of elbow-out contact - stewards released earlier alleged contact between Bates and Jones was under investigation.
The action didn't end there, Kostecki passed Payne cleanly, with Ryan Wood eagerly on the No.19 Mustang's rear.
Mostert attempted to make some moves, squeezing up the inside of Jack Le Brocq in Turn 4 on Lap 6.
Turn 4 gave more chaos, with Golding finding himself briefly on two wheels as Gray did his best to make a pass.
Back to the leaders of the race, Payne began to close his gap to Kostecki's No.17 Mustang, the Kiwi only +0,355 behind, adding pressure.
Godling continued to find himself in the middle of yet another battle on lap 8, between two rookies of the grid - Murray and Declan Fraser.
Lap 9 showcased an easy overtake by Anton De Pasquale, Thomas Randle, and Brown on Mostert; the reigning championship leader having an alleged steering issue, causing significant loss of speed.
Cars No.99 and No.7 were placed under investigation for some contact earlier in the race, which stewards imposed a 5-second time penalty for Cooper Murray.
Feeney and Aaron Cameron fought it out on lap 11, pushing and shoving, with Feeney continuing after a rough shove from Cameron. An opportunistic Allen was collected by Cameron's Mustang into the last turn of the track. The No.26 Mustang continued on, aggressively pushing forwards.
Amidst all the action, Wood found himself lucky on Turn 9, sliding across the green grass and back to the track with no added gains.
Lap 12 continued with the race five theme of mayhem with Cameron coming onto the radio, suggesting his No.3 Mustang had smoke coming inside the cabin, which was later seen spewing out the back of the car.
Two battles broke out, Feeney and Le Brocq, and teammates at Tickford Racing - Waters and Randle, with six laps to go until the chequered flag.
Popular overtake Turn 11 had a three-way battle with Waters, Le Brocq, and Feeney - the No.88 Mustang struggling, losing quite a few across the second half of lap 13, while Waters made his sixth position up the grid.
With five laps to go, Cameron's car was fixed up and sent back out to go, the smoke a direct result of burning resin; the exhaust fumes going up the appeture of the side still after some contact in the race.
Cam Hill and Brown were bumping rough, Hill's No.14 Dare Chevrolet kissing the rear bar of the Mustang.
Smoke poured from Brown's Mustang with four laps to go, the No.888 Red Bull Mustang losing multiple spots in one go - with a penalty still looming above his head.
Lap 16, Feeney and Allen fought it out again, the move looking easy enough for the No.26 Grove Mustang. Both Mustangs with damage, both made it cleanly with a clear focus of bringing it home in one piece.
The final lap showed teammates Allen and Payne making the most of it in the top five; Payne pushing hard to close the gap between he and Kostecki for the top step of the podium.
Jones' No.96 Toyota Supra was caught up in a tangle between David Reynolds and Jobe Stewart's battle.
Jones dug his way out of the gravel trap, his Toyota Supra looking worse for wear in Turn 11, dragging gravel all over the track.
Kostecki pulled away, a controlled attack for the end of the second race of the weekend - two from two wins, putting himself in a strong contention to win the Larry Perkins Trophy. With Ford in Melbourne looking on eagerly, the performance equals to that much more importance.
Kostecki crossed the line ahead of Payne, winning Race 5 at the Melbourne SuperSprint, with an excited scream on the radio, followed by a congratulations to the team.
What was looking hopeful for Toyota on such a big weekend of Australian motorsport, finally turned positive as Wood crossed the line in third, giving the first podium to the newest manufacturer on the grid, in front of the biggest names in global motorsport, including the Toyota big wigs.
Race 6 and 7 Qualifying take place tomorrow morning, local time 9am. They go racing for the third time at Albert Park at 5:35pm AEDT.
The results
Brodie Kostecki 1:49.346
Matthew Payne +0.571
Ryan Wood +12.553
Cam Waters +25.451
Kai Allen +26.029
Jack Le Brocq +32.940
Broc Feeney +34.498
Thomas Randle +35.157
Andre Heimgartner +42.153
Anton De Pasquale +42.341
Cameron Hill +42.584
Declan Fraser +43.960
James Golding +44.869
Chaz Mostert +49.335
Rylan Gray +54.305
Jackson Walls +55.611
Zach Bates +64.197
Jayden Ojeda +64.121
David Reynolds +64.774
Will Brown +66.237
Macauley Jones +77.096
Jobe Stewart +129.603
Cooper Murray +1 Lap
Aaron Cameron +2 Laps
