Kostecki takes Race 26 pole, SVG incurs kerb strike

Brodie Kostecki will start Race 26 at the Gold Coast 500 from pole position while Supercars Championship title rival Shane van Gisbergen recorded a kerb strike on his shootout lap.

Erebus Motorsport’s Kostecki will share the front row with Grove Racing’s David Reynolds after provisional pole-sitter Cam Waters ran long at Turn 11 on his hot lap during a wild Top 10 Shootout on the final day of the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.

Kostecki’s 1:11.0118s in the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro was the target when van Gisbergen rolled out onto the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit a lap later in the #97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro.

The 2022 champion was down by 0.1492s at the first sector but then recorded a kerb hop anyway at the Beach Chicane, the same location which caught out Kostecki in the shootout a day earlier.

Fortunately for van Gisbergen, Anton De Pasquale had also breached track limits on his earlier lap and hence Car #97 will start from ninth position rather than 10th.

With Kostecki provisionally fifth and van Gisbergen provisionally fourth, there were still three to come when the latter had his mishap.

Reynolds was slightly quicker to the second sector but ultimately tripped the control line in a time of 1:11.1496s to slot the #26 Penrite Mustang into second at the time, and that was where it would remain.

Will Brown lost the rear through the front chicane and thumped the tyre wall, causing the #9 Coca-Cola Camaro to spin.

He completed the lap in case of any dramas for Waters and officially recorded a 1:30.0053s which would be good enough for eighth all-told.

There was indeed drama for Waters (#6 Tickford Racing Mustang) when he was last onto the race track for his one-lap dash, but not enough to hand Brown a position back.

The Race 25 winner looked on for either of the first two rows before he ran up the escape road at the end of the beachside section, but drove out and clocked a 1:21.5251s.

After all of that, it meant that Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang) had come from a provisional eighth on the grid to qualify third in the end on a 1:11.2985s.

Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) salvaged a 1:11.4714s which was good enough for fourth despite locking up and running wide at the Turn 4 hairpin.

Mark Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro) took fifth on a 1:11.6033s and James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro) sixth on a 1:11.6700s.

Waters and Brown will share Row 4, ahead of De Pasquale and van Gisbergen on Row 5.

De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) got all crossed up at the front chicane in the moment which tipped him into a kerb hop, meaning no time and 10th on the starting grid after provisionally qualifying seventh.

Race 26 of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship is officially scheduled to start at 14:15 local time/15:15 AEDT.

Results: Top 10 Shootout for Race 26, Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500

CLICK HERE for full Race 26 starting grid