Broc Feeney turned a front-row start into a long-awaited home victory, while the fight to survive the Supercars Finals ended in a tense, last-lap scramble.
Broc Feeney has finally won on home soil. The Gold Coast local delivered a commanding performance in Sunday’s 85-lap finale of the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, converting pole position into a 6.9-second victory over Brodie Kostecki.
The win was a personal milestone and a timely boost to Feeney’s championship campaign. After previous attempts at the Surfers Paradise street circuit had left him waiting for the breakthrough, the Red Bull Ampol Racing driver controlled the race from the start and held his advantage through a demanding afternoon of pit stops, traffic and Finals pressure.
Feeney led away from the front row, but behind him the opening lap immediately reshaped the title picture. Kai Allen, Anton De Pasquale and Jack Le Brocq became tangled in an incident on the run to Turn 1. De Pasquale and Le Brocq limped towards pit lane with damage, and De Pasquale’s right-rear tyre failed before he reached it, scattering debris and bringing out the Safety Car.
The damage was serious, but De Pasquale remained on the lead lap. That detail would matter enormously later. David Reynolds also struck trouble on the opening lap, losing two laps while his team repaired his car.
When racing resumed on lap seven, Feeney led Will Brown, Aaron Cameron, Kostecki and Ryan Wood. Wood needed a strong result to keep his Finals campaign alive, while De Pasquale faced a steep climb from the back after his early setback.
Cameron initially held his place among the leaders, but Kostecki and Chaz Mostert steadily applied pressure. Kostecki’s strategy brought him into the pits on lap 19, with Mostert responding a lap later. A wheel-gun delay cost Mostert time, while Cameron was also held up during his first stop. Kostecki used the clean air after his stop to move past Brown, then set about closing on Feeney.
Mostert’s charge became one of the race’s defining contests. He caught Brown and made a determined attempt at the final corner, but ran wide over the apex tyre bundle. A few laps later, he made another move, this time at Turn 11. Brown was forced wide and Wood slipped through, moving into a provisional Finals transfer position.
Mostert then allowed Wood ahead as Walkinshaw TWG Racing tried to protect its younger driver’s chance of progressing. It was a tactical decision that left Mostert with a difficult balance: help his teammate, while still pursuing a podium and the opportunity to challenge for another Gold Coast win.
At the front, Kostecki continued to reduce Feeney’s margin. The two made their final stops on laps 57 and 58, leaving Feeney with only a little over a second in hand. The pressure was real, but Feeney responded. He found pace when it counted, rebuilt the gap and crossed the line 6.909 seconds clear of Kostecki.
Mostert’s late charge brought him back into the podium fight. On fresher tyres, he set the race’s fastest lap and closed rapidly on the cars ahead. Wood, meanwhile, had to fend off Andre Heimgartner and Jarrod Hughes as the laps ticked away. The team’s hopes of securing Wood’s place at Sandown depended on the positions around him, as well as the final fuel calculations.
Late stops by Hughes and Cooper Murray changed the order again. De Pasquale gained two places and, despite finishing 14th, edged ahead of Wood in the Finals standings. Mostert passed Wood on the final lap to take third, leaving Wood fourth and outside the transfer line. De Pasquale held the last Semi-Final position by just 18 points.
The result means Wood, Allen and Le Brocq are out of title contention. De Pasquale’s survival was especially striking: he started 21st, suffered an opening-lap puncture and still did enough to advance. The team tactics between Mostert and Wood became a major talking point, but the closing sequence showed how quickly a provisional Finals place could disappear when fuel, track position and rivals’ results converged.
Matthew Payne finished sixth after recovering from 12th on the grid. That drive proved crucial: he leaves the Gold Coast at the top of the standings, just four points ahead of Feeney. Kostecki is third, with Mostert fourth, setting up a close fight as the Finals move to Sandown.
Behind the leading pair, Heimgartner took fifth, ahead of Payne and Cam Waters. James Golding, Cameron Hill and Thomas Randle completed the top ten.
For Feeney, the victory delivered more than points. It was the home win he had been chasing, earned in front of a Gold Coast crowd and under the pressure of a Finals race where every position mattered. For the championship, it leaves little room for error: Payne’s four-point lead over Feeney is the narrowest of margins, and the three drivers eliminated at Surfers Paradise have shown just how unforgiving this format can be.
The 2026 Repco Supercars Finals continue at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 from November 6 to 8.
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