Pole sitter Brodie Kostecki and Cam Waters shared the front row for the opening race of the 2026 NTI Townsville 500 at Reid Park Street Circuit, with Kiwi Matt Payne and Chaz Mostert lining up on the second row in third and fourth, respectively.
Fellow New Zealander Ryan Wood qualified an impressive seventh, while Andre Heimgartner had a tougher start to the weekend, qualifying 22nd.
Waters made the perfect launch to lead into Turn 1, while Payne jumped ahead of pole sitter Kostecki into second. Mostert immediately challenged Payne around the outside, completing the move to take second and dropping Payne back to third.
Kostecki settled into fourth ahead of Kai Allen, Thomas Randle, Wood, Jack Le Brocq, Jayden Ojeda and Cooper Murray, who rounded out the top 10.
The battle for second reignited on Lap 5 when Payne launched an aggressive move down the inside of Mostert. The pair made slight contact, slowing both cars and allowing Kostecki to capitalise and slip into third as Mostert lost two positions in a single corner.
One lap later, Kostecki repeated the move at the same corner, diving down the inside of Payne to claim second place.
Payne’s race took another twist on Lap 7 when he reported engine concerns over the radio.
“It’s like it’s dropping a cylinder, but then it’s not,” Payne told his team.
Despite the issue, the Grove Racing driver continued to hold position near the front of the field.
Further back, Heimgartner had begun working his way forward from 22nd to 18th, while Wood remained comfortably inside the top 10 in seventh.
Payne and Mostert peeled into the pit lane on Lap 18 with race leader Waters responding a lap later, while Kostecki stayed out to extend his stint. When the DJR driver eventually stopped on Lap 24, he rejoined in fourth behind Waters, Payne and Allen, only narrowly ahead of Mostert.
After the pit cycle, Le Brocq sat sixth ahead of Randle, Will Brown, Wood and Ojeda.
Kostecki wasted little time recovering ground, making a decisive move on Allen on Lap 26 to reclaim third place. With clean air ahead, he turned his attention to Payne, who held a five-second advantage.
By Lap 33, Kostecki had erased the deficit and was firmly on Payne’s rear bumper. Payne left the door open into the braking zone, allowing Kostecki to dive down the inside and snatch second place with just two laps remaining.
That left Kostecki with a slim chance of challenging Waters, who maintained a 1.1-second advantage at the front. Despite Kostecki’s late charge, Waters controlled the closing laps to secure victory in the opening race of the 2026 NTI Townsville 500.
Kostecki finished second, while Payne held on for an impressive third despite his earlier engine concerns. Allen finished fourth ahead of Mostert, Randle, Brown, Wood, Ojeda and Broc Feeney, who completed the top 10.
Heimgartner recovered strongly from 22nd on the grid to finish 15th, capping off a solid comeback drive for the Kiwi.
The second race of the NTI Townsville 500 (Race 21) gets underway at 5:05pm NZST on Saturday. Qualifying is scheduled for 1:25pm NZST, followed by the Top 10 Shootout at 2:10pm NZST.
Header Image: Grove Racing
