Ryan Wood set the benchmark in a tense Sunday qualifying session at the Adelaide Grand Final, ensuring all four championship contenders advanced to the decisive Top 10 Shootout.
Wood topped the initial phase ahead of Broc Feeney, while Chaz Mostert, Will Brown and Kai Allen also secured spots in the one-lap dash that would finalise the grid for the title showdown.
The early part of qualifying unfolded on a slick, drying circuit after morning showers left the surface greasy and unpredictable.
Times quickly shuffled as drivers gambled on slicks, with several big names flirting with elimination.
A scare came when Cooper Murray shed a wheel at high speed, temporarily halting proceedings and resetting the field’s momentum.
As conditions improved, the pace intensified. Matt Payne surged to the top late in the segment, with Allen and Feeney also making strong moves.
Cameron Hill agonisingly missed the cut by just over a hundredth of a second, while notable names including Cameron, Reynolds and Waters dropped out, Waters visibly frustrated after another failed attempt to progress.
The remaining 18 cars rejoined for the decisive Q2 run and immediately pushed track limits. Times tightened to within tenths, with Mostert, Brown and Payne trading purple sectors.
Wood timed his charge perfectly, producing a late flyer that sealed the fastest lap and confirmed his Shootout place alongside Payne, Mostert, Feeney, Heimgartner, De Pasquale, Jones, Ojeda, Brown and Allen.
Top 10 Shootout:
Broc Feeney then delivered when it mattered most, claiming the final pole position of the 2025 season and reinforcing his status as championship favourite.
With a 23-point lead heading into the decider, the Red Bull Ampol driver produced another scorching lap to secure his 19th pole of the year.
Kai Allen set the first competitive marker before Jayden Ojeda briefly moved ahead, but it was Will Brown who initially captured attention with a tidy lap that reset the benchmark.
Mostert quickly eclipsed him, throwing down a time that looked difficult to match, until Payne edged ahead with a stunning run that became the lap to beat.
Feeney responded emphatically. Rapid through the opening sectors, he held enough margin over a conservative final corner to push the pole time even lower.
Wood was last to run and threatened in the early splits, but ultimately fell just short, locking in a front-row start alongside Feeney.
Payne slotted into third, with Mostert climbing to fourth from his earlier qualifying position.
Brown and Allen were left frustrated, managing only eighth and ninth, respectively.
Feeney’s final shootout lap not only cemented his dominance across qualifying in Adelaide but also ensured he entered Sunday’s title decider with every advantage available.
Race 34:
Payne delivered a textbook launch when the lights went out, surging ahead of Feeney into the Senna Chicane and instantly dictating the pace of the Supercars season decider.
Feeney, already carrying the weight of a championship on the line, came under immediate fire from Wood, who threw his Mustang into the mirrors of the Triple Eight driver before they had even completed the opening sequence.
What followed was the moment that would be talked about for years to come. Wood committed to a move on the inside on the approach to Turn 6, his front-left grazing the inside concrete as Feeney swept across to cover the line. Both drivers were equally committed to the turn.
With centimetres to spare, Wood clipped the inside wall, ricocheted outward, and slid into the rear quarter of Feeney’s car.
The impact left Feeney spinning out, sending the points leader sideways in front of 24 charging Supercars.
Feeney’s lightning-fast flick-spin recovery avoided catastrophe by millimetres, cars scattering like startled birds, but the damage was already terminal to his title campaign.
He rejoined in 21st place, surrounded by desperation, debris, and disbelief.
Behind them, survival instincts took over. Le Brocq and Percat couldn’t avoid the chaos, colliding heavily in the bottleneck that followed.
Le Brocq’s car came to a dead stop, Percat limped to the pit lane with suspension damage, and James Golding also dived in to assess front-end concerns.
Meanwhile, Mostert, the hunter in this championship hunt, found himself elevated to fourth without having made a single move. One lap down, the entire title equation had flipped on its head.
Replays were scrutinised. The critical question: was Wood sufficiently alongside to demand space? The verdict arrived swiftly from stewards—Wood was not entitled to racing room.
The contact was deemed avoidable, earning him a crushing 15-second penalty that would later reshape his afternoon entirely.
For Wood, it meant his race was now defined by a move that potentially altered the championship’s course.
With debris cleared and hearts still pounding, the field formed up once more. Payne led away cleanly, followed by Wood, Anton De Pasquale, Mostert, and Macauley Jones.
De Pasquale had ghosted past Mostert amidst the opening-lap chaos, but the WAU driver wasted little time reasserting control.
On Lap 10, Mostert fired down the inside at Turn 9, committing to a precision lunge and reclaiming third. Several corners behind, Feeney executed a carbon-copy move on Cameron Waters, displaying his trademark aggression as he began hauling himself back toward relevance.
Feeney’s recovery was the drive of a man refusing fate. He sliced through six cars in as many laps, elbows sharpened, engine screaming, and the championship mathematics still, just barely, within his reach.
The first wave of pit stops arrived early. Kai Allen blinked first from fourth, stopping into nine seconds of clear air, aiming to jump Mostert through strategy rather than brute force.
Team 18 responded aggressively, releasing De Pasquale the following lap with less fuel on board. This clever gamble vaulted him back ahead of Allen.
Then Triple Eight threw their card into the mix, bringing Will Brown in early in a bid to leapfrog Heimgartner. The undercut was immediate and effective. Brown was unleashed.
Wood peeled into the pit lane on Lap 24 to serve his 15-second penalty, falling to 18th and wiping away any true shot at a podium.
Up front, Payne was serene, smooth, measured, and precise. He held a 4-second buffer over Mostert, driving like a man immune to the pressure that had crippled others.
Feeney, by contrast, was on borrowed oxygen.
Race control issued him a warning for repeated track limits breaches, symptomatic of a driver over-driving to survive. Then came the gut punch: a catastrophic pit stop.
The right-rear wheel refused to release, costing Feeney 16 seconds. Though masked by refuelling time, the implications were brutal.
He rejoined, buried once more, momentum shattered. Then the gremlin returned.
The misfire that haunted Feeney a day earlier resurfaced—first costing 7–8 km/h, then 20, then a staggering 30 km/h down the straights.
When it didn’t, Feeney dragged its carcass through corners like a wounded animal, trying to mask its weaknesses with heroic commitments mid-corner.
Triple Eight prepared the garage. His engineer pleaded with him to continue. His body language betrayed the emotional landslide.
As Feeney spiralled downward, Brown ascended. He launched a clinical attack on De Pasquale at Turn 9, taking third and setting after Mostert. The Mustang was alive under him, each apex a statement of intent.
Meanwhile, Wood’s race unravelled completely. He reported a catastrophic issue with the right front, refused to continue, and was rolled backwards into the garage.
With 18 laps remaining, Feeney pitted again. The right-rear nightmare repeated. He rejoined 17th, then dropped behind Golding, Evans and Ojeda.
Then came the symbolic moment: Payne lapped him. Then Mostert lapped him.
Feeney’s title was gone, not by lack of speed, but by fate’s casual cruelty.
He controlled the final laps like a surgeon polishing a signature. Waters earned and lost a top-10 with a track-limits penalty, but Payne was untouchable.
Matt Payne took the chequered flag. Chaz Mostert finished second and became the 2025 Supercars Champion.
Will Brown completed both the podium and his rise to runner-up in the standings.
Mostert’s tears told the story. Twelve full-time seasons. Two Bathursts. A career of near-misses. Now, finally, a championship.
Feeney rolled into the pit lane, helmet hiding tears, 14 wins and 19 poles suddenly meaningless statistics against the heartbreak of what might have been.
Emotions are high all around after this one. More to follow.
Header Image: Supercars
