Kostecki takes pole for Gold Coast finale, Payne 3rd

Brodie Kostecki will start this evening’s final race of the Gold Coast 500 from pole following a dramatic Top 10 Shootout in Surfers Paradise this afternoon.

The Erebus Racing driver was one of several big movers in the field from the earlier qualifying session, jumping from fifth to first as several rivals faltered.

Closest championship contender, Shane van Gisbergen, was one of those to drop places after incurring a kerb strike at the Beach Chicane. He had initially qualified fourth but will now start ninth, ahead of Anton De Pasquale, who had progressed into the Shootout from seventh but also suffered a kerb strike.

Erebus’s Will Brown was another to run into difficulty, clipping the outside tyre barriers at the exit of the opening chicane and spinning as a result. He did well to keep it out of the outside wall before resuming his lap and qualifying eighth, 19 seconds down on his teammate’s time.

Provisional pole-sitter and Saturday winner Cam Waters had looked set to challenge Kostecki’s time, then ran long at Turn 11, dropping down to seventh, where he will start next to Brown.

Mark Winterbottom, who was the first to run, set a tidy 1:11.6033, which was enough for him to jump from tenth to fifth and sees him start next to James Golding on the third row.

Chaz Mostert starts fourth, next to Kiwi rookie Matt Payne, who jumped from ninth to third with another impressive lap on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit.

Payne looked set for another front-row start until teammate David Renolds came through and jumped into second on the eighth run, falling 0.1378 seconds shy of Kostecki’s earlier pole-setting time.

The final race of the Gold Coast 500 starts at 5.15 pm.

Race 26 Starting Grid

Header Image: Erebus Motorsport