It has been a chaotic start to endurance season at The Bend, with wet conditions causing chaos throughout the field.
Off the line, pole sitter Todd Hazlewood struggled for grip, which promoted Payne’s teammate Davison into a close battle for the lead. However, in a battle with Mark Winterbottom, Davison found himself facing the wrong way, which forced him back to dead last.
Evans had moved up six spots to eighth by lap three, with Stanaway also finding himself up seven spots to eleventh. The stewards were quick to bring the hammer down on the first corner incident, deeming Winterbottom at fault and awarding him a fifteen second penalty for his efforts.
The carnage continued as Craig Lowndes was hit on lap four, with Lee Holdsworth also flying wide as drivers struggled for traction.
By lap six, Fabian Coulthard sat as the highest placed Kiwi in fourth, with Stanaway in sixth, Evans in seventh, and Davison in eleventh.
Out front, Tim Slade led over Reuben Goodall, with Hughes in third. It was starting to become a busy day for Craig Baird as he awarded Andre Heimgartner’s co-driver, Bryce Fullwood, a 15-second penalty for his contact with Lowndes.
Stanaway started to show himself as one of the fastest drivers on track by lap fifteen. He was one of the only drivers in the top 18 to be lapping at a similar pace to the leader, and started to close the gap on fellow Kiwi Coulthard.
The rain started to clear, which forced drivers to hunt for standing water on the track. Slade had pulled a sixteen-second lead by lap twenty, as the field started to spread out as drivers took alternate lines. Out front, Goodall ran wide and went off track whilst under pressure from Coulthard, which promoted Coulthard to third and Stanaway to fourth.
It became a ding-dong battle for fastest lap as Stanaway, Evans, and Percat all held it momentarily. It soon started to rain again, as drivers who conserved their wet tyres became rewarded with more grip.
The rain became extremely heavy by lap twenty-four as the spray across the start/finish line increased exponentially, which left drivers skating across the track. Slade found himself on the wrong side of the track in a self-inflicted spin, Goodall went through the Turn 1 gravel trap, and Tony D’Alberto found himself in the wall after aquaplaning through Turn 1, which brought out the safety car.
Slade continued to lead under the safety car. It was a Kiwi 2-3 with Stanaway in second, ahead of Coulthard in third. Heimgartner’s co-driver, Fullwood, sat in sixth; however, he still had a penalty to serve. Evans sat slightly further back in ninth, with Davison in tenth.
The safety car remained out until lap 33, with drivers having little to no visibility at the restart. Percat and Best collided yet again, which caused damage to both cars and forced Percat into the lane. David Russell also found himself facing the wrong way, and Hazelwood was whacked with a fifteen-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
By lap thirty-five, Stanaway sat as the biggest mover in the field. He sat in third, behind Slade and Coulthard. However, it did not take long for Coulthard to make his move for the lead, with the Kiwi getting past Slade to move into first place.
Davison soon started to pile the pressure on Harri Jones, but was unable to get past. He sat in sixth but was soon passed by Evans as Davison began to complain about engine issues and losing power.
Visibility became problematic again, and the safety car was brought out for extreme weather. Coulthard was the first to head into the lane, as some drivers piled in to commit to another stint with the co-driver behind the wheel.
The race commenced on lap fifty, with Slade having a huge moment over the start/finish line. Slade was lucky to catch the car after wheelspin sent him down the order, which promoted Jarrod Hughes to the lead. Jones moved into second, with Stanaway in third, Slade in fourth, and Davison in fifth.
Fullwood sat in sixth, with Coulthard in fourteenth and Evans in sixteenth. Goodall, after running at the front, found himself facing the wrong way at Turn 9, and rejoined the track in twenty fifth.
The race was neutralised yet again on lap fifty-four, which fell right on the switch over for strategy. Many co-drivers jumped out of the car at this stage, having completed a significant amount of running.
The race resumed on lap fifty-eight. Hughes led over Lochie Dalton, with Evans in third. Stanaway sat back in sixth, Heimgartner in eighth, and Payne further back in eighteenth.
Stanaway did not muck around on the restart, and moved up to fourth quickly. Lowndes found himself bowling off the track at Turn 1, and was forced to rejoin in eighth.
Both Erebus cars started to look comfortable out front. However, they were due for a pit stop soon, with Allen sitting in the provisional lead. The clouds finally started to part, and the track started to dry by lap seventy. Chaz Mostert sat in second place, ahead of Allen. Payne received a 15-second penalty for a contact infringement, bringing the number of drivers with an unserved penalty to 5.
Erebus elected to diverge from strategy by putting both their drivers on slicks with a full tank of fuel, and it was a guessing game to see whether it would pay off for the team.
With the Erebus drivers in the lane, Mostert inherited the lead over Allen and Evans. Evans started to put pressure on Allen, and was able to work his way past by lap eighty-two. Their battle allowed Stanaway to catch up, as he made his move past the Penrite driver to make it a Kiwi 1-2-3.
After a monumental stint, Evans headed into the lane to swap with Wood after eighty-four laps behind the wheel. At this stage of the race, the track was nearly dry, prompting many drivers to head into the lane for slicks.
Stanaway headed into the lane after a mega ninety-two laps to hand the car over to Golding. Meanwhile, Wood started to show mega pace in the dry, and soon was behind teammate Mostert for the lead. With fifty laps to go, Mostert led over Wood, with Allen in third, and Golding in fourth. Payne, having served his penalty during the pit-stop, sat eighth, with Heimgartner in eleventh.
Although the track was dry, the white lines remained slippery. This caused multiple drivers to fly off the end of Turn 1 as they struggled to stop the car in time.
Mostert started to pull away from Wood and comfortably held the fastest lap. Further down the field, the commentators’ curse struck Randle as he lost control of his car whilst broadcasting live on board.
The chances of a Kiwi 1-2-3 took a huge hit after Golding drove off wide at Turn 6, as he lost eight seconds to Allen in the process.
The final round of stops came with thirty-three laps to go, as Wood pulled the trigger first to head into the lane. Randle and Golding followed suit in the laps after, with radio comms suggesting Payne would pit as well.
Payne headed in with twenty-five laps to go, and it was discussed whether the race would move to a timed finish due to earlier delays. A time certain finish would hurt Golding and Stanaway, as if the race was not to go to 100% distance, the duo may face a penalty as Golding would not have completed his minimum percentage of laps as stipulated in the rulebook.
Allen pitted for his final stop with nineteen to go, and merged right ahead of Wood on warm tyres. The stewards confirmed that the race would move to a time-certain finish. Mostert held a minute lead on strategy and would not need to pit until he needed to, as he held an almighty lead. Mostert pitted for four tyres and fuel with twelve minutes to go, and just had to keep it clean until the end.
Macauley Jones found himself off track as he battled his way to the finish, as he was lucky to keep the car going.
Payne soon forced his way past Jayden Ojeda for fourth, as he battled with Brown in a tense fight for every point. The stewards noted the move and soon launched an investigation.
Payne was awarded a five-second penalty for his contact with Ojeda, forcing him to focus on building a gap quickly.
Mostert was able to keep it clean to bring home his second victory of the season and to start the Enduro Cup with a comfortable points haul, finishing eighteen seconds ahead of Allen.
This victory marks Coulthard’s first victory since 2020, when he won a chaotic Race 25 at The Bend after Jamie Whincup and Scott McLaughlin collided on the first lap. Third place also marks Evans’ first Supercars podium, after he finished no higher than seventh in his stint with Brad Jones Racing.
Payne was unable to put five seconds between himself and Brown, meaning he fell to sixth at the line. Golding and Stanaway finished seventh but would be investigated after the race. Heimgartner took a comfortable ninth, helping him get close to the overall top ten in points.
Supercars will now head to Bathurst for the infamous Bathurst 1000, kicking off on October 8.
