In a race packed with heart-stopping moments, heartbreak struck Richie Stanaway—while New Zealand’s other three finishers delivered strong results, all finishing inside the top 10.
Qualifying:
Qualifying was a challenge for the Kiwis as they battled the Darwin heat and ongoing car issues in their bid for a front-row start. Hovering just outside the top 10 for much of the session, Richie Stanaway and Andre Heimgartner dug deep late to secure 8th and 10th respectively—earning their spots in the Top 10 Shootout-style second phase of qualifying.
Ryan Wood and Matt Payne sat just outside in 11th and 13th, setting their grid positions for Race 18.
In the second session, Stanaway wasn’t able to find pace and ended up at the bottom of the timesheets in 10th place, while Heimgartner improved to 6th. Broc Feeney secured his second pole position of the weekend, with Anton De Pasquale securing the second front row spot, finishing P2 in qualifying.
Race 18:
Evans was unable to start the race due to the damage from his crash in the earlier race. The Walkinshaw Andretti United team miracously swapped out engine’s in Wood’s car to get him back out in time for second race of the weekend. Jack Le Broq was also back out on track after his car went under significant repairs.
Heimgartner got the jump on Brodie Kostecki, taking 5th position at the start of the race as Feeney took the lead ahead of Feeney.
The Kiwis continued to get into each other, this time Payne pushed Stanaway off the track on Lap 4 which saw Stanaway drop to the rear of the field. No penalty was imposed due to Stanaway moving under braking before the incident occured.
After staying on the track and holding out as long as he could, Stanaway had to retire on lap 9.
Close racing saw Thomas Randle hit the rear of Will Brown as he struggled to find a gap to pass.
Payne narrowly avoided another incident when passing Le Brocq, going wheel to wheel in a contentious moment. At the next turn, he went just off into the dirt, falling back behind Le Brocq and Kostecki.
The midfield cars were all close and constantly trying to pass each other, causing Payne to pit early on lap 10. It gave him a chance to build pace with clear air.
The strategy worked as Kostecki, who had previously been in front of Payne, came out of the pits behind him. He held him off until being passed on lap 22.
Heimgartner and Cam Waters went into the pit at the same time, where Waters took 4 fresh tyres, the same pit strategy he went for in Race 17 earlier. Heimgartner was just able to pip him, forcing Waters to stop a moment before coming out to avoid a collision.
De Pasquale had been sitting in second place the entire race, but a slow pit stop where he took four new tyres put him behind Kostecki and Payne on the track.
Feeney pitted the lap after and came back out 2 seconds ahead of Kostecki in second.
Wood gained pace after pitting earlier and passed Percat, putting himself just behind Waters and into eighth. He stayed close but wasn’t able to find an opportunity to pass and fell back.
Payne struggled to maintain pace after his early pit, heavily wearing out his tyres while other drivers came out with fresh ones. De Pasquale took Payne on turn 1 of lap 30, having a full set of tyres that were 16 laps newer than Payne’s.
Payne was soon caught by his teammate Kai Allen, who took over fourth place. From there, Payne continued to slip down the order, eventually being passed by four more drivers—including fellow Kiwi Ryan Wood.
As Will Brown tried to gain position after making his stop earlier with 18 laps remaining, Wood ran off the track into the dirt and lost position to him and Payne.
Heimgartner got in front of Fullwood and take back the fifth position he held earlier. With quick pace, he soon caught Kostecki in fourth and had a clean pass, taking his best placing of the season.
With two laps to go, Reynolds was spun around and unable to move off the edge of the track, bringing out the safety for the only time during the race.
At the same time, Waters ran off the track, putting himself back into 10th behind Wood and Payne.
The race ended under safety car, with Feeny making it 2 from 2 and taking the chequered flag followed by De Pasquale and Allen who finished on the podium. Allen’s first podium at just 19 years old and De Pasquale’s first podium of 2025.
Heimgartner narrowly missed out on a podium finish, coming home in fourth followed by Kostecki, Fullwood, Brown, Payne, Wood and Waters who rounded out the Top 10.
Header Image: Andre Heimgartner
