Brodie Kostecki is feeling relieved that he finally converted a strong qualifying result into a sixth Supercars victory of the season as he blitzed a hot grid to win the final race of the Townsville 500.
The Dick Johnson Racing star secured the second Townsville victory of his career by a massive 9.349 seconds in the 68-lap, 200km race at Reid Park Street Circuit on Sunday.
It comes after Kostecki just missed out on a pole sweep when he finished second in the top-10 shootout earlier in the day.
But despite earning pole for Friday and Saturday's races, he couldn't convert them into a victory and was left to vent his frustration in his subsequent press conferences.
Perhaps the key was not to begin first on the grid, as Sunday's sparkling win moved him two victories clear as the driver with the most first-placed finishes this season.
"We've definitely been threatening all weekend with the race pace. We just haven't quite executed the way that we wanted to," Kostecki said after his first win since April.
"We made really good choices, and got me that clean air in the middle steer that could show the true pace of the car.
"It was fantastic to bounce back the way that we did."
Championship leader Matt Payne couldn't replicate his rousing victory from Saturday, finishing second after staving off a hard-chasing pole-sitter Cam Waters, who was third.
Waters admitted he didn't have enough fuel to keep him in the battle for second, and Payne reaped the benefits as he now leads the competition standings by 92 points after starting the weekend behind Broc Feeney.
"Coming in, taking the championship lead, and extending that throughout the weekend, I couldn't really ask for much more," said Grove Racing's Payne.
Despite the Ford sweep, Toyota also had a strong showing with Walkinshaw TWG teammates Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood coming fourth and fifth.
The Triple Eight Race Engineering crew collected another unwanted record, with both their drivers unable to finish on the podium for the fifth consecutive time - which hasn't happened to the team since 2007.
Ex-championship leader Feeney came sixth, while 2024 champion Will Brown rallied to eighth after a disastrous qualifying that left him to start in 19th.
It was a chaotic opening to Sunday's race as the safety car was called into action on the first lap when Reuben Goodall, Andre Heimgartner, Aaron Cameron, and Macauley Jones crashed into each other, and the latter three were all ruled out.
At the same time, Wood made a daring move to launch himself behind Waters, but after the safety car departed, Kostecki slotted back into second.
The Dick Johnson Racing star took an early pit stop on lap 16, which paid dividends as he later emerged as the leader and soared to victory.
Multiple drivers jostled for the final two podium spots, and Payne's premature pit stop on lap 43 thrust him into second before Waters edged past Mostert in the final laps to earn third place.
In the team standings, Grove has kept their lead with Triple Eight and Tickford Racing rounding out the top three.
RACE 22 RESULTS:
1. Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing)
2. Matt Payne (Grove Racing)
3. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing)
4. Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw TWG Racing)
5. Ryan Wood (Walkinshaw TWG Racing)
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1. Matt Payne (Grove Racing)
2. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Race Engineering)
3. Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing)
4. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing)
5. Kai Allen (Grove Racing)
Australian Associated Press
