Ford holds the cards for the 2026 Supercars Championship with three aces, in Mustangs, qualified for the final-four shoot-out on the streets of Adelaide.
Matt Payne and Brodie Kostecki each qualified for the Grand Final with a win in the two-heat Sandown 500 and will be the top seeds for the final three-race decider round.
They are the top seeds respectively based on championship points and will be joined by Broc Feeney as the third-seed driver.
“It was so stressful. We didn’t have much left but managed to hang on by the skin of my teeth,” said Payne after his Sunday success.
“It’s the position we wanted to leave here in. I’m just stoked to get a win. It’s been a while for us.”
Kostecki was also celebrating after his win in a hard-nosed tussle on Saturday afternoon.
“So stoked to get that one locked away,” Kostecki said.
“How exciting. The car was an absolute rocket. What a beast to drive.”
The Supercars Championship will be decided at the Grand Final on the streets of Adelaide in South Australia from November 27-29.
FORD RACE RESULTS
TOP 10 SHOOTOUT - RACE 1
1st – Matt Payne
2nd – Cam Waters
3rd – Brodie Kostecki
4th – Will Brown
5th – Broc Feeney
RACE 1
1st – Brodie Kostecki
2nd – Matt Payne
3rd – Cam Waters
5th – James Golding
11th – Broc Feeney
TOP 10 SHOOTOUT - Race 2
1st – Matt Payne
4th – Brodie Kostecki
6th – Broc Feeney
7th – Kai Allen
9th – Thomas Randle
RACE 2
1st – Matt Payne
4th – Broc Feeney
6th – Thomas Randle
7th – Will Brown
10th – Brodie Kostecki
FORD DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st – Matt Payne, 4438 points (5150 re-adjusted playoff points)
2nd – Brodie Kostecki, 4317 (5120 re-adjusted playoff points)
3rd – Broc Feeney, 4302 (5096 re-adjusted playoff points)
5th – Will Brown, 2432
6th – Cam Waters, 2404
8th – Kai Allen, 2270
12th – James Golding, 1679
13th – Thomas Randle, 1631
19th – Rylan Gray, 1126
20th – Aaron Cameron, 992
22nd – Jackson Walls, 835
FORD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st – Grove Racing, 5214 points
2nd – Triple Eight Race Engineering, 5066
3rd – Tickford Racing, 4056
5th – Dick Johnson Racing, 3890
10th – Blanchard Racing Team, 2611
13th – Objective Racing, 835
TEAM OWNER/TEAM PRINCIPAL QUOTES
STEPHEN GROVE, Grove Racing
- “It’s game on now for Adelaide. Matt Payne usually goes well there so we have strong confidence. But we don’t downplay the challenge as the guys in the top-four are all top performers.
- “Sandown was a very good weekend for us. We got two pole positions, a win and a second with a pair of fast cars. Now we to take that consistency to the Grand Final.”
MARK FENNING, Dick Johnson Racing
- “Another strong step forward for the team at Sandown. Car No. 17 had excellent pace all weekend with Brodie Kostecki winning the Saturday race, his ninth of the season.
- “Sunday’s race started with an unforced error costing a drive-through penalty, before charging back through the field to finish 10th. So Brodie has secured the second seed for the Adelaide Grand Final.”
ROD NASH, Tickford Racing
- “We’re out of contention now but getting through to the semi-finals of the championship is still a good effort. And the Finals series has been exciting so far, which is a big positive for Supercars.
- “Cam Waters’ qualifying didn’t come together at Sandown so it was going to be a challenge to create a miracle. But the No. 55 car with Thomas Randle had good pace and was up the front.
- “So it is what it is. The team has been strong. We’ll take that into next year, but the pressure is off so we can go and have a competitive run in Adelaide.”
ANDREW JONES, Objective Racing
- “We're still on a roller-coaster in terms of performance across a full weekend. There was definitely a marked uplift on Saturday, compared with Friday and Sunday, so some signs of pace at times.
- “But we need to improve the consistency across the whole weekend and avoid having high peaks and low troughs.
- “As we head to Adelaide we have another four days of running which should help us with our development. We just need to have a narrower band around when we’re decent and when we’re not.”
TIM BLANCHARD, Blanchard Racing Team
- “What a weekend. It was pretty disastrous in terms of results and Aaron Cameron had the fire on Saturday. But Jimmy Golding got into the top-five on Saturday and showed we had speedy cars.
- “The highlight for Sandown is how the whole team pulled together. We had damage to two Super2 cars and that meant only a few hours sleep, with no sleep for the main game crew as they worked on Aaron’s car. For me it’s not just the work but the attitude and approach.
- “Adelaide is where Camo started to show his speed last year so we’re keen to get back and we’ve had a pretty fast car recently. So hopefully we can get something to show for it."
MARK DUTTON, Triple Eight Race Engineering
- “We didn’t accomplish everything we came to do at Sandown. We had the opportunity to have both Bulls in the Grand Final so we’re disappointed. But we’re pumped that we got one car through and we’re in the fight and in the hunt.’
- “This weekend what hurt us was tyre life. We didn’t look after them well enough with the balance of the car and Will Brown had to push too hard for too many laps.
- “We need to get the takeaways from this weekend and apply it for Adelaide. We'll endeavour to roll out as strong as we can and then tune from there.
- “I don’t think you could ask for a better set-up with Will Brown as teammate for Broc Feeney, so we’re motivated.”
