A trio of Mustang runners claimed victory across the weekend in Townsville as Ford teams continued to perform strongly in the Australian Supercars championship.
Cam Waters won on Friday, Matt Payne did the job on Saturday and then Brodie Kostecki rounded out the weekend with a dominant win on a sunny Sunday afternoon in North Queensland.
Payne also took the lead in the driver’s championship as Grove Racing extended its reign as the top team in the team’s championship battle.
“It’s really cool to be leading the championship. I can’t complain,” said Payne.
Kostecki bounced back from dehydration and a back problem that took him out of action at the previous round in Darwin, with a combination of impressive one-lap pace and valiant race craft throughout the weekend, as Waters continued his recent run of speed.
“Well done everyone. That’s how we come back. Awesome car, awesome job,” said Kostecki.
There was lots of classic ‘elbows out’ touring car racing throughout the field across the three races that make up the Townsville 500 weekend. The Triple Eight duo of Broc Feeney and Will Brown kept fans entertained as they battled back to the front after some tough qualifying results in their Mustangs. In total, Brown made 29 passes for position across the weekend in race conditions.
The 2026 Supercars Championship season now crosses the Nullarbor for the Perth Super 440 from July 31-August 2.
FORD RACE RESULTS
RACE 1
1st – Cam Waters
2nd – Brodie Kostecki
3rd – Matt Payne
4th – Kai Allen
6th – Thomas Randle
RACE 2
1st – Matt Payne
3rd – Brodie Kostecki
4th – Cam Waters
5th – Thomas Randle
6th – Will Brown
RACE 3
1st – Brodie Kostecki
2nd – Matt Payne
3rd – Cam Waters
6th – Broc Feeney
7th – Kai Allen
FORD DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st – Matt Payne, 1656 points
2nd – Broc Feeney, 1564
3rd – Brodie Kostecki, 1469
4th – Cam Waters, 1461
5th – Kai Allen, 1339
7th – Will Brown, 1239
11th – James Golding, 976
13th – Thomas Randle, 831
19tt – Rylan Gray, 543
21st – Aaron Cameron, 516
23rd – Jackson Walls, 447
25th – Todd Hazelwood, 48
28th – Mark Winterbottom, 21
FORD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st – Grove Racing, 2935
2nd – Triple Eight Race Engineering, 2803 points
3rd – Tickford Racing, 2313
5th – Dick Johnson Racing, 2085
9th – Blanchard Racing Team, 1492
13th – Objective Racing, 447
TEAM OWNER/TEAM PRINCIPAL QUOTES
STEPHEN GROVE, Grove Racing
“It’s exciting to be sitting at the pointy end in both championships. All the hard work is starting to pay off, so the key now is making sure we have consistency in everything we do. It’s all about the small things – the one-percenters that make the difference at the front.”
“It’s been a solid weekend for us, on the podium three times which is a good outcome. But it’s so close and everyone in the pitlane is working so hard.
“We go to a very different track now in Perth, with high tyre degradation. But it’s been a good track for us in the past and we should go well if we get the cars tuned right.
MARK FENNING, Dick Johnson Racing
"A strong showing for us in Townsville. Brodie Kostecki took two pole positions and three podiums across the weekend, capping it off with a dominant race win on Sunday. Rylan Gray’s highlight was in Saturday qualifying, making his first Top 10 Shootout, and he charged from the back of the field to finish 15th in Sunday’s race."
“We leave Townsville in good shape and now look forward to Perth.”
ROD NASH, Tickford Racing
“It looks like we’ve turned the corner in this year’s championship. The team has found the way with car set-up and both drivers were right into it. Darwin was not just a blip.
“The biggest positive of the weekend was that Thomas Randle was as quick - even quicker at times - as Cam Waters. And we got another win in the Friday sprint.
“The smallest of things can change to your advantage, so with both drivers up there it’s something really good for the team to work on. There are probably 60 of those one-percenters now for us to work on and keep improving.”
MARK DUTTON, Triple Eight Race Engineering
“A tough one in Townsville. We’re trying to keep it entertaining for everyone, but maybe not ourselves.
“We knew it would be tough because we came with the intention of doing a big learning event. With the strength of all the teams you know you’ll be a little bit off the pace when you do that, but you never have the intention to come P15 or P18 in qualifying.
“It’s not fun but it’s real. The reality is that you try things that don’t always make the car quicker. At least the new championship format allows you to have a bigger swing because you can have worse rounds. In the past you always had to be more conservative.”
TIM BLANCHARD, Blanchard Racing Team
“We had reasonable pace at times, but just struggled to put it together over the weekend for various reasons.
“Darwin was a bit of a struggle and we worried it might be a trend, so it was encouraging to get back to the speed we had earlier in the year. We’ve got nothing to show for it, but the pace was strong and that encourages us that we’ll be competitive at the next few rounds.
“James Courtney got a podium for us in Perth last year and that was where we started to turn things around. So it will be good to go back there and see what we’ve learned over the past 12 months.”
ANDREW JONES, Objective Racing
“We just hit the six-month mark and did a mid-year review with some major learnings for what is basically a new group. There were small changes this week in our philosophy, so the only measure is the other two cars in our rookie group. The outcome was much better than we’ve seen.
“Qualifying still needs a little work but our race pace has improved. The best strategy is always to have pace.”
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