Race Highlights: Race 34 | 2026 Penrite Oil Sandown 500

Sunday at Sandown. Even Stevens off the front row. De Pasquale going with the pole sitter. Possibly a Harper car in front as they sweep into the left-hander at turn one. Cooper Murray gets himself into third place. Side-by-side behind is Brody Kostecki. Kai Allen down the inside of Brock Feeney. Gets it done. Gets it done. Could be a critical pass. And covers immediately on the run into turn four. Zach Bates is in there. Randall too. Chaz Mostert's already got ground. A couple of spots a little bit further back in the Supra. Up the back straight for the first time, Matt Payne, your leader. Payne did everything he needed to do off the line to get to the first corner first. And that's what the rest of the field were worried about. Because if Payne's got clear air, there's worry that this car's got real speed. And Kai Allen, his teammate, made a big, bold move. And he's having another one here on Brody Kostecki. But Allen getting past Brock Feeney at turn two could be critical. And with so much action, Allen did a fantastic job with getting in front of Feeney. And now if he can lunge Kostecki, he can control that and control who goes through. Lap one of 79 down. Payne, De Pasquale. Cooper Murray next. Brody Kostecki. Then it's Kai Allen. So Allen up two spots on the opening lap. Feeney next. Bates has dropped two spots and he's covering. Defending down at turn one from Thomas Randall who's in the fight. Golding next. Then Mostert up a spot inside the top ten. Andre Heimgartner, the biggest loser on the opening lap. He's dropped three spots. Side-by-side Randall and Bates in behind that. And squeezed up the road is Randall. In that as well is James Golding. And they'll run side-by-side up the hill. 7th, 8th and 9th. Golding is wedged under the rear wing of that other Mustang in front of him. And Zach Bates might find himself hung out to dry through the shortcut at 7. And James Golding gets another position. What a weekend he's having. Slingshot engaged. Bit of shake and bake between Randall and Golding there, working together to slip through past Bates. Hey, what is he doing? Idiot! Thomas Randall didn't like it. We did, though. It was entertaining. Excellent racing. Hasn't it? This is the beginning, OK? So this is the beginning of the Randall-Bates thing, and now I'm starting to understand why Bates maybe wasn't so easy to allow Randall back through, because Randall into him pretty hard here, into the door. So... So... There was a bit more to that story. We picked it up around about a year when Bates just eased the handle on the grass, which absolutely is a no-no. We do not need to be doing that. We can understand though, while the heart rate was probably a little bit higher in the Bendix Camaro than we expected. And this has just come up on our timing screen. This is important. Car 17 Brodie Kostecki has noted, start procedure noted, Car 17. Race control attention all National team stewards have imposed a penalty of a pit lane drive-through to car 17. Breach of start procedure, turning off engine prior to grid box. That is a huge, huge penalty, and Brodie Kostecki will be wrapped that he won yesterday and locked himself into Adelaide. A drive-through penalty. OK, so what's happened here is they've come in to come and form up. He's actually switched the engine off and rolled it in, and it's in the regs that you are not allowed to do that. The engine has to be running all the time. Sounds like an idling. You hear it running there. But that's what we're hearing. It was about Brodie Kostecki turning the engine off and rolling into his grid box. So regardless of when it happened, it's clearly it did happen. Yeah, and Brodie Kostecki has served that penalty. Listen to this. This is Brodie Kostecki. That is difficult enough. Engine's off here. So this is explaining the drive-through penalty that Brodie Kostecki has served. And as Garth said, the regulations state you must have the engine running while you drive up to the grid box. So that ticks that box for Brodie Kostecki. Oh my god. Copy that, mate. Copy that. Can't describe it any better than what Cam Waters just did. You can see it clear as day. That'll be incredibly distracting. I don't know why he doesn't grab it and rip it off. Did he remove it or did it fall? Trying to deal with the rear-vision mirror. Here we go. Yeah. Out the window. Where are you going to put it? Out the window. You can't put it out the window. The window's sealed, JC. Isn't there a little hole? Not big enough to get that thing out. Could be a time penalty here. Oh, he's got it in. Found it. Yeah, no, he's got it. Get your fuel done. He is absolutely on it and politely hands it out. Very nicely done. LeBrock tries to get up the inside of Golding. Contact. And Golding goes around. He's going to keep it out of the wall and the grass has had an opportunity to dry off over the last 24 hours so he will continue on. It was a fight for 11th and 12th position as they ran but James Golding pays for that one, tumbles down the order. What's been a very strong weekend for the Cool Drive car. So it started on the run out of Dandenong Road. So LeBrock was trying to get up the inside into 11, clearly. Golding either didn't know he was that in there enough, whether LeBrock was actually in there enough, and it's instantly come up on our timing screen, the turn 11 incidents between car 7, James Golding, car 4, Jack LeBrock is noted. So from that angle, you would say, well, LeBrock's a fair way in there, but then you can look at other angles and go, well, actually, he's not a long way in there. I'm surprised you didn't see him or hear him, because you can hear him. You can hear when the car's beside you, but clearly he didn't. That's probably the most telling shot from the roof. A front bar to rear wheel, potentially. This is pretty hectic. Let's have a look at this. Ryan Wood is there. Thomas Randle on the outside. They're running side-by-side on the run-up to turn six. 266, 265. 265 k's an hour. Ryan Wood's going to be on the inside. And he's going to own the corner for now. So this is Kai Allen coming out of pit lane on a cold tyre. Having to defend from Ryan Wood, who's already done a couple of laps. Remember, Wood made that mistake coming out of pit lane down at turn one. He's trying to send it up the inside of Allen. Allen sees him coming and lets him go. That was a bold move from Ryan Wood. To pit for their second round of stops. This is costly because this is De Pasquale, second on road, coming out on Randle on a cold tyre. So it's going to hold De Pasquale out. The gap has already gone out half a second to Payne. So Payne's starting to get away and there's contact as well. So this is critical for De Pasquale, for him to stay in touch with Matt Payne. He's got to clear him quickly. The margin to Matt Payne had come down. Not going to clear him here. Randall holds on on the inside. This could be make-or-break stuff for Anton De Pasquale, who bails out of Turn 7 altogether. Together. This is important. The margin was coming down. The sting had gone out of Matt Payne. That's a second already. That is one second already on this lap. Thomas did what he got done to him. He drove him up over the curve at turn five. So it'll be interesting to see what happens there. Do you reckon he'd get on the radio and apologise? I reckon Anton would have let them know. Payne pits and De Pasquale follows him in. So that is incredibly costly for Anton De Pasquale. Cooper Murray pits out of third place as well. Right, mate. As it stands, we need to get Payne to get through. Most of it has done enough to get through on us. So let's just see what we can do. Keep our heads down. Anything can happen. Yep. Yeah, I know, mate. I think you're doing an awesome job. Just letting you know how it stands at the moment. When the leader gets to the lap cars there will be blue wave flags but ultimately you do lose a little bit of time in that gap now the lead. Matt Payne back to Anton De Pasquale 1.2 seconds that's the smallest it's been for quite some time. So some more stress is going to come into the world of this young Kiwi who leads the Supercars Championship and leads the race with five to go. Jared Hughes is having a battle, he's side-by-side with Ryan Gray in front, he gets that spot that is for position, the 22nd position, and he gets it done and Matt Payne is cruising up to this battle pack and cruising up to the back of the Penrite Mustang is Anton De Pasquale. This spot, I'm not going to say anything, I don't know if he was resting his tyres, I'm just going to leave you with that picture. So the gap now. There we go. That's the gap to leader that a lot of the teams look at. And that cadet Camaro is looking pretty aggressively at the Penrite Mustang right now. The gap, 1.2. Matt Payne was pretty keen to get through these lap cars. He's just done personal best middle sector for the whole race. Chasing them down, maybe a bit of a tow. I think it's probably the first time he's got a tow up the back straight the whole race. The drama he's got is these guys are racing, so they're not going to want to give up any time, but also they're not paying a lot of... All right, Payne's talking about being cautious with the back markers here. This could be our opportunity for him to go. The comment from Brenton Grove, remember, he said, we need to be smart with how they play this. They had the sprint cut ripped away from them at the last, last moment at Queensland Raceway with a mechanical issue. So they need, and they've earned the right to be a little bit cautious if they can. Whatever Anton's got left, you're spending every bit of tyre you have left. You're going to use every bit of kerb. You're going to shortcut every bit of racetrack that you can. They're not getting out of the f***ing lane. And he is fired up now. Ryland Gray's not going to move. Three laps to go at Sandown. There is still plenty to play out in this one. We saw what a huge effect those Erebus cars had in the late closing laps of the Gold Coast. What effect here could those two chefs play in this finale? Yeah, that's a good point, Chad. But lap cars getting involved is a different sort of chess than cars racing for position. So, Ryland Gray rolled out of it. We were on board with him going down the front straight. So, Matt Payne's got one of the four. And Gray straightaway gets out of the way for Di Pasquale. So, that's still a net gain for Di Pasquale. And that's the problem with being the leader. You're always the first to the scene of the lap cars. And he didn't want to give him any... Hint of a tow, did he? He pulled straight to the left, Gray, and let Anton pass. Because if he stayed between the two, it could have pulled him closer. Cast your vote for the VP Ultimate Performer. You can head to supercar.com if you didn't get the QR code. Cast your vote and let us know who you thought was the best performer in Race 34. Another absolutely spellbinding race at Sandown. It's just a couple of car lengths in it. There's a little over 6km to go. Matt Payne is the leader and he is caught up behind lap traffic. Anton De Pasquale must, must win this race to fight for a championship. The math is as simple as that really. Chaz Mostyn is watching on behind. He wants Matt Payne to win because if it does it means he's in. Down the inside, Jared Hughes. This is the last thing Matt Payne needs. This is the Erebus World Championship at the moment. The two teammates going at it. So, so Stuart does the right thing. Nice job there, gets straight out of the way. For Matt Payne, and then he's going to tow Anton De Pasquale up the back straight. Is he? No, he doesn't. So he rolls out of it as well. A little one. Imagine the pressure and what's going through Matty Payne's head at this moment. He's done all this hard work and then now just sitting there hoping they get out of the way. Put yourself in the game. Payne a little bit wide at nine. He's got a sniff. There's only a lap to go. Stephen Grove and Charlie Schwerkolt, they've experienced it all in the business world and the race team world. And this is all going to come down to the final lap. Anton De Pasquale, win and you are in. It's as simple as that. Ford Mustang versus Chevy Camaro. Three Ks to go in the semi-final. And what a weekend of supercars this has been. Utterly compelling from the outset. How does this play out and can Matt Payne hang on? Anton, very wide on the exit at turn one, chucking everything at this. He's giving it everything he's got, but that's enough of an air gap for Payne right now. And he'll get a cheeky little toe up the back straight from Jarrod Hughes. So that's the difference. That's the difference for Anton De Pasquale, whether he fights for a championship at Adelaide or not. Currently just over 7 tenths of a second. Anton De Pasquale and Team 18, it's been the nearly team all season long. But remember last lap, Matt Payne went wide down here. He must nail this. The last real opportunity for Anton De Pasquale. Couple of car lengths in it. Matt Payne needs to navigate. Turn 11, turn 12 and then 13 and the run to the line. Final few corners, Anton has thrown everything he possibly can but it's not going to be enough. Matt Payne is going to Adelaide as the number one seed and books himself a spot in the big dance. Next. Matt Payne wins at Sandown. And he wins by seven-tenths of a second and Anton De Pasquale missed the finals by seven-tenths of a second. Cooper Murray across the line in third place. Congratulations Cooper, your first Supercars podium and well earned it was too. Brock Feeney fights his way to fourth and Chaz Mostert has just crossed the line and rather unbelievably he is going to go and fight for another Supercars Championship. It's Payne who gets there with a victory that he barely even needed today, but maybe one to get a bit of momentum towards Adelaide. Anton De Pasquale right there with him, falls seven tenths short of a spot in the finals and fell one lap short of a win at Bathurst. What a tough year for Anton De Pasquale, the almost year. Cooper Murray, bravo, first career podium. Premier Racing's new boy delivers the dividend early. Feeney, not a bad recovery, sort of went under the radar, but did enough to get home today. All he had to do was beat Cam Waters, and he did that comfortably. Cam Waters a little bit MIA today. Ryan Wood and Kyle Allen, Jack LeBrock, those names were eliminated early in the campaign at the Gold Coast. The debrief will go on long into the night for those three. Well done. And it's Matt Payne who will reset at the top here. And this is how they go in from now. And it's going to be very, very close. Heimgartner still has got his work to do. He could maybe pick up a few more spots too in his campaign. But the big four at the top is really where the focus is. Payne, Kostecki, Feeney and Mostert. Could Mostert win this championship from fourth? You would never write him off. Remember, three races at Adelaide. We've got 600 kilometres of racing. Also got that big prize up for grabs on Friday night. Thrifty Teams Championship. Not a lot of movement in the end. 148 points. It will mean that Penrite get the end pit bay when we go to Adelaide, but that team's championship is still very much up for grabs. Still extremely close between Tickford and Walkinshaw, and it looks like Shelby Par Racing has managed to edge away from Team 18.