Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!
On the 8 – 11 October 2026 was the biggest event on the racing calendar, The Repco Bathurst 1000.
It was round 11 of the 2026 Supercars championship held at the street circuit of Mount Panorama, Bathurst in New South Wales.
This year was the 66th running of the Bathurst 1000 since starting in 1960 at Phillip Island before moving to Mount Panorama in 1963.
It has been 20 years since the passing of the legendary king of the mountain, Peter Brock. They marked the occasion with special mentions in speeches as well as commentators calling lap 5 lap 05 in honour of Brock’s famous car number.
There are only 2 legendary drivers who have scored 4 consecutive pole positions at The Bathurst 1000, Peter Brock and Allan Moffat.
Brodie Kostecki has earned the last 3 poles at Bathurst so he was aiming to get another this year and join the club of legends. Unfortunately for him, it was rookie Zac Bates who took pole position.
Last year’s winner Matt Payne (with now retired Garth Tander) was keen to defend his title with new co-driver, Will Davison.
There was also another notch in the belt of Craig Lowndes who had his 33rd start in The Great Race (only 2 behind Jim Richards who holds the record of 35 starts).
The prerace sessions were made up of 6 Practice sessions, Qualifying, Top 10 Shootout and warm up.
In Race 30 Zach Bates’ co-driver Aaron Seton started on pole position with Brodie Kostecki’s co-driver Todd Hazelwood alongside him.
At 11:30am on a sunny Sunday the lights went green and Aaron Seton took the lead for the first of 161 laps. Todd Hazelwood had to tuck in behind in 2nd spot followed by Lachie Dalton in third place.
Early on lap 1 Jack Perkins (co-driver to Jackson Walls) came into the pits due to a power steering pump failure. Other than that, the start was clean for everyone else.
As they reached the Peter Brock memorial lap “05” Aaron Seton still had the lead with Todd Hazelwood right behind in second place.
After the first round of pitstops Will Brown took the lead.
Todd Hazelwood followed in 2nd place. Lee Holdsworth was in 3rd.
Will Brown & co-driver Scott Pye held the lead for quite a while before the 2024 Bathurst winner Brodie Kostecki / Todd Hazelwood took over.
The Shell V-Power Racing duo of Kostecki and Hazelwood kept that lead through to the second half of the race.
What looked like an easy cruise to the finish line was about to change for them. On lap 125 Kostecki came into the pits. A brake and rotor change went wrong and they were held up for over a minute. Their apparent victory was snatched from them as Zach Bates, Anton de Pasquale, Will Brown and Jack Le Brocq flew past.
Once again with more than 100 laps between their leading start, the pole sitters Zach Bates and Aaron Seton were in the lead again.
The crowd and commentators went nuts for the rookie driver. Could Zach Bates actually win The Bathurst 1000 in his first year on the track as a full time driver?
Anton de Pasquale hit the pits from 2nd place. He had been unable to catch the leaders and felt he may be able to gain an advantage with fresh tyres for the sprint to the finish line. It was a bold manoeuvre. Zach Bates pulled in on the next lap for their final stop.
Pasquale beat them back to the track and had a few seconds lead over other rivals. If things went smoothly, Anton de Pasquale had what looked like an easy ride to the finish line for the win.
You know what they say, ‘don’t count your chickens before they hatch’ or ‘it’s not over till the fat lady sings’.
With just 5 laps remaining, Chaz Mostert hit the wall at Forest Elbow. It was messy and the race went ‘Yellow’ into safety car conditions. 156 laps and the first safety car of the race!
Anton de Pasquale’s lead was erased as the pack grouped behind the safety car.
They patiently cruised waiting for the race to return to green. Everyone was on edge.
Finally, the track was cleared and with 3 laps remaining they were given the go ahead.
Anton de Pasquale took off and even began to build a lead over Brodie Kostecki in 2nd place and Will Brown in 3rd.
It was fare to say, Anton de Pasquale and Lee Holdsworth had it in the bag.
As they started to climb the mountain for the final time on that last lap, just short of 1000kms, the car coughed and ran out of fuel.
Brodie Kostecki swept past the astonished Pasquale.
Was this even possible? It was only a handful of laps prior that Kostecki’s bungled pit stop appeared to take him out of the lead, off the podium and back in 5th place with little chance of recovering. But here he was, after the most unexpected bungle from Pasquale’s team and now taking the lead on the very last lap.
Kostecki flew up the mountain, down the other side, through The Chase and across the finish line in an incredible end to the most gruelling race in Australia.
Will Brown with Scott Pye took 2nd place. The rookie who’s name was on everyone’s lips, Zach Bates (& Aaron Seton) crossed the line next for 3rd.
Bathurst is an amazing event. This year we had to wait for the last 40 or so laps before it delivered unexpected white knuckled excitement that had even the most laid back fans on the edge of their seat.
Race 30 results:
1st Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood – Shell V–Power Racing Team
2nd Will Brown and Scott Pye – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Zach Bates and Aaron Seton – Matt Stone Racing
This was also the finale for the Enduro Cup. Will Brown and co-driver Scott Pye won the trophy. Congratulations !
The next event is the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on October 23 – 25 2026 which is also the beginning of the Supercars finals.
I cant wait and hope you will join me.
Till then, Keep revving!