Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the 11 – 13 September 2026 was round 10 of the 2026 Supercars championship, The Air Touch 500 at the Bend.

It was held in South Australia at the Tailem Bend Circuit using the West Track.

The West Track is one of 8 circuit configurations and is 3.41km long with 12 corners. This 500km race was 147 laps. Each car has a main driver teamed up with a co-driver.

Starting on the Friday the pre-race sessions included 5 practices, Qualifying, Top 10 Shootout and finally a warm-up.

Brodie Kostecki and co-driver Todd Hazelwood earned pole position for Race 29. Alongside them was Matt Payne and Will Davison.

It had begun raining during the warm-up session and continued through most of the race. The track was thoroughly drenched.

As they took off, the pole sitter Todd Hazelwood’s car lurched backwards. The drivers behind had to navigate around him while Will Davison took the lead. By the time Hazelwood got the car going in the right direction he was last in the field, 26^th.

At turn 1 Mark Winterbottom hit Will Davison in the lead. Davison spun around and dropped from 1^st to 25^th place.  

A totally bizarre start to a race! The 2 cars that were at the front of the starting grid were now at the back.

The lead was now in the hands of Tim Slade.

Reuben Goodall passed Mark Winterbottom for second place.

Will Brown’s co-driver Scott Pye was the first to come into the pits on lap 2 with a puncture. By the time he returned to the track he was 1 lap down.

James Courtney also came into the garage due to steering damage.

Nick Percat, co-driver for Broc Feeney was turned around and dropped to 21^st place.

As expected, the wet track was going to cause chaos. Throughout the race it seemed there were limitless incidents of cars connecting, sliding and spinning all over the track.

Meanwhile, leader Tim Slade had “clean air” and was unbothered by Reuben Goodall 10+ seconds behind battling to stay in 2^nd place.

By lap 25 the rain had intensified. At turn 1 there was a commotion and cars started sliding off the track like a dominos effect. It was a complete mess and the safety car was deployed.

The restart was on lap 33 with Tim Slade still in control followed by Richie Stanaway and Fabian Coulthard. However, Tim Slade’s 10+ second lead was erased by the safety car conditions.

Within a few laps a 2^nd safety car was deployed ruining the race flow.

It was after the second restart Tim Slade made a mistake and aquaplaned across the track. Jarrod Hughes had moved up into 2^nd place and used the mistake to steal the lead from Slade.

By the middle of the race Jarrod Hughes increased his lead to 8.3 seconds over Chaz Mostert, who was followed by Kai Allen in 3^rd.

Hughes was the co-driver for Jobe Stewart at Erebus Motorsport. They held that race lead for a long time.

As the race got close to reaching the 100 lap mark, the experienced Chaz Mostert picked the right moment to pass Hughes for the lead. It wasn’t due to any error from Jarrod Hughes, it’s just that Chaz Mostert is damn good!

As they worked their way through the last 1/3 of the race, final pit stops were made and in most cases the main drivers were back behind the wheel for the finish.

Chaz Mostert held his lead. It was after his final pit stop that he started to break away from the pack. The rain had eased and Mostert was on fire. His superb driving made him look impossible to catch. Kai Allen and Ryan Wood followed in 2^nd and 3^rd place.

The race was time certain due to a tight schedule with other categories. Due to the delays caused by safety conditions it looked like they were going to call time and finish the race several laps early. As the clock ticked away Mostert edged ahead and increased his lead. The front of the pack was very spread out.

Time ran out at lap 141. After 3hrs 36 minutes and almost 500 kms Chaz Mostert (and Fabian Coulthard) crossed the finish line to take the win.  18.487 seconds later Kai Allen / Tim Slade finished 2^nd. Ryan Wood with Jaxon Evans took a further 14 + seconds to cross the line for 3^rd.

It was a great finish.

Race 29 results:

1^st Chaz Mostert and Fabian Coulthard – Walkinshaw TWG Racing
2^nd Kai Allen and Tim Slade – Grove Racing
3^rd Ryan Wood and Jaxson Evans – Walkinshaw TWG Racing

The next event is the second half of the Enduro Cup, The Bathurst 1000 on October 8 – 11 2026.

The Bathurst 1000 is the biggest race of the year. I hope you will join me for the fun. It will be great.