Mostert/Coulthard conquer the elements in Bend epic

On a day chaos reigned supreme, Chaz Mostert and Fabian Coulthard delivered a stunning victory from 11th on the grid in the AirTouch 500 at The Bend.

The #1 Mobil 1 Optus Toyota kept out of the drama in a wet and wild opening half of the race, and put the hammer down in the second half to claim a dominant 18-second win.

Completing a fairytale first Supercars enduro for Toyota, Walkinshaw TWG Racing stablemates Ryan Wood and Jaxon Evans soared from 14th to third to round out the podium, with Penrite Racing duo Kai Allen and Tim Slade finish second.

For Mostert, it's a first win in a 500km Supercars enduro, whilst Coulthard claimed his first Supercars win since 2020, which also came at The Bend.

The championship lead changed hands, with Matt Payne surviving a clash with Jayden Ojeda in the closing laps to jump Broc Feeney, who was taken out of contention after a clash for co-driver Nick Percat.

Heading to the Repco Bathurst 1000, Payne leads Feeney by 120 points. The top eight in the points — Payne, Feeney, Allen, Brodie Kostecki, Cam Waters, Anton De Pasquale and Mostert — are all locked into the Finals.

It was a disastrous day for Blanchard Racing Team, which suffered a double disqualification, denting James Golding's Finals hopes.

After starring in the first half of the race, Erebus Motorsport's strategy gamble played out as they were the first to switch to dry tyres, with the #99 Camaro of Lochie Dalton being the guinea pig when he jumped out for Cooper Murray on lap 75.

He radioed ahead to the crew encouraging race leader Jarrod Hughes to do the same the next time by when he handed over to Jobe Stewart, however time would prove Erebus were slightly too early for dry tyres.

After having the dominant car of the wet opening to the race, Allen began to fade back after losing what became the lead to Mostert, with Evans moving past the #26 Ford into second. Evans handed over the #2 Toyota to Wood on lap 84, and was the first of the leading contenders to make the switch to dry tyres.

It nearly worked wonders for Wood, who emerged from the pit cycle right on the rear bar of Mostert after the #1 Toyota made its switch to Soft tyres on lap 92.

However, despite Wood's tyres being up to temperature, and Mostert struggling on his cold tyres, the reigning champion held position at the front of the field, and pulled out into a commanding position before the final round of stops.

Stanaway completed an ironman 90 lap stint and handed over to Golding for the run home in fourth, however that position slipped with a mistake and Turn 1 on lap 116, and then being baulked by the lapped Bayley Hall, promoting Payne to effective fourth and Brown to effective fifth.

Teams were bracing for a fourth Safety Car of the day when Macauley Jones had a high-speed lose at Turn 5, ripping off the right-hand side skirt on the #96 Toyota, which came to rest just off the racing line.

However, the race remained green, and Wood was the first to tick off their final stop of the day, pitting on lap 113 as the possibility of a time certain finish became a question.

Allen made his response on lap 126, and jumped back ahead of the Kiwi with a shorter fill of fuel, whilst with 20 minutes remaining it was confirmed that time certainty would come into effect.

Mostert made his final stop on lap 131, with just over 12 minutes remaining on the clock, and resumed in the lead with a 16-second lead over Allen, who in turn had seven seconds in hand over Wood.

The focus was on fourth, with Ojeda fending off Payne and Brown, the PremiAir Racing rookie recovering after co-driver David Russell went spinning early in the race.

However, both Fords had a tyre advantage over the #31 Chevrolet, and after a lap of searching, Payne dived down the inside of Turn 3 as the race entered its final 10 minutes, giving Ojeda the hip and shoulder to allow Brown by as well. Payne was handed a five second penalty in a decision that would have an impact on the minor places.

However out in front no one could touch Mostert, who cruised to a dominant victory, whilst the combination of Payne/Will Davison would be demoted back to sixth after their penalty.

That amazingly promoted Brown/Scott Pye to fourth, having lost a lap almost immediately after an opening lap incident, with Ojeda/Russell rounding out the top five.

The next round of the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship comes on the sport's biggest stage at the Repco Bathurst 1000 from October 8-11.