Brodie Kostecki Wins Bathurst 1000 After Anton De Pasquale Runs Out of Fuel

Brodie Kostecki and co-driver Todd Hazelwood claimed a dramatic victory at the 2026 Repco Bathurst 1000 on Sunday after race leader Anton De Pasquale ran out of fuel on the final lap, handing Dick Johnson Racing an unexpected win at Mount Panorama.

Sunday’s grueling 161-lap endurance race at Mount Panorama boiled down to a chaotic sprint finish after a late safety car erased a dominant lead held by Team 18. Anton De Pasquale had held a comfortable margin over the field following his sixth and final pit stop, sitting 15.5 seconds clear of his nearest rivals as the race entered its closing stages. But a miscalculation on pit wall left the No. 18 Chevrolet Camaro short on fuel as the checkered flag loomed.

Team 18 team principal Adrian Burgess admitted the squad simply got their sums wrong during the race strategy. Burgess noted that while the car and drivers had the pace to win, an error in their fuel calculations proved fatal to their victory bid.

Brodie Kostecki Wins Bathurst 1000 After Anton De Pasquale Runs Out of Fuel — Photo: Repco Supercars Championship

“We f***ed up.”
Adrian Burgess, Team 18 team principal

Chaz Mostert Crash and the Late Safety Car That Reset the Field

The race dynamic shifted fundamentally with just five laps remaining when defending Supercars champion Chaz Mostert suffered a heavy crash at Forrest’s Elbow in his Toyota Supra. Officials deployed the Shannons Safety Car, which packed up the field and wiped out De Pasquale’s commanding cushion at the front.

Quick work by recovery crews cleared Mostert’s damaged vehicle behind the wall rather than deploying a heavy recovery truck, keeping the door open for a competitive restart. The rapid cleanup mirrored a similar tactical clearance from the 2019 event, ensuring the 2026 marathon would not finish under yellow flags.

Under Supercars regulations, any car running one or more laps down must drive through pit lane if a safety car is deployed within eight laps of the finish, preventing lapped traffic from interfering with the lead battle. This rule brought a string of cars—including Ryan Wood, David Reynolds, Declan Fraser, Macauley Jones, Nathan Herne, Jackson Walls, Kai Allen, and Rylan Gray—into the lane instead of receiving a traditional wave-by.

Instagram

Anton De Pasquale Fuel Starvation on Mountain Straight

When the green flags finally waved near the crest exiting The Chase, De Pasquale led the queue with Matt Stone Racing’s Zach Bates directly behind him. Team 18’s pit wall frantically urged their driver into maximum fuel save mode as the laps wound down, but the car had already consumed too much.

On the 161st and final lap, Brodie Kostecki muscled past Bates for second place before hunting down the sputtering leader. As the #18 DEWALT Camaro climbed Mountain Straight, it coughed and ran completely dry, allowing Kostecki to breeze past into the lead and take the win.

“Once I knew how much fuel short we were, I knew we were cooked.”
Anton De Pasquale, Team 18 driver

Co-driver Lee Holdsworth watched helplessly from the garage as their victory slipped away in the final kilometers. I can't believe it. I didn't know we were so close on fuel, or what happened, Holdsworth said, describing the result as a massive disappointment.

Brake Change Drops Dick Johnson Racing to Fifth

Kostecki and Hazelwood’s victory capped off an eventful afternoon for Dick Johnson Racing. The pairing had controlled large portions of the race before a slow second-to-last pit stop involving a brake change dropped them from the lead down to fifth position.

“We executed so well up until that second-last pit stop with the brake change, But, like I’ve always said, the mountain chooses the winner.”
Brodie Kostecki, Dick Johnson Racing driver

Team founder Dick Johnson was visibly emotional in the DJR garage following the dramatic finish, holding back tears as the No. 17 Ford Mustang crossed the line.

Position	Driver Pairing	Team
1	Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood	Dick Johnson Racing
2	Will Brown and Scott Pye	Triple Eight Race Engineering
3	Zach Bates and Aaron Seton	Matt Stone Racing

Behind the winners, Will Brown and Scott Pye secured second place for Triple Eight, while Matt Stone Racing pole-sitters Zach Bates and Aaron Seton rounded out the podium in third. Bates and Seton acknowledged after the race that without the late safety car deployment that reset the field, they likely would have secured the overall victory.