Brodie Kostecki took his second Supercars class victory in two weeks, dominating the streets of the Gold Coast.
Kostecki in his Erebus Chevrolet Camaro took pole position, beating Triple Eight's Will Brown and Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford Mustang).
The man who looked out of position was Broc Feeney, who began fifth on the grid in his Chevrolet Triple Eight and commenced the primary pitstop cycle when his crew didn’t fill it so he could gain track position.
Most of the leaders followed this strategy and pitted for the subsequent laps, however the man who didn't was Cam Waters, the winner of Saturday's race. While the six leading cars used an identical strategy – pitting between laps 24 and 29 and using similar amounts of fuel – the Tickford Ford driver himself drove longer and remained stationary for nearly twice as long.
As a result, he finished ninth, just behind David Reynolds' Team18 Chevrolet, and it was very vital to overtake him quickly.
He did so, and over the subsequent 20 laps, Waters passed 4 cars. By the time the second pit stop was over, he was back in fourth place, just behind T8, and looked dangerous.
However, any hopes he had of overtaking the Camaro were dashed by a damaged front splitter and he needed to accept fourth place, though Brown had steering problems for half of the race.
“These guys pushed me once again,” Kostecki smiled after taking Erebus' first Gold Coast victory by 3.47 seconds.
“It really involves life at the tip. Really fast pace, great team motion and great strategy.
Brown was glad after extending his point lead.
“It was nice to see them [after leaving the pitlane]I had a drama with the steering, left hand down,” he explained.
“It happened around lap 40, the steering was changing and it was a bit stressful going through the chicanes and attempting to keep the automobile off the partitions.
“I'm happy to get through this weekend and head to Adelaide and see what happens there.”
Feeney laments his qualifying position: “It was hard work, the story of our last few races is that we didn't qualify high enough,” he said.
“We are specializing in a couple of wins [in Adelaide]. [I had] winning there a couple of years ago and runner-up last 12 months. “
Fifth place went to Tickford's other Mustang, Thomas Randle, ahead of Erebus' Jack Le Brocq, who was stung with a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release from the second stop. As a result, he dropped to eighth place.
Sixth place went to Andre Heimgartner, who not only began from just seventeenth on the grid, but additionally managed to tiptoe through a 10-car pileup at Turn 8 on the primary lap, which eliminated Anton De Pasquale's Dick Johnson Racing Ford. and delayed several other drivers.
Grove Racing Ford's Richie Stanaway was seventh, ahead of Le Brocq, teammate Matt Payne and Reynolds.
Mostert's hopes of a top-six finish were dashed when his Walkinshaw Andretti United crew didn’t fill his Ford on the second stop and he needed to pit for a 3rd time. By the tip of the race he was back in eleventh position, which put him out of contention for the maths title.
As a result, Brown's championship lead, which was 171 points after Saturday, is now 180 points over Feeney (2,772-2,592). Mostert stays in third place with 2,463, ahead of Waters (2,344), Payne (1,863) and James Golding (1,841).
The title will go to one in every of the Triple Eight pilots and will likely be selected the streets of Adelaide during two 250 km races to be held on November 16-18.
