THE Shell V-Power Racing Team will start The Bend 500 from pole position following a storming Top 10 Shootout lap by Brodie Kostecki.
Car 17, which Brodie will share with co-driver Todd Hazelwood, headed a Ford 1-2-3-4 sweep of the one-lap session at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park.
Car 38 of Rylan Gray and Tony D’Alberto will start the first enduro of 2026 from the 10th row after ending qualifying in 20th.
From sixth in regular qualifying, Brodie used his Shootout attempt to lay down a 1m16.3756s lap that withstood attacks from the five drivers that followed.
“I just want to thank everyone at the Shell V-Power Racing Team. This #17 Ford Mustang was on song then,” Brodie said.
“Big thank you to everyone that’s here supporting us and also back home at the workshop. What an awesome way to start our enduro campaign.
“I’ve got the best co-driver with me and really excited to get stuck into the race tomorrow."
It secured the second straight Enduro Cup race pole for Brodie after topping the Shootout at last year’s Repco Bathurst 1000.
It is also Brodie’s seventh pole position of the season, tying him for the lead in the Pole Champion standings with nine races remaining.
“Honestly, I just feel so privileged to be driving for this team," Brodie said. "They give me such great equipment and allow me to do my job, which is fantastic.
“It feels like a bit of a dream at the moment when everything is going smoothly, but we’ve got to knuckle down and focus on ourselves.
“We’ve been ticking each day off as we always do come enduro time. I’m pretty proud of the effort so far and hopefully we have a good race car tomorrow.”
This is also the team’s first pole position in the traditional 500km enduro since 1992, when Dick Johnson and John Bowe headed the grid at that year’s Sandown 500.
Rylan’s his bid to post a top-10 qualifying result for a fourth consecutive round looked good early when he sat second behind Brodie after the opening runs, but he wasn’t quite able to nail his subsequent runs and missed out on advancing to the Shootout.
The Shell V-Power Mustangs will hit the track for a Warm Up session at 10:45am AEST (10:15am local) ahead of the 147-lap race at 2:15pm AEST.
