De Pasquale holds off Payne for win; Waters claims Triple Crown

Chevrolet is back on top in the Top End, as Anton De Pasquale has taken victory on Sunday at the betr Darwin Triple Crown.

The Melburnian used clever pit strategy to get ahead of and hold off Kiwi Matt Payne to take his second win of the 2026 season and third at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway.

Payne would come home second on the road with fellow Ford star Cam Waters third.

By scoring the most points across the weekend, Waters also claims the Darwin Triple Crown for the first time in his career.

The Milduran combined finishes of first, second, and third, as well as two poles to earn his first race win, poles, and round win since last year’s season opener.

Triple Eight’s Will Brown and Broc Feeney rounded out the top five in today’s race, while defending Supercars champion Chaz Mostert suffered an apparent engine failure in the closing laps of the race.

The Safety Car brought out to retrieve Mostert’s stricken Supra forced the race to end under Safety Car.

There was notable driver news pre-race on Sunday, with Brodie Kostecki being ruled out from driving this morning due to illness, with his endurance co-driver Todd Hazelwood stepping in the No. 17 Ford Mustang.

Then after qualifying, Tickford Racing’s Thomas Randle was ruled unfit to drive due to heat-related issues; Randle’s cool suit failed in Saturday’s race which had lingering effects on Sunday.

In his place, former Supercars champion Mark Winterbottom – who was on assignment with Supercars’ TV team – was called into action to drive the No. 55 Castrol Ford today.

Hazelwood managed a 12th place finish, while Winterbottom finished 22nd after stalling on his first pit stop.

Payne’s strong weekend saw the 23-year old pull to within 15 points of championship leader Feeney at the end of the weekend.

The Championship now turns its focus to the streets of Townsville and the NTI Townsville 500 next month.

North Queenland’s largest annual sporting event takes place July 10-12, and will feature highly-anticipated supporting entertainment with Summernats Goes Troppo and PBR Australia.