‘Carmageddon’ takes place at the Gold Coast 500 when an eight-car pile-up causes the race to be delayed and Brodie Kostecki confirms Bathurst victory with another win

Dramatic scenes unfolded at the Gold Coast 500 on Sunday afternoon when a massive crash involving eight cars occurred during the first lap of the race.

It came as Brodie Kostecki confirmed his Bathurst 1000 victory by taking another title on the streets of Surfers Paradise.

The incident occurred at Turn 11, on the aptly named Breaker Street, and Anton De Pasquale was forced to retire from the race.

Nearly half of the competitors were involved in the massive accident, so a safety car was immediately deployed.

De Pasquale appeared to nudge Walkinshaw Andretti United driver Ryan Wood as he entered the corner.

Wood then lost control of the car and drove straight into the barrier on the right side of the corner.

De Pasquale then drove into an oncoming line of cars coming around a bend.

James Courtney arrived first, and the Blanchard Racing Team driver drove straight into the side of De Pasquale’s Shell car, smashing it with great force into the barrier on the left side of the track.

Courtney’s hood appeared to have sustained some damage from the accident, and behind them was a train of cars, all involved in the accident.

Fortunately, it appears that no one was seriously injured in the incident and everyone except De Pasquale was able to continue driving with minor cosmetic damage to their cars.

“I went in there and I think Woody had half a moment with Anton before me, Stanaway, and we were all there.

“I saw what was happening so I tried to stop and there were 12 cars behind me trying to push me through the accident,” Courtney said.

“It’s really disappointing, we’ve come a long way, we had good car speed this weekend and it looks like we might be able to get home sooner than we thought.”

Commentator Neil Crompton was stunned by the disaster.

“There’s the usual drama on Breaker Street, there’s carmageddon going into Turn 11 and the safety car goes out – what a disaster,” Crompton told Channel Seven.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight cars took part.

“Now Ryan Wood hit the Hino barriers and then I saw one of the Shell cars and I think it was Will (Brown).

– Unfortunately, we are facing various problems.

Mark Skaife said: “Of all the aptly named streets in this layout, Breaker Street has eight cars.”

Erebus driver Kostecki had no problems as he put in a masterful drive on Sunday and, after avoiding early race carnage, converted pole position into his first Gold Coast victory.

It is the reigning Supercars champion’s second win of the season after dominating Mount Panorama with co-driver Todd Hazelwood earlier this month.

“Bathurst was a fairy tale for us and coming into this weekend we knew we would be there or somewhere there,” Kostecki said.

“We showed up, needed a few more tweaks, but today we finally got into the car. It was a rocket.”

Series leader Brown defeated the merciless Feeney in a thrilling duel between the two Red Bulls to finish second and remain at the top of the rankings.

Feeney remains Brown’s only opponent in the championship race, but admits his chances of winning a maiden title are slim.

“It’s a pity he (Brown) stopped and let me pass,” Feeney said.

“Every move here has a risk… I never had a good enough opportunity (to overtake).

“A flight to Adelaide is rather unlikely, but we are still hunting.

“The pressure is a little less now.”

After winning Saturday’s race, Cam Waters tried to play spoiler but failed to finish fourth after damaging the front end of his Tickford Mustang.

Chaz Mostert, then fifth, was forced to return to the pits for fuel after an error on his last visit and settled for 11th place.

With just 300 points left in the final round in Adelaide, Mostert and Waters will be unable to close the gap to Brown.