Blanchard Racing Team Secures Stunning Front-Row Lockout at Sydney Motorsport Park
The Blanchard Racing Team (BRT) achieved a remarkable result at Sydney Motorsport Park, locking out the front row for the opening race of the 2026 Supercars Championship season. James Golding secured pole position, with teammate Aaron Cameron starting alongside him.
Golding Claims Pole Position
James Golding claimed his second career Supercars pole position with a lap time of 1m27.9510s, edging out Cameron by a mere 0.0602s. This impressive performance comes as BRT enters its first weekend with a technical partnership with Triple Eight Race Engineering.
Qualifying Results
Reigning Bathurst 1000 champion Matt Payne qualified third, followed by Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney in fourth. Anton De Pasquale was the fastest Chevrolet driver, securing fifth place. André Heimgartner will start tenth, representing Toyota in the top ten for the Gen3 Supra’s debut Supercars race.
The qualifying session saw a significant shakeup, with reigning champion Chaz Mostert starting from 20th after failing to advance beyond the first part of the session.
Part 1 of Qualifying
The first part of the session saw the Gen3 qualifying lap record fall quickly, with André Heimgartner initially setting the pace before Golding took the lead with a time of 1m28.4755s. The top ten advancing to Part 2 were Payne, Golding, Brown, Cameron, Feeney, Waters, Bates, Heimgartner, De Pasquale and Randle.
Brodie Kostecki missed out on advancing by a narrow margin of just 0.0008s, while several young drivers, including Jackson Walls, Ryan Wood, Kai Allen, and Rylan Gray, as well impressed with their performances.
Part 2 of Qualifying
The second part of the session saw Golding immediately set a blistering pace, recording the first lap time in the 1m27s with a 1m27.9510s. Cameron closely followed, almost matching his teammate’s time. No other driver was able to challenge their dominance.
Final Qualifying Results
Here are the final qualifying results for Race 1 of the 2026 Dunlop Sydney 500:
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Car | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | James Golding | BRT | Ford | 1m27.9510s |
| 2 | 3 | Aaron Cameron | BRT | Ford | +0.0602s |
| 3 | 19 | Matt Payne | Grove | Ford | +0.1609s |
| 4 | 88 | Broc Feeney | Triple Eight | Ford | +0.2663s |
| 5 | 18 | Anton De Pasquale | Team 18 | Chevrolet | +0.2752s |
| 6 | 10 | Zach Bates | MSR | Chevrolet | +0.3598s |
| 7 | 6 | Cam Waters | Tickford | Ford | +0.3750s |
| 8 | 888 | Will Brown | Triple Eight | Ford | +0.6122s |
| 9 | 55 | Thomas Randle | Tickford | Ford | +0.6310s |
| 10 | 8 | André Heimgartner | BJR | Toyota | +1.1756s |
The first Supercars Championship race weekend of 2026 is underway at Sydney Motorsport Park.