The 2026 The Bend 500 (known for commercial reasons as the 2026 AirTouch 500 at The Bend) was a motor racing event for Supercars that was held between 11 and 13 September 2026 at the The Bend Motorsport Park in the Tailem Bend, South Australia.
In a race plagued by heavy rain, Chaz Mostert and Fabian Coulthard prevailed to take victory after starting the race from outside the top ten. The inclement weather necessitated multiple safety cars and as the race went on, the drying track forced teams to gamble with tyre changes. Walkinshaw TWG Racing anticipated this correctly and along with Mostert and Coulthard claiming victory, the sister car of Ryan Wood and Jaxon Evans rounded out the podium in third place. This marked Evans' first Supercars podium in his career. Second place was claimed by Kai Allen and Tim Slade, who led a sizeable portion of the race early on.
The race was scheduled to 147 laps at a distance of 500 kilometers. However, due to the slow nature of the race as well as the intervention of multiple safety cars, the race would be deemed time-certain and would finish at 141 laps at a distance of 480 kilometers. Both Blanchard Racing Team entrants were disqualified after failing to meet the minimum required drive time for James Golding and Aaron Cameron respectively.
Background The event was held on the weekend of 11–13 September 2026. It was the first Supercars endurance event of the year, the second iteration of The Bend 500 endurance race and the eighth Supercars event to be held at The Bend Motorsport Park since the inception of the SuperSprint format in 2018.
Having utilised the International Circuit in the previous years event, The Bend 500 would be switched to the West Circuit layout for 2026. This was done in an effort to encourage more overtaking after the lukewarm reaction to the 2025 event.
Entry list
Twenty six cars were entered into the event — 9 sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaros, 12 seventh-generation Ford Mustangs and 5 Toyota Supras.
Two wildcard entries were entered for this weekend. One was from Tickford Racing that accommodated Ben Gomersall and Campbell Logan. The other was a Team 18 entry for Craig Lowndes and Bayley Hall.
Results Qualifying Driver Team Car Time 1 18 Anton De Pasquale Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1:16.2710 2 19 Matt Payne Grove Racing Ford Mustang S650 1:16.2779 3 26 Kai Allen Grove Racing Ford Mustang S650 1:16.3613 4 88 Broc Feeney Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Mustang S650 1:16.3644 5 10 Zach Bates Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1:16.3771 6 17 Brodie Kostecki Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang S650 1:16.4106 7 55 Thomas Randle Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 1:16.4318 8 31 Jayden Ojeda PremiAir Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1:16.4918 9 6 Cam Waters Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 1:16.5051 10 9 Jobe Stewart Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1:16.5085 11 1 Chaz Mostert Walkinshaw TWG Racing Toyota GR Supra 1:16.5385 12 99 Cooper Murray Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1:16.5466 13 888 Will Brown Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Mustang S650 1:16.5729 14 2 Ryan Wood Walkinshaw TWG Racing Toyota GR Supra 1:16.5906 15 4 Jack Le Brocq Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1:16.6164 16 20 David Reynolds Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1:16.6409 17 3 Aaron Cameron Blanchard Racing Team Ford Mustang S650 1:16.6452 18 7 James Golding Blanchard Racing Team Ford Mustang S650 1:16.6950 19 8 Andre Heimgartner Brad Jones Racing Toyota GR Supra 1:16.7760 20 38 Rylan Gray Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang S650 1:16.7769 21 11 Jackson Walls Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Mustang S650 1:16.8062 22 15 Bayley Hall Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1:16.8168 23 96 Macauley Jones Brad Jones Racing Toyota GR Supra 1:16.8289 24 777 Declan Fraser PremiAir Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1:16.8375 25 5 Ben Gomersall Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 1:16.9969 26 14 Cameron Hill Brad Jones Racing Toyota GR Supra 1:17.3279 Source:
Top ten shootout Driver Team Car Time 1 17 Brodie Kostecki Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang S650 1:16.3756 2 19 Matt Payne Grove Racing Ford Mustang S650 1:16.4492 3 6 Cam Waters Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 1:16.6509 4 55 Thomas Randle Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 1:16.6641 5 18 Anton De Pasquale Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1:16.7263 6 26 Kai Allen Grove Racing Ford Mustang S650 1:16.7830 7 88 Broc Feeney Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Mustang S650 1:16.7929 8 10 Zach Bates Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1:16.9905 9 9 Jobe Stewart Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1:17.0517 10 31 Jayden Ojeda PremiAir Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1:17.0733 Source:
Race DriversTeamCarLapsTime/RetiredPoints 1 1 Chaz Mostert Fabian Coulthard Walkinshaw TWG Racing Toyota GR Supra 141 3:36:02.6689 11 300 2 26 Kai Allen Tim Slade Grove Racing Ford Mustang S650 141 + 18.487 6 276 3 2 Ryan Wood Jaxon Evans Walkinshaw TWG Racing Toyota GR Supra 141 + 33.283 14 258 4 888 Will Brown Scott Pye Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Mustang S650 141 + 44.388 13 240 5 31 Jayden Ojeda David Russell PremiAir Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 141 + 45.697 10 222 6 19 Matt Payne Will Davison Grove Racing Ford Mustang S650 141 + 47.124 2 204 7 18 Anton De Pasquale Lee Holdsworth Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 141 + 1:00.440 5 192 8 8 Andre Heimgartner Bryce Fullwood Brad Jones Racing Toyota GR Supra 141 + 1:02.461 19 180 9 38 Rylan Gray Tony D'Alberto Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang S650 141 + 1:12.360 20 168 10 4 Jack Le Brocq Harri Jones Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 141 + 1:15.567 15 156 11 55 Thomas Randle Reuben Goodall Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 141 + 1:15.693 4 144 12 10 Zach Bates Aaron Seton Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 140 + 1 lap 8 138 13 15 Bayley Hall Craig Lowndes Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 140 + 1 lap 22 132 14 6 Cam Waters Mark Winterbottom Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 140 + 1 lap 3 126 15 9 Jobe Stewart Jarrod Hughes Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 140 + 1 lap 9 120 16 17 Brodie Kostecki Todd Hazelwood Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang S650 140 + 1 lap 1 114 17 14 Cameron Hill Brad Vaughan Brad Jones Racing Toyota GR Supra 140 + 1 lap 26 108 18 99 Cooper Murray Lochie Dalton Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 140 + 1 lap 12 102 19 11 Jackson Walls Jack Perkins Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Mustang S650 140 + 1 lap 21 96 20 96 Macauley Jones Jordan Boys Brad Jones Racing Toyota GR Supra 140 + 1 lap 23 90 21 5 Ben Gomersall Campbell Logan Tickford Racing Ford Mustang S650 140 + 1 lap 25 84 22 20 David Reynolds James Courtney Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 139 + 2 laps 16 78 23 88 Broc Feeney Nick Percat Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Mustang S650 138 + 3 laps 7 72 NC 777 Declan Fraser Nash Morris PremiAir Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 137 + 6 laps 24 60 DSQ 7 James Golding Richie Stanaway Blanchard Racing Team Ford Mustang S650 141 Disqualified 18 DSQ 3 Aaron Cameron Zak Best Blanchard Racing Team Ford Mustang S650 137 Disqualified 17 Fastest lap set by Will Brown - 1:18.0402 on Lap 127Source:
References
External links Classification, 2026 AIRTOUCH 500 AT THE BEND, racing.natsoft.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org