Overview
- Practice running showed strong race pace from Brodie Kostecki, who posted the fastest lap in the quicker session with a 1:08.7032 time.
- Several practice incidents stopped running, including Jackson Walls and Aaron Seton running into gravel and a separate front‑end complaint from Andre Heimgartner.
- Will Brown reported a suspected gearbox or internal failure in practice, sat out much of the session, and later avoided further damage by returning to the pits for diagnosis.
- Qualifying produced a 1:08.0105 pole lap from Matt Payne that reset the Gen3-era practice/qualifying record and left Ford Mustangs occupying eight of the top 10 grid spots.
- The weekend’s format sets two races on the same day to decide points, so Kostecki’s practice speed, Payne’s pole and Brown’s unfolding mechanical issue will directly affect team strategy and the title fight.