Brodie Kostecki has backed up an enormous effort to claim pole with victory in the first Supercars race of grand prix weekend.

The 2023 champion battled through vomiting midway through his flying lap in qualifying to put his Ford Mustang on pole by 0.044 seconds at Albert Park.

Kostecki was ill between turns eight and nine to steal pole off Blanchard Racing Team’s James Golding, with Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney third and Grove Racing young gun Matt Payne fourth.

But the Dick Johnson Racing star couldn’t be stopped in the race despite being under threat from Payne after a safety car to clean up Jackson Walls’ beached Triple Eight Mustang.

“Two or three more laps and I would’ve been in a little bit of trouble (from Payne),” Kostecki admitted.

Feeney claimed third with Golding just missing the podium and Walkinshaw’s leading Toyota GR Supras claiming fifth and seventh via Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood,

“I think a champagne shower’s going to make me feel a lot better,” Kostecki said.

“The team are really enjoying this. The Mustang’s been on song today, Matty was breathing down my neck there.

“I’ve had better days but the last time I felt like this I won a race at the Mountain (Mount Panorama).

“Seems to be a bit of a coincidence when I feel a bit unwell I seem to drive a bit better, so who knows.”

He joked later: “I don’t know (what I’ve got) but I hope I’ve still got it tomorrow.”

Earlier on, Kostecki immediately jumped out of his Mustang to visit the garage before returning and finishing second in the qualifying session for Friday’s race in a hastily cleaned car.

There he was 0.032 seconds behind Payne in the brief eight-minute session, with Wood third on the grid and Mostert fourth in another positive result for the Supra program.

Kostecki had a clean helmet and suit for the race.

His Mustang is donning a ‘HOT WTER’ number plate in Melbourne in reference to controversy over his sneak peek underneath a Triple Eight Mustang and Walkinshaw Supra at the season launch last month.

Meanwhile, the hard-luck story was Jayden Ojeda, who was quickest in first practice on Friday morning before hitting the wall in the next session.

It meant he missed both qualifying sessions and had to start from the back of the grid.

But Ojeda jumped up to 16th by the end of Thursday night’s race.

Grove Racing’s Kai Allen impressed even more as he fought back to 11th after being turned around on lap one.

- with AAP