Will Brown has leapfrogged teammate Brodie Kostecki to take the Supercars Championship lead by winning the first of two races at the Townsville 500.
Starting off pole, Brown was forced wide into Turn 1 by Shane van Gisbergen and dropped to fourth but quickly recovered to retake the lead just 24 laps later and hold off spirited challenges from a number of contenders.
Broc Feeney moves to within a point of second-placed Kostecki on the championship ladder following a second place result.
Chaz Mostert had led by 18 seconds following the first round of stops before dropping back to finish third, having needed extra fuel on his remaining two ventures to the lane.
A Lap 69 Safety Car saw the field brought together ahead of the final run to the flag, with the Walkinshaw Andretti driver sitting ninth and the queue and relying on a big charge to the line. In doing so he managed overtakes on van Gisbergen, Scott Pye, Bryce Fullwood, Andre Heimgartner and Cam Waters.
His progress ultimately slowed when hunting down Feeney, who had pulled two seconds clear up the road.
Having competed in Chicago just five days ago, van Gisbergen overcame a difficult opening lap to move back through the field to finish fourth, having started in the same position.
The Kiwi had launched well off the line and threatened Brown for the lead at Turn 1 but ran both cars wide as he attempted a move up the inside on cold tyres.
He then ran into strife following contact with Jack Le Brocq, the two nudging the Turn 8 tyre wall, which resulted in a drop to 14th.
Following the Lap 69 Safety Car for a potential fire for Todd Hazelwood, van Gisbergen sat eighth and was showing great pace having made both stops later than his nearest rivals.
This was also the case for Mostert, who ran a three-stopper, the two briefly battling off the restart for the Mustang to move forward with the Camaro following.
A late move on Waters was as far as van Gisbergen managed to progress for his result, forcing the early race leader to settle for fifth.
Pye would finish sixth, while Heimgartner was one of the biggest movers in the field, progressing from 17th on the grid to come home seventh.
Fullwood, James Courtney and Will Davison rounded out the top 10, the latter having to conserve fuel in the dying stages as Shell V-Power Racing, Grove Racing and Brad Jones Racing all battled issues with the new fuel hoses.
The third Kiwi in the field, Matt Payne, also showed great promise over the Reid Park Street Circuit, setting to second fastest time in qualifying to progress to his maiden Top 10 Shootout, where he qualified seventh.
Payne sat deep in the top 10 for the first half of the race before dropping back to finish 15th.
Kostecki could only manage 19th, having battled with his Erebus Racing Camaro for the majority of the race. The then-championship leader lost second gear in early proceedings and also reported to suffer damage following alleged contact with Tim Slade.
Anton de Pasquale would fail to finish having suffered from electrical issues.
Supercars return for Race 2 of the Townsville 500 on Sunday. Qualifying begins the day’s action at 12.00 pm and is followed by the Top 10 Shootout at 2.00 pm.
The 88-lap, 250km Race 17 begins at 4.40 pm and will be shown live on Sky Sport.
Header Image: Supercars
