Brown wins Race 2 in Melbourne, Payne returns to podium

Matt Payne has claimed his second podium in as many races in Melbourne, finishing third on the Albert Park Street Circuit behind only winner Will Brown and Team 18’s Mark Winterbottom.

Due to time constraints, the race was cut short to 17 laps, and Red Bull looked set for their second one-two finish of the weekend until the second to last corner of the penultimate circuit when Broc Feeney locked up and lost two places from second.

Winterbottom and Payne were the benefactors, gaining a place each to complete the podium behind Brown, who had led from Turn 1 on Lap 1.

Ryan Wood had a mixed race, losing ground following mid-race contact with Thomas Randle, but he recovered from 15th for 12th as the second-best Kiwi.

Richie Stanaway was immediately behind Wood in 13th and was followed by Heimgartner. Jaxon Evans rounded out the Kiwi contingent in 18th, having sat 23rd mid-race

Cam Waters had earlier gotten away well from the pole, but Brown did it better from second, putting the nose of the Red Bull Camaro up the inside at Turn 1 and exiting Turn 2 with the lead.

Feeney threatened to follow, but the Tickford Mustang held firm to retain the second spot.

Payne dropped to eighth at the end of the opening lap behind Nick Percat, who was the biggest mover from 14th. Stanaway was 11th, Wood climbed to 13th, Evans to 17th, and Heimgartner to 18th.

Anton De Pasquale’s race lasted until Turn 4 when the DJR Mustang took contact and received damage. He returned to the pit lane to retire from the race.

Brown’s advantage at the front rarely grew and remained at about half a second over the opening laps.

Wood and Randle came into contact on Lap 4 as the Tickford Mustang attempted to move ahead of the Kiwi, going hard on the brakes. Wood was left with nowhere to go and nudged his rival, which ran him off the track through the sand, dropping the WAU entry to 15th.

Further forward, Payne had begun picking his way through the field and climbed to sixth on Lap 4.

Feeney finally found a way past Waters on Lap 7, but the latter was able to put his nose up the inside a corner later, nudging the Race 1 winner and running him wide.

Winterbottom benefited from this and climbed to second, ahead of Feeney, while Waters dropped to sixth, behind Davison and Payne, respectively.

The Red Bull entry would pass Team 18’s car shortly after, while Payne also moved to fourth over Davison on Lap 9.

With nine laps to go, the front seven of Brown, Feeney, Winterbottom, Payne, Davison, Percat and Waters were separated by less than four seconds.

Elsewhere, Wood was back on pace and returned to 13th before passing Stanaway on Lap 11. Heimgartner also made good ground and was 15th.

There was little movement over the following laps, and it was declared that it would become a time-certain affair.

Randle locked up and ran into the back of Cameron Hill as time ran up, sending the Camaro into a spin, and the #55 received a 15-second time penalty for causing the collision.

Feeney locked up the second-to-last corner on the penultimate lap, which allowed Winterbottom through for second, and Payne followed past to move into the podium places.

Brown went on to take a 1-second win over Winterbottom, with Payne a further six-tenths behind in third.

Feeney finished fourth, ahead of Davison and Percat, while Waters, Le Brocq, Todd Hazelwood, and Tim Slade completed the top ten.

Wood’s charge forward ended at 12th, the best result of his Supercars career to date. He was one place ahead of Stanaway, who Heimgartner followed.

Evans, who at one point dropped to 23rd, worked his way back to 18th.

Supercars return to the track for two timed qualifying sessions at 11.00 am on Saturday, before Race 5 at 7.40 pm and Race 6 at 12.25 pm on Sunday.

Melbourne SuperSprint Race 2 Results