Race 24 of the Supercars Championship at Queensland Raceway delivered some drama from the very first lap, with a mixed-weather qualifying session and a race start that turned into a demolition derby before the field even reached Turn 2.
Qualifying – From Tight Dry Battle to Wet-Weather Lottery
Qualifying began in dry conditions, and Part 1 produced one of the tightest sessions of the season, with the top 10 covered by just 0.226 seconds.
Anton De Pasquale led the way with a blistering lap, narrowly ahead of Broc Feeney and David Reynolds.
Ryan Wood, Will Brown, Thomas Randle, James Golding, Cam Waters, Richie Stanaway, and Chaz Mostert also advanced, while Matt Payne agonisingly missed out in 11th.
The skies opened for the Top 10 shootout, turning the track into a slippery minefield.
In the wet, Feeney shone, mastering the treacherous conditions to snatch pole with a 1:19.801. Wood’s early effort put him second, with Brown third.
Stanaway locked in fourth ahead of Waters, while De Pasquale’s pace faded in the rain, dropping him to sixth. Reynolds, Golding, Mostert, and Randle completed the top 10 starters.
Race 24 –
As the lights went out for the 39-lap finale, Feeney launched cleanly and pulled a few car lengths over Wood, who Brown quickly overhauled. But behind them, disaster struck.
Cooper Murray and Thomas Randle banged wheels off the start, sending Murray’s front end skyward.
Moments later, a massive multi-car crash unfolded at Turn 1. Kai Allen clipped Aaron Cameron on the run to the corner, spinning Cameron sideways into Randle and triggering a chain reaction.
Jaxon Evans, Brodie Kostecki, and Jack Le Brocq were all caught up and sent into the gravel, Evans suffering severe right-rear suspension damage.
Several others scattered wide or made contact while trying to avoid the mess.
The safety car was called immediately, with Kostecki limping to the garage for major steering and front bar repairs.
Evans and Le Brocq were stranded in pit lane, their races effectively over before they’d begun.
Racing resumed on lap 4 with Feeney leading Brown, Wood, Stanaway, and Waters.
Fullwood was already up an astonishing 11 places from 24th to 13th after threading through the carnage, while James Courtney had climbed from 26th to 16th.
Murray and Randle were the big losers, each dropping more than 10 positions.
Lap 7 brought controversy; Feeney was slapped with a five-second penalty for a false start. He immediately voiced his frustration over the radio, insisting: “I did not jump the start!”
By lap 10, Evans and Le Brocq remained in the pits, unlikely to rejoin. Kostecki returned six laps down, his race now a data-gathering exercise.
Waters spent much of the first stint bottled up behind Stanaway in a nose-to-tail train that also included Reynolds, Mostert, De Pasquale, Golding, and Payne.
Unable to make a pass, Payne’s Grove Racing squad made the first strategic move on lap 14, pitting him early into clear air in an attempt to undercut several cars.
Two laps later, wildcard Zach Bates became the first to gamble on a two-tyre change, rejoining in the middle of the Stanaway-led train.
With 18 laps to go, Waters blinked, stopping for just two tyres, the left-front and left-rear, to emerge narrowly ahead of De Pasquale. But a wide moment at Turn 2 allowed De Pasquale to attack into the hairpin and reclaim the place.
Stanaway pitted next, taking four tyres and rejoining just behind Bates but ahead of Mostert, who also stopped for four. Cameron Crick followed them in.
Wood came in with 16 laps to go for four tyres, slotting back in alongside De Pasquale and ahead of Waters. Feeney pitted a lap later, serving his five-second penalty before rejoining in seventh.
Brown and Andre Heimgartner stopped with 15 laps remaining. A minor left-rear issue cost Brown time, but he still rejoined ahead of Feeney. Hill and Allen completed the pit cycle with 13 laps to go.
With 10 laps to go, Brown led Feeney by just under a second, with De Pasquale third under heavy attack from Wood.
The young Kiwi, on fresher rubber, dived down the inside at Turn 3 to take the final podium spot.
Fullwood’s lap-12 stop had propelled him into fifth, a net gain of 19 places, but his charge stalled when Waters forced his way past with six laps to go. Payne then undercut Fullwood at Turn 6, with Mostert following through shortly after.
At the front, Feeney continued to pressure Brown, both trading fastest laps, but the margin stretched slightly to 0.8 seconds in the closing laps.
Brown crossed the line to claim his second victory of the season, ending a lengthy winless streak and bagging five bonus points for fastest lap. Sprint Cup champion Feeney completed a Triple Eight 1–2, while Wood secured third, his second podium of the day, nine seconds further back.
Wood’s back-to-back podiums sees him jump up from 10th to 8th in the Championship Standings. Feeney holds out his lead in the standings with a 232 point gap to Brown with Payne holding onto third place in the championship ahead of Waters and Mostert.
De Pasquale finished fourth ahead of Waters, Payne, Mostert, Stanaway, Reynolds, and Fullwood. Heimgartner took 12th, while Evans was classified as a DNF.
Header Image: Walkinshaw Andretti United
