Broc Feeney tightened his grip on the 2025 Supercars Championship with a poised and calculated victory in a chaotic Adelaide opener, turning early setbacks into a decisive late-race strike.
Ryan Wood had looked set to dictate proceedings after seizing the lead in the opening laps, but the race evolved into a strategic arm-wrestle shaped by tyre life, pit timing, and a brief engine scare for Feeney that threatened to derail his campaign.
Chaz Mostert mounted a ferocious charge from the midfield to salvage crucial points, while fellow Kiwis Matt Payne and Wood featured prominently inside the top 10. By the flag, Feeney had reclaimed control of both the race and the title fight, ensuring Sunday’s finale carries all the weight of a championship decider.
Qualifying –
Qualifying in Adelaide delivered plenty of twists, with strong results for two Kiwis and a major blow for one of the championship frontrunners.
Ryan Wood set the tone early, topping both stages of qualifying and earning the final run in the Top 10 Shootout. The young Kiwi looked confident throughout, lifting the benchmark several times and finishing ahead of title rivals Kai Allen and Broc Feeney.
Will Brown also secured his Shootout berth, ensuring three of the four championship contenders featured at the front.
The odd one out was Chaz Mostert, whose morning quickly unravelled. After just scraping through Q1, Mostert was left stranded in the pit lane at the start of Q2 when his Mustang wouldn’t fire. By the time the Walkinshaw Andretti United crew revived the car, he had just one meaningful run left.
He climbed into the top 10 initially, but as others improved, he was pushed back to 12th and eliminated. His frustration over the team radio made it clear how costly the issue had been.
Matt Payne enjoyed a cleaner run, showing strong early pace and comfortably advancing to the Shootout.
With both Wood and Payne through, New Zealand had a solid presence in the fight for Saturday’s grid, although bittersweet for both drivers who were earlier eliminated from the championship title fight in the previous round.
Further back, there was disappointment for Andre Heimgartner, who couldn’t recover from a difficult Q1 and was knocked out alongside several others as the circuit evolved late in the session.
Jaxon Evans suffered the same fate, joining Heimgartner outside the top 10 after being unable to match the rapid improvements around him.
One of the day’s surprise performers was rookie Aaron Cameron, who stunned with a late lap good enough for fourth, even bumping Mostert out of Shootout contention.
Anton De Pasquale, Thomas Randle, Cooper Murray, Payne, and Brodie Kostecki filled the remaining Shootout spots.
By the end of qualifying, Wood held the advantage, Payne was positioned well, and Mostert was left with work to do.
Top 10 Shootout –
The Top 10 Shootout reshaped the grid in Adelaide, with Feeney delivering a superb lap to secure pole and extend his season tally to an unprecedented 18.
The session started in tricky fashion after oil from a support race left the early runners scrambling for grip, catching out Kostecki and leaving him at the tail of the Shootout order.
As conditions improved, Payne briefly held the benchmark before being overtaken by a string of faster laps from Brown and De Pasquale.
Cameron then stunned the paddock by snatching provisional pole with a composed run that ultimately secured him a front-row start.
Feeney, however, had the final say. With the track at its best, he produced a lap half a second clear of the field, leaving Cameron second and Wood third after the qualifying pacesetter couldn’t match Feeney’s pace on his final run. Allen struggled with an engine issue and slipped to eighth.
The final Shootout order placed Feeney on pole ahead of Cameron, with Wood and De Pasquale on the second row.
Payne slotted into sixth, ensuring two Kiwis started inside the top half of the grid, while others watched from afar after missing out in qualifying.
Race 33 –
Broc Feeney tightened his grip on the 2025 Supercars title hunt with a composed drive to victory in Adelaide, overhauling Wood after the final round of pit stops and heading into Sunday’s decider with the championship advantage.
The result was shaped by team strategy, engine concerns, and late-race politics, with Mostert salvaging second after a bruising run from deep on the grid.
The opening laps immediately delivered drama. Cameron got the jump on Feeney and boldly held the inside line into Turn 4, only for a snap of oversteer on exit to open the door for Wood, who swept into second and then claimed the lead with a confident move at Turn 9.
Feeney’s race looked to be unravelling early when he reported an intermittent misfire that briefly robbed the Red Bull Camaro of power, forcing Triple Eight to weigh up whether a sensor change would be required.
While Wood stretched his margin at the front, Mostert was climbing through the order with trademark aggression. Starting 12th, he muscled his way into the top 10, only to clash with Randle at the final corner.
The contact fired him across the grass and into the outside wall, leaving his Walkinshaw Andretti United Mustang carrying some slight front-end damage and drawing the ire of race control for exceeding track limits.
Cameron’s promising run ended on lap nine when a slide at the Chicane pitched him into the wall, clearing the way for Feeney to re-establish himself in the lead pack.
Behind them, Payne settled into the top 10, shadowing De Pasquale and managing tyre life, while Allen initially played the long game before making inroads later.
The first stint unfolded with strategic tension building between Wood and Feeney. The misfire gradually disappeared, and by the time the leaders stopped together near the one-third mark, Feeney was close enough to threaten.
Wood briefly regained control of the race after De Pasquale’s early stop cycled through, but the balance of power shifted as fuel loads equalised and tyre wear took hold.
Mostert, meanwhile, continued to push the limits—literally. His front bumper struck tyre bundles twice, first at Turn 1 and again during a fraught move while lapping NASCAR guest Austin Cindric, who limped back to the pits with suspension damage.
Each hit worsened the WAU Mustang’s aerodynamics, yet Mostert still produced the quickest laps and edged closer to the lead trio.
The decisive moment came after the final pit sequence. Feeney and Wood stopped on consecutive laps, and with Wood exiting on cold tyres, Feeney pounced.
A late-braking dive at Turn 9 sealed the pass, forcing Wood over the kerbs and leaving him no chance to counter. Mostert then cleared Brown with a clean move at Turn 4 to move into third, drawing within striking range of his teammate.
The closing laps became a chess match. Feeney escaped, Wood held second, and Mostert stalked the leading WAU Mustang, knowing every point mattered.
Behind them, Brown and Allen staged their own fierce exchange. Allen attacked repeatedly, eventually forcing Brown defensive and triggering a chain reaction that saw De Pasquale vault over Allen’s rear wheel as others stacked up behind them.
Up ahead, with the championship situation escalating, Wood lifted on the final lap, allowing Mostert through at the last corner to secure an extra nine points and drag the title fight into Sunday.
Both contenders continued unscathed, crossing fourth and fifth respectively, while Payne, Randle, Cam Waters, James Courtney, and Brodie Kostecki rounded out the top 10.
Feeney’s dominant result, his 14th win of the season, not only moved him into the points lead by 23 markers over Mostert, but also sealed the 2025 Manufacturer’s Championship for Chevrolet.
Wood’s willingness to play team roles has kept WAU’s hopes alive, ensuring Sunday’s 250km finale carries full championship weight.
Qualifying is scheduled for 10:30AM local time/12:30PM NZST, followed by the Top 10 Shootout at 1:05PM local time/3:05PM NZST, then the Grand Finale at 3:45PM local time 5:45PM NZST.
Header Image: Supercars
