After his race victory yesterday, Broc Feeney returned to the top step of the podium with a commanding victory in Race 22 of the 2025 Supercars Townsville 500, fending off teammate Will Brown to deliver a dominant Triple Eight 1-2.
Meanwhile, Matt Payne kept himself in the championship hunt with a solid fifth-place finish, as the Kiwi contingent of Matt Payne, Ryan Wood, Andre Heimgartner, Richie Stanaway, and Jaxon Evans all played their part in an action-packed 200km race.
Starting from pole position alongside Payne, Feeney was forced to go wheel to wheel into Turn 1 and held firm as Payne lost momentum on exit, slipping to third behind Anton De Pasquale and coming under immediate threat from Thomas Randle.
Behind them, a chaotic opening lap saw mixed fortunes for the five Kiwis. Wood dropped one position to 11th, Evans slipped to 21st, while Heimgartner climbed one spot to 20th. Stanaway made the most impressive start, jumping four positions to slot into 13th.
By Lap 2, De Pasquale was harassing Feeney for the lead with Payne tucked right behind, ready to capitalise. Brown was the fastest car on track from 7th and made an early move on Will Davison to take 6th.
Wood began to make moves of his own, setting the fastest lap on Lap 4 and climbing up to 8th after passing rookie Kai Allen.
Mostert and Brown were on the charge by Lap 10, both passing Randle to move into 5th and 6th, respectively.
Up front, Payne was locked in battle with De Pasquale until he finally got by on Lap 12 to reclaim second and begin the chase on Feeney, who had stretched his lead out to three seconds.
Elsewhere, Heimgartner was continuing to climb the order and sat in 18th, while Stanaway was up to 11th. Evans was struggling to make headway and remained in 20th.
The first to blink on strategy was Cam Waters, diving into the pits on Lap 15 for an aggressive undercut. Kostecki and Murray followed suit soon after.
Payne’s chase of Feeney stalled as he came under pressure from Brown, who was flying and passed De Pasquale for third on Lap 18.
By Lap 21, Feeney held a 4-second lead, with Brown now attacking Payne for second. De Pasquale pitted from fourth on Lap 23, followed by Davison.
Payne came in for his first stop on Lap 24, but a slow 9-second stop due to a fuel churn issue saw him lose valuable time and rejoin just ahead of De Pasquale. Brown pitted a lap later, taking on less fuel and jumping both Payne and De Pasquale on re-entry.
Wood, Allen, Cameron, and Evans stopped on Lap 27. Allen took on a heavier fuel load, his stop slightly longer than Payne’s at 12.2 seconds. Allen rejoined right alongside Stanaway, with Stanaway getting the upper hand to stay ahead.
Feeney came in with a healthy buffer and completed a 7.1-second stop, rejoining behind Waters, who had leapfrogged him via the undercut but was on much older tyres. Feeney quickly began reeling Waters in.
Incidents continued deeper in the field. Reynolds was handed a 15-second penalty for spinning Courtney, while Davison was hampered by a dislodged wheel nut that forced a second trip to the pits.
By the halfway mark, all drivers had cycled through their first stops. Waters led Feeney by 4.7 seconds, but the Triple Eight driver was charging and reduced that gap to 2.2 seconds by Lap 35.
Mostert, meanwhile, was surging through the field. He passed Payne for 5th and then De Pasquale to move into 4th, running long on his first stint.
Feeney retook the lead from Waters on Lap 38, while Brown soon followed through to make it a Triple Eight 1-2. At this point, they were over six seconds clear of Mostert, with Waters fading on his older tyres.
There was drama for Hill as he came into the pits after reporting a brake issue over team radio. Once in the garage, the team investigated and found his brake pad had exploded and caused an array of damage, the culpit was a missing bolt. After some repairs he headed back out and rejoined 10 laps down.
Payne pitted again with 28 laps to go, this time for a much quicker 5.7-second stop. Waters responded two laps later but was compromised by dirty air on re-entry, limiting the effectiveness of his strategy.
Brown was vocal over team radio about being left out too long before his second stop, which allowed Feeney to extend the gap. He rejoined two seconds behind his teammate and ahead of Waters and Payne.
Wood and Allen went long into the second stint, stopping with 18 laps to go. Both endured slightly longer stops due to fuel wait times, but Wood’s strong pace kept him in the hunt for a top 10.
With all stops completed and 15 laps to go, the running order had Feeney leading Brown by 2.2 seconds. Waters sat in third, but Mostert was quickly closing the gap. Payne was a further 5.4 seconds back in fifth.
Wood was 8th, just behind De Pasquale and Randle, and rapidly closing in.
Mostert made the pass on Waters for third at Turn 12 with 11 laps remaining. Feeney briefly saw his lead to Brown shrink to under a second, but he responded with superior pace and extended the gap back to over two seconds as the laps counted down.
Wood was one of the quickest drivers on track in the final stint, setting times half a second faster than some of those ahead. With four laps to go, he caught and passed Randle to move into 7th.
The Kiwi roundup was impressive:
- Matt Payne finished 5th, a strong haul of points, but not enough to stop Brown from leapfrogging him for second in the championship.
- Ryan Wood impressed once again with fast, clean pace and finished 7th, one of the fastest cars late in the race.
- Andre Heimgartner was one of the biggest movers, up 10 spots to finish 11th after a quietly effective drive.
- Richie Stanaway held steady in the top half of the field for most of the race before dropping slightly in the final stint to finish 14th.
- Jaxon Evans made up three spots to come home in 17th, unable to make much of a dent from the back half of the grid.
Top 10 – Race 22, Townsville 500:
- Broc Feeney
- Will Brown
- Chaz Mostert
- Cam Waters
- Matt Payne
- Anton De Pasquale
- Ryan Wood
- Thomas Randle
- Bryce Fullwood
- Kai Allen
With this result, Feeney not only stamps his authority on the Townsville weekend but also extends his lead in the championship, while Payne will look to bounce back after a solid, if slightly frustrating, drive that saw him slip back to third in the standings with a 15 point deficit to Brown and 235 point deficit to Feeney. Meanwhile Wood’s solid 7th place finish puts him back into the Top 10 in the championship.
The momentum now heads into the next round on 8-10 August at Queensland Raceway.
Header Image: Supercars via X
