Feeney leads home Brown for dominant Red Bull one-two in Darwin

Broc Feeney and Will Brown put over 16 seconds on the field as they stormed to a commanding Red Bull one-two in Sunday’s race at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin.

Feeney doubled down following his Saturday success for the round victory, holding off a late challenge from his teammate and eating into his championship lead.

Brodie Kostecki, who started on the front row, was a distant 16 seconds behind and built a gap of over ten seconds on fourth-placed James Golding before the chequered flag.

Richie Stanaway was the first Kiwi home in tenth, with Jaxon Evans on his tail in eleventh.

Matt Payne, Andre Heimgartner, and Ryan Wood were involved in incidents on their way to 20th, 21st, and 24th, respectively.

Payne’s problems began before the race started. A fuel pump issue was resolved just moments before the green flag, leaving the Kiwi to start in the pit lane.

Red Bull won the race off the line, with Feeney getting a good launch and Brown following through to pass Kostecki into Turn 1.

The weekend’s first Safety Car came for a Lap 1 crash between Heimgartner and wildcard Cooper Murray.

As the field consolidated into the tight right-hander, the Kiwi took contact from behind, which nudged him into Murray. His left front ran over the #888’s right rear, which lifted the front of the Brad Jones Camaro onto the roof of the Triple Eight entry.

Heimgartner almost rolled as its front wheels came off Murray’s entry, which caused significant cosmetic damage to the wildcard entry.

Both drivers returned to the pit lane under their own power, and Heimgartner remained on the lead lap. Murray also eventually retook to the track, albeit five laps off the pace.

Heimgartner and Murray’s issues didn’t stop there, with both drivers penalised for speeding under Safety Car conditions.

The field bunched together on the Lap 4 restart, and it was seen that Wood and Love breached protocol before the control line, resulting in a drive-through penalty for both.

Feeney pulled clear once the lights went green and pulled to a two-second advantage over Brown, which fluctuated until the pit window.

Kostecki, too, pulled clear of his teammate Le Brocq as a rhythm set in.

The gap between the two Red Bulls sat at under one second by Lap 20, and the team responded several tours later by stopping Saturday’s race winner on Lap 26.

Brown remained out for two more tours and dropped back to a net second behind his teammate.

Once Payne came in, as the last car to stop and with a 15-second penalty looming for turning Wood earlier, Feeney returned to the lead. Brown was three seconds behind, with the two over nine seconds clear of Kostecki with 20 laps to run.

Brown ate into his teammate’s advantage and pulled to within one second on the final laps, but he was never presented with an opportunity to take the lead.

Golding was a distant 10 seconds behind the 2023 Champion, having held off a challenge from Percat on the run to the flag.

Stopping early cost Le Brocq, who finished sixth, ahead of the Shell V-Power Racing duo of Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale.

Cameron Hill and Richie Stanaway completed the top ten.

There was no repeat of Saturday’s heroics for Chaz Mostert, who only made up four positions from his starting position of 20th for 16th. Cam Waters was 15th.

Supercars return for the Townsville 500 on July 5-7.

Supercars Darwin Race 2 Results