Broc Feeney has reaffirmed the Supercars field he remains a serious title contender by heading home teammate Shane van Gisbergen for a Red Bull one-two in Darwin. ‘Mr Sunday’ fended off a challenge from Andre Heimgartner in the early stages before keeping clear of van Gisbergen to take a comfortable win.
A late stop in search of an overcut wasn’t enough for the van Gisbergen to overpower his teammate, but it did give fresher tyres to move Andre Heimgartner on Lap 27 to come home second.
Heimgartner was able to hold off a fast-finishing Brodie Kostecki to finish third and make it two Kiwis on the podium. Kostecki had managed a late move on teammate Will Brown in the dying stages, but left it too late to overcome the gap to the front three.
An early stop and potential of an undercut almost paid off for Brown, who found himself briefly in the mix with the front runners before ultimately dropping off towards the end as his tyres faded. He came home in fifth, ahead of James Golding who managed a late pass on Macauley Jones for sixth.
Like Brown, Jones had also stopped early and was rewarded with seventh place after a strong undercut moved him well up the field.
Bryce Fullwood and Scott Pye came eighth and ninth respectively, meaning the top nine were all Camaros.
Thomas Randle was classified tenth after Nick Percat received a 15-second penalty for spinning David Reynolds in the closing stages. Percat had finished tenth but was relegated to 19th.
As was the case in yesterday’s race, there was contact aplenty throughout today’s opener. Matt Payne and Declan Fraser were early spinners, the two coming into contact at Turn 5 and dropping to the rear of the field. Both also required to box for damage.
Jack Smith was another in the wars early, forced to retire after sustaining damage, while Will Davison also lost laps when in the garage for repairs.
Thomas Randle was the 11th car home, while yesterday’s pole-sitter Cam Waters made up for a disappointing qualifying to charge to 12th, one spot ahead of Chaz Mostert who also moved forward from the back.
Supercars returns for one final race in Darwin at 5.55 pm this evening.
Header Image: Red Bull Ampol Racing
