It was a chaotic opening race for the Kiwis at the start of the Darwin Triple Crown, with two Kiwis out at of the race by Lap 6. The survivors, Matt Payne and Andre Heimgartner, took the chance to prove their skills and strategy during the eventful race.
Qualifying:
Qualifying was close-knit, as multiple drivers topped the timesheets to take provisional pole. Heimgartner took provisional pole late in the session and Ryan Wood wasn’t far behind in third before both were pipped by other drivers.
Wood and Payne both ended the first session in the top ten, getting a chance to secure pole position in the second part of qualifying, similar to a Top 10 shootout.
Both Kiwis ended up sharing the second row with Payne in third and Wood in fourth position.
Stanaway, Evans and Heimgartner had their work cut out for them, starting in 17th, 20th and 21st respectively.
Race 17:
Championship leader Broc Feeney got a good jump from pole position before drama struck at the first turn.
Stanaway’s rear wheel made contact with Evans’ front left, sending Evans off track and into the Armco barrier. His car sustained significant damage and had to be towed from the scene. Aside from a sore foot, Evans was unharmed.
Immediately after, Anton De Pasquale made contact with the rear quarters of Macauley Jones and spun him off track. Macauley recovered and was able to rejoin at the back of the field but Stanaway was forced to come into the pits for repairs.
With both of these incidents, the safety car was brought out.
Wood started losing fluid from his car, which was running very hot as he sat behind the safety car for several laps in the hot Darwin sun.
The race was back underway on Lap 6 but the chaos continued as cars went five wide along the main straight but had to brake and control their speed to avoid overtaking before the control line. Wood, after reporting mechanical issues while under safety car, suffered an engine failure on the race restart and pulled over to the left hand side and slowed on track.
As a result, the field backed up and Jack Le Brocq was shunted by Cameron Hill which turned Le Broq into the wall, causing his rear wheel to come off and bounce over the wall and onto the unused drag strip area.
During an interview, Wood confirmed that the water pump had fallen off, taking other engine parts with it and causing the car to shut off.
The final incident came as Nick Percat hit David Reynolds in the rear, turning him into the track, before hitting the front to turn Reynolds back into position.
Stanaway was damaged on the other side of Percat during the incident, bending his left rear wheel out of place. He had to pit and get the wishbone replaced, leaving only two Kiwis in race contention.
A second safety car was deployed to allow for the recovery of Le Brocq and Wood’s cars. The race resumed with a single-file restart on Lap 12 with Feeney leading the field.
Brodie Kostecki made a move on Payne at turn 1, tapping him from behind before passing for third position. The move earned him a 5-second penalty, which put Kostecki on the back foot.
The PremiAir Racing team repaired Stanaway’s car, allowing him to rejoin the race seven laps down. Despite the setback, returning to the track meant he could still meet the 75% race distance requirement to be eligible for points.
Payne attempted the undercut by pitting before front-runners Feeney and Cam Waters, giving himself a chance to capitalise on clean air and gain track position.
Waters and Feeney pitted at the same time, with Waters rejoining behind Payne in 5th place and Feeney slotting back out just in front. Payne immediately pressured Feeney, but the Red Bull driver held his ground with cold tyres to maintain the lead.
With only 8 laps to go, Waters caught up to Payne after taking 4 fresh tyres during his pit stop and having that advantage over Payne, taking back second place. He was unable to catch Feeney, who took the race win.
Heimgartner was the last to pit, waiting until there were only 4 laps left before coming in. The strategy worked well for the Kiwi as he came out in 10th and was the biggest mover, up 11 positions after starting in 21st.
Waters held on to finish second and Payne brought home yet another podium finish, finishing in third. Fullwood, Courtney, Mostert, Percat, Brown, Kostecki and Heimgartner rounded out the top 10.
Feeney extends his championship lead after securing another race win. Meanwhile, Ryan Wood dropped just outside the top 10 in the standings and is now sitting in 11th place, just behind Percat.
Header Image: Penrite Racing
