Payne podiums behind Red Bull 1-2 in Melbourne

New Zealand’s Matt Payne finished third in the opening of four races at the Melbourne SuperSprint, trailing the Red Bull duo of Broc Feeney and Will Brown home.

Starting from pole, Feeney came under pressure from Anton De Pasquale off the start, briefly relinquishing the lead but returning to it before Turn 4 on Lap 1. He remained at the front until the chequered flag.

Brown matched his teammate’s pace for most of the proceedings before losing ground over the final circuits to finish 2.3 seconds in arrears.

Payne ran a clean race and crept forward to third, but a lockup at the penultimate corner on the penultimate corner saw Nick Percat sneak through to cross the line ahead.

However, earlier contact with Chaz Mostert, pushing him wide, resulted in Percat receiving a five-second post-race penalty that relegated him to sixth. Mostert, who dropped to 13th because of the incident, charged back to fifth and was classified fourth after finally getting the better of Cam Waters, who finished 5th.

Richie Stanaway ran in the top ten early but was run off-line and passed by a train of cars to finish 13th.

Andre Heimgartner ran a quiet race for 18th, one place ahead of Ryan Wood, who had worked his way forward from the back following an early incident.

Jaxon Evans limped home in 24th, having spun into the wall entering the pit straight on Lap 2. His Brad Jones Racing Camaro suffered significant damage to the rear, but he ran laps at the rear of the field to secure championship points.

The 19-lap race was reduced to 18 following a false start as yellows waved as the lights went green.

When the action began, De Pasquale got an inch-perfect launch off the line, and he had a full car length over Feeney entering Turn 1. Brown followed through in third, ahead of Percat.

Running long at Turn 3 cost the DJR Mustang and saw Feeney return to the front.

Mostert had quickly worked to the front and was locked in battle with Percat over the following circuit, but the two came together, entering the final corner on Lap 2. Mostert was sent into a half-spin and dropped to eighth, while Percat retained fourth.

Waters came to life early and jumped into the top five at Payne’s expense on Lap 3, but the Kiwi driver re-claimed the place a lap later.

Brown finally worked his way to second ahead of De Pasquale on Lap 4, and Percat moved into the podium places on the following circuit as the DJR entry began to fall back. Payne followed through and found himself in sight of a podium with a penalty looming over Percat.

He would take third on track on Lap 6 as the race burst to life in the midfield. Stanaway was muscled off the racing line and dropped from seventh to thirteenth as a train of cars worked their way through.

A rhythm finally settled in as Feeney and Brown built a 1.5-second advantage over Payne mid-race while Percat remained on the Penrite Racing entry’s rear. Waters closed in on the duo as they battled and bridged the gap but could never complete a pass as he came under increasing pressure from Mostert.

Elsewhere, Wood, who had dropped to 23rd early following contact with James Golding that sent him over the grass, had clawed his way back and executed a smooth over-under on Lap 15, overtaking Randle and Macauley Jones in one swoop.

The hammer went down at the front on Lap 16, and Feeney built an unattainable advantage to take the win from his teammate. Payne survived his late scare to complete the podium, albeit after Percat’s penalty was applied.

Mostert’s late pass on Waters salvaged a strong result for Walkinshaw Andretti United with fourth.

Supercars return for a sole outing on Friday, with a 19-lap race scheduled for 4.55 pm (NZ Time).

Payne will start from fifth, with Waters starting on pole next to Brown.

Supercars 2024 Race 3 Results