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Autosport
Autosport
Sport
Andrew van Leeuwen

Supercars Sandown: Feeney and Whincup score tense 500 win

Whincup executed two moves on Will Brown's Erebus co-driver Jack Perkins during the early stages of the race, one either side of the first stops, to set up yet another Sandown victory for Triple Eight.

Feeney inherited the car in a comfortable lead at the second round of stops and looked to be on for an easy win – only for a late restart to bunch up the field. But Whincup's replacement in the Chevrolet Camaro outfit held off series leader Brodie Kostecki to secure his first Sandown 500 win and a sixth for team boss Whincup.

Kostecki and co-driver Dave Russell both contributed to the recovery of an early double stack that dropped them back into the pack to finish a fine second while Brown made a late mistake to fumble a podium, handing third spot to Shane van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway.

Whincup made good early progress in the #88 entry, the veteran moving past Erebus co-drivers Russell and Perkins in the first couple of laps to lead the way. Whincup was leading by about a second on lap 19 when fourth-placed Garth Tander's Grove Mustang shed its left-rear wheel on the way through the fast Dandenong Road section.

The stray wheel bounced onto the back of James Moffat and Cam Waters' fifth-placed Tickford Mustang and tore off the rear wing. With Tander beached in the Turn 9 sand, the safety car arrived to prompt a flurry of early stops, Tickford completing its repairs in time to keep Moffat on the lead lap.

Perkins managed to jump back ahead of Whincup amid all the stops, while Russell plummeted from third to 10th in the order after being forced to double stack behind Perkins.

The race went green again on lap 26, Perkins initially leading comfortably over Whincup and Michael Caruso's Team 18 Camaro, until lap 39 when Caruso was easily passed by Porsche World Endurance Championship ace Kevin Estre's #19 Grove Mustang into Turn 1. Two laps later there was a change for the lead when Whincup eased past Perkins again.

Once the magic lap 54 had been reached – the minimum for co-drivers – the second round of stops burst into life. Perkins was the first of the front-runners to pit, handing his car over to Brown for the run to the finish. Whincup and Estre then followed suit, Feeney resuming in a comfortable effective lead as Matt Payne slotted back into third behind Brown.

Broc Feeney, Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Photo by: Edge Photographics)

Russell, meanwhile, had managed good progress during his second stint, moving into the top six before handing over to Brodie Kostecki, who found himself running fourth. By half-race distance, Kostecki was back on the podium after easing past Payne into Turn 1.

Feeney made light of the third stint, pulling nearly nine seconds on Brown before his 2024 team-mate pitted from second on lap 87. Feeney stopped two laps later, resuming in a lead over Brown that ballooned to more than 13 seconds over the 10 laps that followed. Kostecki continued in third while van Gisbergen used a long third stint to jump Payne for fourth during the third round of stops.

The fourth stint then saw Kostecki make ground on team-mate Brown, closing to within a second as the race neared the three-quarter mark. On lap 119 the fight between the Erebus cars was called off when Brown looked to let Kostecki through into second place as they blasted up the back straight.

Kostecki made his final stop on lap 125, followed by Brown on the following lap, the pair resuming in the same order as before the stops. Meanwhile Feeney executed his final stop with the lead intact, although his advantage over Kostecki was cut down to just over six seconds.

That margin was then erased entirely 20 laps from home when Cam Hill ended up beached at turn 9, sparking a second safety car of the race. That led to a tense sprint to what became a time certain finish, Feeney leading with the two Erebus cars under his rear wing. He was up to the task, though, withstanding the pressure to win by just under a second.

Kostecki was second while Brown made a costly late mistake at Dandenong Road. With three minutes to go he flew wide on the first left-hander, which allowed van Gisbergen through to snatch third.

The podium capped off an incredible recovery drive for van Gisbergen and Stanaway, who came all the way from 19th on the grid. It also keeps NASCAR-bound van Gisbergen's title hopes well and truly alive, although Kostecki did manage to increase his lead over the reigning champion to 155 points.

Feeney is now 204 points back in third, while Brown has lost more ground and is 294 points back in fourth.

Broc Feeney, Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Photo by: Edge Photographics)

Andre Heimgartner and Dale Wood made it an all-Camaro top five, while Payne and Estre were the best-placed Ford duo in sixth.

They finished ahead of Will and Alex Davison and Anton De Pasquale and Tony D'Alberto, with Tim Slade/Jono Webb and the T8 wildcard entry of Zane Goddard/Craig Lowndes rounding out the top 10.

The season continues with the Bathurst 1000 on October 5-8.

Supercars Sandown Race Results:

 
 
     
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Driver Car Laps Time Interval Retirement Points
1
B. Feeney
Australia J. Whincup Red Bull Ampol Racing
Chevrolet 158 1'10.3432     150
2
B. Kostecki
Australia D. Russell Coca-Cola Racing by Erebus
Chevrolet 158 +0.0077 0.0077   138
3 New Zealand S. van Gisbergen New Zealand R. Stanaway Red Bull Ampol Racing Chevrolet 158 +0.0797 0.0720   129
4 Australia W. Brown J. Perkins Coca-Cola Racing by Erebus Chevrolet 158 +0.1937 0.1140   120
5 New Zealand A. Heimgartner Australia D. Wood R&J Batteries Racing Chevrolet 158 +0.1264     111
6
M. Payne
France K. Estre Penrite Racing
Ford Mustang GT 158 1'10.2349     102
7 Australia W. Davison Australia A. Davison Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang GT 158 +0.2233 0.3316   96
8 Australia A. De Pasquale Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang GT 158 +0.0887     90
9 Australia T. Slade Australia J. Webb Nulon Racing Chevrolet 158 +0.3777 0.2890   84
10 Australia C. Lowndes Australia Z. Goddard Tickford Racing Chevrolet 158 +0.1067     78
11 Australia M. Winterbottom Australia M. Caruso DEWALT Racing Chevrolet 158 +0.1807 0.0740   72
12 Australia J. Courtney
Z. Best Snowy River Racing
Ford Mustang GT 158 +0.5771 0.3964   69
13
D. Fraser
T. Everingham Tradie Racing
Ford Mustang GT 158 +0.4742     66
14 Australia B. Fullwood Australia D. Fiore Middy's Racing Chevrolet 157 +1 Lap 1 Lap   63
15 Australia J. Golding
D. O'Keeffe Nulon Racing
Chevrolet 157 +1 Lap 0.3019   60
16 Australia J. Le Brocq
J. Ojeda Truck Assist Racing
Chevrolet 157 +1 Lap     57
17 Australia T. Hazelwood Australia T. Blanchard Brad Jones Racing Ford Mustang GT 157 +1 Lap 0.3821   54
18 Australia J. Smith Australia J. Evans SCT Motorsport Chevrolet 157 +1 Lap     51
19 Australia M. Jones
J. Boys Pizza Hut Racing
Chevrolet 157 +1 Lap     48
20 Australia C. Waters Australia J. Moffat Tickford Racing Ford Mustang GT 157 +1 Lap 0.1639   45
21 Australia S. Pye
T. Everingham Toyota Forklifts
Chevrolet 157 +1 Lap 0.3461   42
22 Australia C. Mostert Australia L. Holdsworth Mobil 1 Optus Racing Ford Mustang GT 157 +1 Lap     39
23 Australia N. Percat Australia W. Luff Mobil 1 NTI Racing Ford Mustang GT 157 +1 Lap 0.1622   36
24
A. Love
Australia J. Kostecki Racer Industries
Ford Mustang GT 156 +2 Laps 1 Lap   33
25 Australia T. Randle Australia G. Jacobson Castrol Racing Ford Mustang GT 145 +13 Laps 11 Laps   30
 
C. Hill
J. Robotham Truck Assist Racing
Chevrolet 137 +21 Laps 8 Laps Retirement  
  Australia D. Reynolds Australia G. Tander Penrite Racing Ford Mustang GT 18 +140 Laps 119 Laps Retirement  
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