Broc Feeney put an end to a nine-race winless streak when he took his Triple 8 Ford Mustang to a dominant victory at Symmons Plains in Tasmania.
Polesitter Feeney eased into a near-2s lead by the time he made his first of three mandatory pitstops. He pitted after all of the other contenders, his first two stops one lap after second-placed Matt Payne of Grove Racing Ford, and even lost time letting an already-pitted team-mate Will Brown past him.
“We have been working so hard, especially after Sydney, to get back to the top step of the podium,” said Feeney after an emphatic 7.26s victory.
“That pole position led us to a great starting spot. It's a really difficult race, with all the strategies to work on. It was tight through [Turns] one and two with Matty [Payne], I think our wheels touched.”
“That's redemption for last year,” Feeney's engineer Martin Short told him at the end, referring to the 2025 race when his driver lost out on a sprint to the flag – with Payne – by 0.05s. Just to add salt in the wounds, Feeney reeled off a new lap record late in the race, in spite of sitting on his substantial lead.
Payne took second place on a day when Feeney had a clear edge in speed over the black Fords.
To complete a great afternoon for Grove Racing, Kai Allen was third. After starting seventh and finding himself in traffic early on, the team pitted him on lap 10, and the clean air he found moved him up through the pit cycles. With on-track passing at a premium, he established himself in third place by mid-race and that is where he stayed.
Anton De Pasquale was the best of the Chevrolet Camaro drivers in fourth place. The Team 18 driver was in a scrap in the opening laps of the race that saw the Triple 8 Ford of Will Brown take to the grass at one stage, but stayed clear of trouble over the second half of the race to keep Brown about 3s back.
Jayden Ojeda headed the Chevrolet drivers in qualifying, starting from a strong third, but lost seven positions on the opening lap, and made an early first stop to seek track position. It worked to an extent; Ojeda drove his way up to sixth, holding off the Blanchard Racing Team Ford of Aaron Cameron over the closing laps.
After twin wins on Saturday it was a tough day for the Toyota teams. The Walkinshaw TWG GR Supras of Ryan Wood and Chaz Mostert were eighth and ninth, Mostert making ground from a particularly tough time in qualifying with 18th. An early pitstop and some typically feisty driving got him into the top 10.
Meanwhile, Brodie Kostecki had a difficult race, after a robust scrap for the top five in the opening laps, but his Dick Johnson Racing team told him to save fuel after a problem at his opening stop, prompting him to make his second visit to the pitlane before mid-race. He also complained about braking issues, dropping him to an eventual 12th place.
Feeney, who brought a lead of 23 points to Tasmania, leaves with a 90-points advantage over Payne with Kostecki almost another 100 points further back.
The Supercars will return to action in much different conditions, at Darwin's Hidden Valley, on 19-21 June.
