Cam Waters led a Ford 1-2-3-4 in the first of three Supercars races at Townsville to take his second win of the season.
Waters and Dick Johnson Racing’s Brodie Kostecki went into the final lap of the 35-lap race nose-to-tail but Kostecki, who had been on a charge through the field in the late laps, fell just short of the win.
Kostecki started from pole for the fifth time this season but dropped two places at the start, with Waters and Matt Payne (Grove Racing) passing him immediately. But Kostecki quickly reclaimed his speed, and settled into second behind Waters before the pitstop cycle commenced.
Waters came into the pitlane on lap 18 but Kostecki stayed out for another six laps. The net result was that Waters stretched his lead but it was Payne in second when Kostecki resumed.
The DJR Mustang, in a special yellow livery for the weekend, closed while he found a way around Payne, but Waters prevailed by 0.200s.
“Brodie got a bad one [start] but I was pretty keen to get to Turn 2 first,” he said. “I was a little bit shocked to get P1. I just tried to manage that whole last thing, I knew he was behind me and I was just managing that lap. But I am glad there was not one more lap. It’s nice to be at the pointy end.”
Kostecki reported that he made the call to pit after he watched Waters come into the pitlane.
“[It was] a call from me. I thought [when] Cam had pitted, I did not want to pit behind Cam. We are looking pretty good for tomorrow,” he said. “I thought I have a big dive down the last corner but Cam is a pretty smart racer.”
Payne’s team-mate Kai Allen took fourth place after ceding a position to him after their respective pitstops, while Chaz Mostert took fifth.
The Walkinshaw TWG Supra had a minor engine issue during qualifying but it was clearly the fastest of the Toyotas and he jumped to second on the opening lap, before losing places.
Thomas Randle took sixth place for Tickford, an especially impressive result given that he lost half of his Practice session after a technical problem left him on the sidelines. With a place in the all-important championship top 10 in the balance Randle drove a clever race, and stayed out of trouble for all 35 laps.
Both Triple Eight drivers had tough Fridays, with Broc Feeney qualifying 16th and Will Brown 19th, the first time in three years in which the top 15 grid spots have not featured at least one of the team’s cars. Brown’s Mustang had a wheel come loose late in the qualifying session and Feeney’s simply lacked his trademark one-lap speed.
Once the race started Brown put all that behind him to charge through to seventh, reminding everyone why he has been one of the category’s best overtakers. Feeney made it to 10th, at one stage hung wide on a corner, from where he watched Brown spear past two cars – including Feeney’s – at once.
Feeney carried a 15-point lead coming into the weekend but the results hand Payne the series lead by eight points. Two more 200km races, one each on Saturday and Sunday, will complete Supercars’ mid-winter northern swing.
Supercars Townsville - Race 1 results
RACE1
| Cla | Driver | Car | Laps | Time | Interval | Retirement | Points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  C. Waters Tickford Racing |
Ford Mustang S650 | 35 | 44'40.5426 |
60 | ||||||
| 2 | B. Kostecki Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Mustang S650 | 35 | +0.2000 44'40.7426 |
0.2000 | 60 | |||||
| 3 | M. Payne Grove Racing | Ford Mustang S650 | 35 | +1.5649 44'42.1075 |
1.3649 | 54 | |||||
| 4 | K. Allen Grove Racing | Ford Mustang S650 | 35 | +7.2049 44'47.7475 |
5.6400 | 47 | |||||
| 5 | C. Mostert Walkinshaw TWG Racing |
Toyota GR Supra | 35 | +9.2817 44'49.8243 |
2.0768 | 43 | |||||
| 6 | T. Randle Tickford Racing |
Ford Mustang S650 | 35 | +10.6198 44'51.1624 |
1.3381 | 40 | |||||
| 7 | W. Brown Triple Eight Race Engineering |
Ford Mustang S650 | 35 | +11.4130 44'51.9556 |
0.7932 | 36 | |||||
| 8 | R. Wood Walkinshaw TWG Racing | Toyota GR Supra | 35 | +13.9253 44'54.4679 |
2.5123 | 33 | |||||
| 9 | J. Ojeda PremiAir Racing | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 35 | +16.0517 44'56.5943 |
2.1264 | 31 | |||||
| 10 | B. Feeney Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Mustang S650 | 35 | +16.2478 44'56.7904 |
0.1961 | 28 | |||||
| 11 | J. Le Brocq Matt Stone Racing |
Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 35 | +17.6522 44'58.1948 |
1.4044 | 26 | |||||
| 12 | J. Golding Blanchard Racing Team |
Ford Mustang S650 | 35 | +19.6032 45'00.1458 |
1.9510 | 24 | |||||
| 13 | C. Murray Erebus Motorsport Penrite | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 35 | +22.0728 45'02.6154 |
2.4696 | 22 | |||||
| 14 | A. De Pasquale Team 18 |
Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 35 | +25.3996 45'05.9422 |
3.3268 | 20 | |||||
| 15 |  A. Heimgartner Brad Jones Racing |
Toyota GR Supra | 35 | +30.0583 45'10.6009 |
4.6587 | 19 | |||||
| 16 | D. Reynolds Team 18 |
Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 35 | +32.8411 45'13.3837 |
2.7828 | 17 | |||||
| 17 | R. Gray Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Mustang S650 | 35 | +36.4526 45'16.9952 |
3.6115 | 16 | |||||
| 18 | J. Walls Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Mustang S650 | 35 | +37.2278 45'17.7704 |
0.7752 | 15 | |||||
| 19 | C. Hill Brad Jones Racing | Toyota GR Supra | 35 | +38.1425 45'18.6851 |
0.9147 | 13 | |||||
| 20 | A. Cameron Blanchard Racing Team | Ford Mustang S650 | 35 | +38.3923 45'18.9349 |
0.2498 | 12 | |||||
| 21 | D. Fraser PremiAir Racing | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 35 | +41.0374 45'21.5800 |
2.6451 | 11 | |||||
| 22 | J. Stewart Erebus Motorsport Penrite | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 35 | +43.2728 45'23.8154 |
2.2354 | 10 | |||||
| 23 | Z. Bates Matt Stone Racing | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 35 | +45.4326 45'25.9752 |
2.1598 | 9 | |||||
| 24 | M. Jones Brad Jones Racing |
Toyota GR Supra | 35 | +47.7768 45'28.3194 |
2.3442 | 8 | |||||
| 25 | R. Goodall Tickford Racing | Ford Mustang S650 | 35 | +56.5361 45'37.0787 |
8.7593 | 7 | |||||
| 26 | A. Seton Matt Stone Racing |
Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 35 | +1'14.9738 45'55.5164 |
18.4377 | 6 | |||||
| View full results | |||||||||||
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