Supercars Albert Park: Triple Eight dominates opener

Feeney arrived at the Australian Grand Prix second in the points but, after taking pole position for the weekend's opening race, could only watch on as Anton de Pasquale took an early lead in the shortened 18-lap race.

But the positions swapped back before the end of the first lap, with Feeney passing Dick Johnson Racing driver de Pasquale. The latter's day continued to get worse as Will Brown and Matt Payne also progressed past the Shell-liveried Ford Mustang in the early stages.

The two Red Bull Ampol drivers and Payne - of Grove Racing - pulled away at the front and were able to look after their tyres on a track much cooler than it had been in afternoon qualifying.

Payne’s third place was somewhat fortuitously protected by the car behind. Nick Percat was hit with a five-second penalty after early-race contact with Chaz Mostert so while the Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet driver was showing podium pace, he was never going to get the result that it would otherwise deserve. Just as well; Payne ran wide on the final lap and Percat got past, though the penalty dropped him to sixth place.

Moving up to fourth was Mostert, who recovered well to retake many of the places he had lost late in the race, and Cam Waters, whose brand-new Tickford Mustang appeared much more competitive than the car he raced in the opening round of the championship last month at Bathurst.

They were well clear of a battle for the minor placings that saw, at one stage mid-race, 10 cars fighting within two seconds. De Pasquale salvaged seventh ahead of the Blanchard Racing Team Ford of James Courtney.

To rub salt into the wounds of the opposition, both Feeney and Brown set their fastest laps on the final circuit, though Feeney’s faster lap earned him an extra five championship points.

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

That fastest lap means that Feeney now leads the championship points but narrowly, his 359 just two points over Brown. In third place is Mostert (327) ahead of Payne (238) and Percat (237).

“That was an interesting race, we just tried to manage it as best as we could out front,” said Feeney after the race, which he won by 2.32 seconds. “It has been a hectic day, pole, and win and fastest lap.

“He [Brown] had some real good pace at the end, I just tried to put the hammer down at the end.”

Brown admitted that had the car in front not been his teammate, the second half of the race might have been different.

“He [Feeney] had pretty good speed, it would have been good to have a bit of a go. If it was someone else there, it would have been on!”

Payne was philosophical after his last-lap scare.

“We had a bit of speed in qualifying and I knew it was going to be tough racing. I made a pretty bad mistake at the last corner, I grabbed both pedals. I knew Percat had a five-second penalty so I wasn’t that fussed!”

Friday’s second race will be over 20 laps and qualifying has already been held, with Waters to start from pole position ahead Brown, Feeney and Mark Winterbottom (Chevrolet).

Supercars Albert Park - Race 1 results

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	Retirement	Points
1	B. Feeney Red Bull Ampol Racing		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	33'13.3790			150
2	W. Brown Red Bull Ampol Racing		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	+2.3253 33'15.7043	2.3253		138
3	M. Payne Penrite Racing		Ford Mustang GT	18	+4.7124 33'18.0914	2.3871		129
4	C. Mostert Mobil 1 Optus Racing		Ford Mustang GT	18	+5.1586 33'18.5376	0.4462		120
5	C. Waters Monster Castrol Racing		Ford Mustang GT	18	+6.1099 33'19.4889	0.9513		111
6	N. Percat Bendix Racing		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	+8.7801 33'22.1591	2.6702		102
7	A. De Pasquale Dick Johnson Racing		Ford Mustang GT	18	+9.2341 33'22.6131	0.4540		96
8	J. Courtney Snowy River Racing		Ford Mustang GT	18	+12.7935 33'26.1725	3.5594		90
9	T. Hazelwood Erebus Motorsport Penrite		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	+14.7979 33'28.1769	2.0044		84
10	J. Le Brocq Erebus Motorsport Penrite		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	+15.5365 33'28.9155	0.7386		78
11	M. Winterbottom DEWALT Racing		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	+16.6633 33'30.0423	1.1268		72
12	R. Stanaway Penrite Racing		Ford Mustang GT	18	+18.0143 33'31.3933	1.3510		69
13	C. Hill Tyrepower Racing		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	+18.5574 33'31.9364	0.5431		66
14	W. Davison Dick Johnson Racing		Ford Mustang GT	18	+19.9169 33'33.2959	1.3595		63
15	T. Slade PremiAir Nulon Racing		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	+20.3518 33'33.7308	0.4349		60
16	D. Reynolds Tradie Beer Racing		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	+21.2806 33'34.6596	0.9288		57
17	B. Fullwood Middy's Racing		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	+22.3756 33'35.7546	1.0950		54
18	A. Heimgartner R&J Batteries Racing		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	+23.5647 33'36.9437	1.1891		51
19	R. Wood Mobil 1 Truck Assist Racing		Ford Mustang GT	18	+24.1932 33'37.5722	0.6285		48
20	M. Jones Pizza Hut Racing		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	+24.8619 33'38.2409	0.6687		45
21	A. Love Brad Jones Racing		Ford Mustang GT	18	+27.9654 33'41.3444	3.1035		42
22	T. Randle Monster Castrol Racing		Ford Mustang GT	18	+28.3189 33'41.6979	0.3535		39
23	J. Golding PremiAir Nulon Racing		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	+29.9857 33'43.3647	1.6668		36
24	J. Evans SCT Motorsport		Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3	18	+1'06.2375 34'19.6165	36.2518		33
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