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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

   
1
 - 
3
   
   
1
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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 Australia 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 Australia C. Mostert Mobil 1 Optus Racing Ford Mustang GT 18

+5.1586

33'18.5376

0.4462   120
5 Australia C. Waters Monster Castrol Racing Ford Mustang GT 18

+6.1099

33'19.4889

0.9513   111
6 Australia N. Percat Bendix Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 18

+8.7801

33'22.1591

2.6702   102
7 Australia A. De Pasquale Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang GT 18

+9.2341

33'22.6131

0.4540   96
8 Australia J. Courtney Snowy River Racing Ford Mustang GT 18

+12.7935

33'26.1725

3.5594   90
9 Australia T. Hazelwood Erebus Motorsport Penrite Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 18

+14.7979

33'28.1769

2.0044   84
10 Australia J. Le Brocq Erebus Motorsport Penrite Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 18

+15.5365

33'28.9155

0.7386   78
11 Australia M. Winterbottom DEWALT Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 18

+16.6633

33'30.0423

1.1268   72
12 New Zealand 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 Australia W. Davison Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang GT 18

+19.9169

33'33.2959

1.3595   63
15 Australia T. Slade PremiAir Nulon Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 18

+20.3518

33'33.7308

0.4349   60
16 Australia D. Reynolds Tradie Beer Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 18

+21.2806

33'34.6596

0.9288   57
17 Australia B. Fullwood Middy's Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 18

+22.3756

33'35.7546

1.0950   54
18 New Zealand 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 Australia 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 Australia T. Randle Monster Castrol Racing Ford Mustang GT 18

+28.3189

33'41.6979

0.3535   39
23 Australia J. Golding PremiAir Nulon Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 18

+29.9857

33'43.3647

1.6668   36
24 Australia J. Evans SCT Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 18

+1'06.2375

34'19.6165

36.2518   33
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