STANAWAY PULLS OFF BRADBURY-ESQUE ESERIES VICTORY

Kiwi Richie Stanaway was victorious in the first Supercars ESeries race for 2021, avoiding late race carnage to be last man standing at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Despite qualifying second, Stanaway was not in the reckoning to win the event until a dramatic final ten laps which saw multiple frontrunners crash out of contention.

The race ended in a New Zealand one-two finish, Porsche Carrera Cup Australia driver Matthew Payne coming home second.

Cameron Waters completed the podium for Tickford Racing, translating his Supercars Championship form from Townsville into sim racing success.

Brodie Kostecki started on pole for the season opener in his #99 Erebus Motorsport Holden Commodore.

Starting positions would have little reckoning on the results though, as drivers traded places freely throughout.

Tony D’Alberto was facing the wrong way within 10s of the green flag and made numerous mistakes over the course of the race.=

At the front of the field, Stanaway and Jake Kostecki fought for the early lead before a mandatory safety car period bunched the field on lap 17.

Chaz Mostert emerged as the race favourite through astute race management but was ruled out in a huge crash at pit entry on lap 20, which left his Walkinshaw Andretti United car t-boned by a barrier wall.

In the closing stages Kostecki and Matt Chadha took up the lead only to take each other out before Thomas Randle also cleaned up a heavily damaged Kostecki.

Anton De Pasquale then inherited the cursed leading position with 10 laps to go, dodging carnage at the front of the field before getting stuck in lapped traffic.
That gave Waters the opportunity to close on De Pasquale with a lap to go, forcing him into a costly mistake.

On the last lap De Pasquale slammed into surrounding traffic, sending multiple cars spinning, sliding and soaring off the track, gifting Stanaway the win.

Kostecki recovered to fourth ahead of De Pasquale, Dylan O’Keefe, Brodie Kostecki, Jack Le Brocq and Randle who rounded out the top ten.

Dayne Warren dominated the Pro Series field in Spielberg, only losing his lead to pit on the way to claim victory.

It was a family affair on the podium, as Ethan Warren followed his brother home 3.9s behind.

Jake Burton finished third for Brad Jones Racing after employing a unique pit stop strategy.

Round 1 of the Supercars Pro Eseries travelled to the Red Bull Ring in Austria, a venue that has been prevalent in real-world schedules recently.

Dayne Warren was on pole position for Walkinshaw Andretti United in the #2 Holden Commodore, picking up where he left off last series.

Alongside Warren at the front of the grid was the youngest driver of the field, 16-year-old Corey Shepherd.

Warren got off the line strongly, jumping to an early lead that would set up a successful ESeries return.

Drivers would all pit at different points of the race to meet their race obligations, the eventual winner electing to use the lane after five laps.

At this point the strategy of Brad Jones Racing pair Jackson Souslin Harlow and Burton became apparent, they were determined to pit as late possible and cash in on a mid-race lead.

Burton was the last drive to pit, leading by over 20s on lap nine before dropping to fifth after his stop.

It was then that Warren reclaimed the lead, extending the margin out to 3.7s with three laps to race.

Burton capitalised on a battle between Jarrod Filsell and Souslin Harlow to climb into fourth, eventually also making a pass on his teammate on the last lap.

Souslin Harlow finished fourth, trailed by fellow top ten finishers Josh Anderson, Ethan Grigg-Gault, James Scott, Andrew Gilliam and Cooper Webster.
Despite starting on the front row, Shepherd fell all the way back to 21st.

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