STANAWAY WINS ESERIES PHOTO FINISH

Kiwi Richie Stanaway has backed up his efforts in Round 1 to make it back-to-back Supercars ESeries All Stars victories at Pocono Raceway.

The Team Tamaki Makaurau Auckland driver tamed the ‘tricky triangle’ track to win by a narrow 0.010s over polesitter Brodie Kostecki.

Cameron Waters was also involved in the three-wide finish, falling just 0.047s short of victory.

Erebus driver Kostecki and Stanaway both started on the front row in a repeat of last week.

The pair set the pace early, as Chaz Mostert moved up to third after his disastrous crash in the first round.

Carnage entered the race on lap 5 as Matt McClean, Todd Hazlewood, Matt Payne and Will Davison were all involved in an incident.

Mostert pitted early aiming to undercut the field, while many cars pitted immediately before the mandatory safety car which appeared on lap 12.

After the restart a six-car breakaway pack formed as Stanaway took the lead.

Justin Ruggier briefly hit the lead on the last lap for Cash Converters Racing, making up 0.7s on Stanaway over multiple laps.

However, the three most consistent performers of the race pulled ahead to finish side by side.

Ruggier and Scott Pye finished fourth and fifth.

Behind them, Mostert fell back to finish sixth in front of James Golding, Andre Heimgartner, Thomas Randle and Payne.

New additions to the grid this week Tyler Everingham and Greg Murphy finished 12th and 14th respectively.

After this round of results, Stanaway is the clear standings leader.

Dayne Warren has asserted his early dominance on the Pro Series field, winning his second consecutive race at the Long Beach Street Circuit.

The Walkinshaw Andretti United entrant started on pole and was not challenged at any point, leading by more than 3s for much of the race.

Jarrod Filsell finished second after qualifying on the front row and Jackson Souslin Harlow completed the podium in his Brad Jones Racing Holden Commodore.

Warren was strong off the line, holding the lead through the tight opening corners.

The same could not be said for his brother Ethan Warren, who immediately fell to 20th from his 10th starting position.

Filsell was posited as the most likely challenger to Dayne Warren, but his hopes took a hit when he collided with the tyre wall on turn 1 of lap 2, giving Warren a healthy 2s advantage early.

The inherent dangers of a street course became evident later in the race on lap 16 of 17 when there was a huge multi-car crash towards the rear of the field involving Jobe Stewart and Brady Meyers.

Fawzan El-Nabi also became a victim of the narrow California streets when he was spun by Sam Blacklock, inducing a penalty for the latter.

Behind the top three finishers, Madison Down just missed out on a podium.

Cooper Webster and Jake Burton were a further 5s back in fourth and fifth.

Andrew Gilliam, James Scott, Jordan Caruso and Ethan Warren completed the top ten.

Warren now has an early buffer in the series, with maximum points a third of the way through the season.

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