Feeney capitalises on Pole for AGP victory
By Timothy Neal
Date posted: 2 April 2023
Broc Feeney has won Race 4 of the Melbourne SuperSprint from pole, with Kostecki also taking P3 to inherit the Supercars Championship lead, and the Larry Perkins Trophy.
Feeney and T8 played it beautifully with the early pit in the uninterrupted 13 lap race, as Heimgartner took his first podium of the year, and Kostecki putting the stamp on the AGP for Erebus with a sixth team podium in four races.
There was none of the chaos of the earlier races, but there was plenty of passing
The Melbourne SuperSprint Finale got underway with Feeney on pole over Mostert, with Brown and Heimgartner on the second row.
SVG and Kostecki were P12 and P14 respectively in the fight for the Larry Perkins Trophy, offering more intrigue to the potentially chaotic midfield.
James Courtney missed the grid for Race 4 due the catastrophic Mustang fire in the pits in yesterday’s race, whilst De Pasquale, Jones, and Winterbottom all survived the repairs to make the start.
A rolling start due to safety concerns over the fires began the 13 lap outing in perfect racing conditions, As feeney took the first corner with Mostert taking the lead at turn 5 after going door-to-door, with Brown hitting the gap for P2.
All the hard tyre runners went in for the early change to softs after lap 2, leaving half the field still out having started on softs.
Brown was tight on Mostert as Fullwood loomed in P3 with the Erebus looking very sharp on the WAU wing.
Brown made the move on Mostert then hit the dusty line out wide, going off at turn 11 into the wall and gravel, with Fullwood pouncing on P2 and Davison in P3over Le Brocq.
SVG had gone to P5 over Randle and Payne, with 7 of the 13 laps to run.
Fullwood was pushing hard on the #25 Mustang with Davison two seconds back.
Fullwood charged into the lead with a beautiful move on lap 8, turn 8 out of the chicane, with the two yet to pit as SVG took Le Brocq for P4.
Davison then went inside to take Mostert, which then left the gap for SVG to take Davison for P3 at the tight turn 3, with Feeney in P10 as the highest pitter with 4 laps remaining.
Mostert was dropping spots rapidly into P6 and the #97 was edging toward Fullwood, but it was Feeney that was looking a likely winner from P10.
With two laps remaining Fullwood and SVG stayed out, as Kostecki was also looking the goods to take the championship lead with Mostert way back after pitting.
Fullwood also got a 15 second penalty for the second race running with an unsafe release
Fullwood, SVG, and Davison went in, as fullwood beat SVG out, but he also got a 15 second penalty for the second race running with an unsafe release.
Feeney blasted into the lead in the end, with Kostecki taking a great P3 after starting at P14, and Heimgartner in P2, kickstarting his year for a maiden Gen3 podium.
SVG built on his point tally with a fighting P4, coming home over Le Brocq and Davison, with Jones, Reynolds, Hazelwood and Waters making up the top-ten.
2023 Australian Grand Prix race 6 results
1: B. Feeney
2: A. Heimgartner +0.9118
3: B. Kostecki +2.732
4: S. van Gisbergen +8.7719
5: J. Le Brocq +9.9167
6: W. Davison +10.5246
7: M. jones +11.4527
8: D. Reynolds +15.2503
9: T. Hazelwood +15.8180
10: C. Waters +15.8206
11: T. Randle +16.5233
12: M. Payne +17.3890
13: S. Pye +17.5282
14: C. Mostert +18.8398
15: T. Slade +19.9661
16: J. Golding +20.1583
17: J. Smith +21.4852
18: B. Fullwood +22.0449
19: M. Winterbottom +22.7960
20: N. Percat +26.4239
21: D. Fraser +26.7026
22: A. de Pasquale +38.9518
23: W. Brown +2.6 laps
NC: C. Hill
DNS: J. Courtney
2023 Australian Grand Prix Supercars schedule/running results
Thursday, March 30
11.25-11.55 Practice 1 – 1: Winterbottom 1:49.967 2: De Pasquale +0.151 2: SVG +0.207
13.15-13.45 Practice 2 – 1: Heimgartner 1:47.870 2: De Pasquale +0.021 3: Waters +0.046
14.45-15.00 Qualifying (Race 3) – 1 Anton de Pasquale 1:49.3167; 2 Brodie Kostecki +0.0401; 3 Shane van Gisbergen +0.0716
15.10-15.25 Qualifying (Race 4) – 1 Shane van Gisbergen 1:47.2537; 2 William Brown +0.0196; 3 Broc Feeney +0.0789
17.45 Race 3 (19 laps) 1: Van Gisbergen 00:38.39 2: Kostecki +0.391 3: Brown +1.952
Friday, March 31
15.55 Race 4 (15 laps) 1: Kostecki 2: Courtney :3 SVG (Safety car finish)
Saturday, April 1
9.30-9.45 Qualifying (Race 5) 1 B. Kostecki 2:00.0824; 2 William Brown +0.8063; 3 Bryce Fullwood+2.6990
9.55-10.10 Qualifying (Race 6) 1 Broc Feeney 1:47.7685; 2 Chaz Mostert +0.1899; 3 William Brown +0.3229
17.30 Race 5 (13 laps)
Sunday, April 2
10.25 Race 6 (13 laps)
For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.
AUTO ACTION, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport.
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