Le Brocq pulls off memorable MSR Supercars victory
By Timothy Neal
Date posted: 18 June 2023
Jack Le Brocq has scored MSR a maiden Supercars victory in the Darwin finale, his first win since 2020.
In a weekend of firsts after Team 18 scored its maiden win, Matt Stone Racing did the same, backing up on their recent good showing in Tasmania to capitalise on their first ever pole.
It was Le Brocq’s second ever Supercars win after taking his first as a Tickford driver at SMP in 2020.
“I’m a bit lost for words to be honest, a massive thankyou to everyone at Truck Assist and Matt Stone Racing, it’s pretty unreal,” Le Brocq said.
It was a chequered flag that Matt Stone Racing and Le Brocq won’t forget for a while. Image: Mark Horsburgh
“The guys did an awesome job getting the car back together after the second race, but it’s been a long time coming, and we’ve had really good speed this year, and to be able to convert it into some solid race pace is great.
“We had an awesome car, the heart rate is still going, and it wont come down for a bit…it was a long 35 laps!”
The #34 was assured out front, as Heimgartner couldn’t pressure him after the opening stanza, whilst Feeney pulled some smart and aggressive early moves, ensuring another podium after his earlier win, closing the gap to Brown in the championship with podium sweep to leave Darwin as the round winner.
Andre Heimgartner drove a clean race to collect another podium finish. Image: Mark Horsburgh
Le Brocq took advantage of his maiden pole into the first turn, dragging Heimgartner to the inside line.
Winterbottom held P3 against an aggressive Feeney at the first, and again at the hairpin as a clustered field pulled though.
Golding was a big jumper, 5 spots into the top ten, as Kostecki fell to steering damage, pulling into the shed after contact with a DJR Mustang.
Feeney and Frost were at it again for the same result, as the #34 MSR leader starting to find a few tenths on Heimgartner.
The front three settled into a rhythm by Lap 10, with Feeney and Brown hanging onto the back of the leading train, with Kostecki making it back out in a bid to register 26 laps.
Feeney P3 netted him the overall round win after a podium sweep at Hidden Valley. Image: Mark Horsburgh
Goddard’s wildcard weekend would end with a lowly finish after he got on the wrong side of Mostert, as the top runners had to start thinking about a possible mid-race undercut.
That option was taken by Feeney and Brown on Lap 17, as Le Brocq led the #8 BJR by just over a second, with the front three then pitting, as the two front runners came out ahead, with Feeney and Brown going past Frosty.
Brown would get an infringement for a bump and run on Winterbottom, putting the Race 13 winner into effective P4.
SVG had a bad stall in the pits to end his chance of moving up, as Waters was left out front still yet to pit.
Le Brocq found himself back in front on Lap 25, and his lead had built to two and half seconds over the BJR chaser, with Feeney comfortably in P3 by the same.
A popular team that has been on the up, MSR take it’s maiden Supercars victory at the Darwin Triple Crown. Image: Mark Horsburgh
Smith and Payne had an incident at Turn 10 as the penrite was turned but the race stayed green.
Despite his earlier pit stall, SVG moved into P6 over Davison, and was soon on the back of Winterbottom, taking him on Turn 5 to be three seconds back on Brown in P4.
It finished with the podium well decided, although Heimgartner did pull some time back on Le Brocq, who scored a memorable win to cap off an entertaining Gen3 Hidden Valley debut.
SVG ended up taking P4 over Waters and Brown, with Winterbottom, Davison, Mostert (up 22 spots!) and Hazelwood rounding out the top-ten.
For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.
PODCAST: The latest episode of the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast is out now!
In the latest podcast we discuss this weekends Darwin Supercars preview & news, F1 Canada preview, Winton ARG and LeMans 24Hour wrap-up.
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