Fast Feeney leads Triple Eight 1-2

Triple Eight has carried on winning with Broc Feeney leading home teammate Will Brown in the opening sprint at Albert Park.

The Thursday evening race was a chaotic affair, but controlled by Feeney, who despite losing the start to Anton De Pasquale, quickly picked off the Mustang and was never seriously challenged from there. 

To complete his second non Sunday win, the #88 nailed the fastest lap on his 18th and final tour of Albert Park.

At one stage Brown was on his teammate’s tail but finished 2.3s adrift,

Nick Percat continued his good form for MSR to be third on the road, but a 5s penalty for sending Chaz Mostert off dropped the #10 to sixth.

Joining the Red Bulls on the podium was Penrite Racing youngster Matt Payne, who held onto a second career trophy despite a late mistake.

Feeney was thrilled to get a second straight win at Albert Park and steal a two-point championship lead from Brown.

“That is awesome and an interesting race,” he said.

“We just tried to manage it the best we could before putting the pace down to get the fastest lap.

“I love racing here so to get a pole, fastest lap and race win is unreal for the team.

“It has been a ripper start so far but there is a long way to go and hopefully we can keep it up.”

The opening race of the second round had a false start and an extra formation lap due to yellow flags, demoting it to a 17-lap affair.

De Pasquale got a strong getaway and won the drag race to turn 1 against Feeney.

The field only just funnelled through the first two turns cleanly even though Stanaway and Waters made contact.

Despite the DJR Mustang surging to the lead, De Pasquale threw it away with a poor exit from turn 3 and sacrificed the lead to Feeney.

Mostert also got the right hander wrong and dropped from third to fourth, creating a fierce battle pack, which resulted in Randle taking a tour of the gravel at the second trip to turn 3.

The battle carried on through the second lap and by the end of it a tap from Percat pushed Mostert off and the #25 lost even more ground and slipped to eighth.

The MSR newcomer would receive a 5s penalty for his part in the incident.

Both James Golding and Ryan Wood found trouble at turn 12, while Jaxon Evans rear-ended the fence hard at the final corner.

The Camaro charge carried on into the fourth lap when Brown dived down the inside of De Pasquale at turn 3 to make it a Triple Eight 1-2.

The DJR driver soon found himself shuffling down the order having been pushed out of third by Percat saw him bullied down to sixth.

The #10 MSR Camaro did not hold onto a podium place for long with Payne sliding by.

The battle for the back end of the top 10 was nuts as a gaggle of cars between Courtney in ninth and Reynolds in 17th went at it.

In addition to the numerous battles, the fight for the lead remained tight with Brown hot on the tail of leader Feeney, who did find the grass on the exit of turn 8.

At the halfway mark Feeney had managed to hold a 0.8s lead over Brown and Payne, who had overcome a lot of pressure from Percat.

However, this gap was halved within two laps as the race came to Brown with slightly better tyre life.

But Feeney had enough in reserve to push the lead to beyond a second for the first time by lap 15 as he set his sights on the fastest lap.

The racing was still feisty not far behind as former teammates Mostert and Waters wrestled for fifth.

The WAU driver prevailed with a dive at the penultimate corner as Winterbottom rose nine spots to be on the cusp of the top 10.

In a late twist of events, Percat snatched third at the penultimate corner thanks to a slip up from Payne.

But fortunately for the Kiwi he would still receive the trophy due to Percat’s penalty.

Triple Eight will be tough to beat in race 4 of the championship at 14.50 AEDT tomorrow.

Melbourne SuperSprint race 3 results

Supercars Australian Grand Prix schedule

Thursday, March 21

Practice 1: 1: M. Jones 2: M. Payne 3: C. Waters

Practice 2

Qualifying R3 Qualifying R4

Race 3 (20 laps): 17.50-18.35

Friday, March 22

Race 4 (20 laps): 14.50-15.35

Saturday, March 23

Qualifying R5: 09.00-09.15

Qualifying R6: 09.25-09.40

Race 5 (14 laps): 17.35-18.10

Sunday, March 24

Race 6 (14 laps): 10.20-10.55

Don’t forget the latest issue of Auto Action available via subscription here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ – the only place you’ll get to read the full story. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.