What the teams said – Sydney Supercars Race 15

The 2024 Supercars night race is in the books with Chaz Mostert and Ford dominated proceedings under lights in Sydney.

Walkinshaw Andretti United – P1 Chaz Mostert P13 Ryan Wood

Chaz Mostert takes the chequered flag. Image: RACE PROJECT

For the second day in a row Walkinshaw Andretti United was on top with Chaz Mostert speedy on the two-stop strategy to hunt down Payne and take a second win of 2024, while Wood had a steady race and gained one position.

“It is a long old slog around here but the car was really good,” Mostert said in victory lane.

“I was thinking when they told me Matty was right up the road I knew the pace our car could do and hoped with his deg. He was probably man of the match for looking after those tyres, but our team were men of the match. We had a super fast car.”

“Not the day we had hope for after yesterday, we didn’t have the quali speed we wanted today, which set the day up from there to be honest, but still, we got out of it with a straight car, plenty to look at from our side, but also plenty to look at from the other side as well, which is really positive,” Wood said.

Grove Racing – P2 Matt Payne P16 Richie Stanaway

A bold strategy almost paid off again for Matt Payne, who embraces with Brenton Grove. Image: Peter Norton

For the second race in a row Grove Racing almost snatched a race win through strategy, but this time the impressive Matt Payne had to settle for second after being caught by Mostert with four to go on older tyres. Stanaway made some late moves to rise from 21st to 16th.

“It is actually quite funny because we set out to do a two stop and once we saw our pace drop we knew we sort of needed to keep going and give it a try,” Payne said. Once they came over the radio saying we are thinking of a one stop I thought ‘man you have got some balls’. I was along for the ride and trusted them the whole way and they did a brilliant job. If we were on two stops we would not have finished this high up, so just really proud of the team to back themselves and do a great job.”

Tickford – P3 Thomas Randle P7 Cameron Waters P22 Lochie Dalton

Tickford teammates Thomas Randle and Cameron Waters lead the field through turn 1 after the start. Image: Peter Norton EPIC Sports Photography

Locking out the front row there was plenty of hope for Tickford as Randle led the first 19 laps, but ultimately did not have the pace of Mostert and still got a maiden podium of 2024. From pole Waters lamented a slow fuel rate in the stops and dropped out of contention. Wildcard Dalton had a steady maiden Supercars race and secured 22nd, winning a good battle with rookie Aaron Love.

“It’s a big turnaround from twelve months ago. The cars been super-fast this weekend, Stuckey and the guys really tuned it up today. To just get beaten by Cam to pole and have a Tickford front row lockout was something really special,” Randle said.

“The race was interesting. I got an okay start; Randle got a ripper. I struggled with a bit of car balance and was slow in pit lane for some reason so we’ll put out heads together to make the car faster and see how we go tomorrow,” Waters said.

“First race went alright. We had a good start and tried to look after the tyres. We picked off a couple of cars and had a great battle with Love. We learnt a heap to take into tomorrow,” Dalton said.

Dick Johnson Racing – P4 Will Davison P5 Anton De Pasquale

Anton De Pasquale battles with Bryce Fullwood. Image: Peter Norton

A consistent and productive day for Dick Johnson Racing with both Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale in the top five for the second time in 2024.

“All in all a really good day for the team particularly considering this time yesterday, 24 hours ago, we had a very, very poor practice Friday.At stages I felt really quick and maybe should’ve had a crack at the one-stop strategy, we were ahead of Payne there in the first stint but anyway, we had great pit stops, everything worked well, just not quite enough speed, but certainly great to have both cars in the top 5,” Davison said.

“Sort of hung around where we started and sort of struggled for tyre life so swapped on to the two-stop strategy which still hurt the tyres a bit too much so it’s something we’ll look at overnight and try to rectify,” De Pasquale said.

Triple Eight – P6 Will Brown P8 Broc Feeney

Will Brown made some ground in the race. Image: Supplied

Once again Will Brown had the better race pace in the Triple Eight battle to inch ahead of his teammate and be the leading Camaro as Feeney fell to 14th, but made good ground in the final stint to salvage eighth.

“We just didn’t have it at the end of the day, we weren’t fast enough. We struggled a bit at Townsville, and we’re still sort of where we were then. I feel like I did the best for what I had,” Brown said.

“We were really strong in qualifying, just struggled a little bit in the shootout with tyre temperature. I just got in a big battle pack in the middle of the second stint, and it really hurt me. I dropped back quite a few spots and struggled to recover, so made our day pretty hard from there,” Feeney said.

Matt Stone Racing – P8 Nick Percat P11 Cameron Hill

Cam Hill was one of the big movers under lights.

MSR scored good points through strategy with Percat more or less holding position, while Hill used the one-stop strategy to soar from 19th to fifth, before struggling against those on fresher tyres and falling to 11th.

“It was a good day for us. Great to be in the Shootout; didn’t quite have the speed of the guys at the front to try and get on the podium. A bit disappointed to get done in the last couple of laps there and lose a couple of spots but the boys did a good job,” Percat said.

“We didn’t qualify where we wanted to so again we had to be creative with how we were going to get a result from today. We rolled the dice. I think today we really maximised the outcome that we could have got by doing the one stop,” Hill said.

Erebus – P10 Brodie Kostecki NC Jack Le Brocq

Jack Le Brocq was the only DNF with engine issues. Image: Peter Norton

Erebus was on the back foot after struggling in qualifying with a top grid spot of 18th, but Kostecki made strong ground with early stops to surge into the top 10. Le Brocq was initially impacted by a penalty for rejoining in front of Heimgartner before a fire emerged underneath the #9.

“Not a great day for qualifying, we both qualified terribly, but made some wholesale changes and I ended up passing nine cars to get P10 so pretty happy about that and the car had good pace,” Kostecki said.

“We were trucking along pretty well and had a pit lane infringement and unfortunately the boys have a donkey change overnight. We will come back swinging,” Le Brocq said.

Brad Jones Racing – P12 Andre Heimgartner P18 Jaxon Evans P19 Bryce Fullwood P20 Macauley Jones

Andre Heimgartner led BJR once again. Image: Supplied

All four BJR drivers were in the thick of the action with Heimgartner making contact with Le Brocq in the lane, but recovered late in the race, while Fullwood had a spin and used the one stop to regain track position ending up sandwiched between teammates Evans and Jones.

“Interesting night for us, just got a bit of an ordinary start and sort of suffered a bit from that. I think at the moment considering the state of play with the Mustangs and Camaros we’re not too bad actually. So I think we’re probably fourth for the Camaros so not too bad overall,” Heimgartner said.

“Difficult day, I guess made life a bit hard for myself by having a kerb short on my first flying lap in qualifying. Fighting some comfortability issues in the car at the moment. So struggling a little bit with a dead leg which in the end isn’t ideal,” Evans said.

“Tough day here in the 14. Felt like a missing opportunity in qualifying. I got a bit tangled up there at the start of the race, and that really put us on the backfoot. And then I feel like the guys did a really good job with the one stop strategy,” Fullwood said.

“I felt like the car was a bit stronger for me this morning in qualifying. Where I feel like the last six months we’ve sort of been soul searching trying to find the direction, which makes it hard to be a bit consistent and find your rhythm. So I feel like we’re working on the same page a little bit closer and that’s kind of nice,” Jones said.

PremiAir – P14 James Golding P15 Tim Slade

Tim Slade just couldn’t quite keep his teammate behind. ImageL Supplied

The PremiAir pair followed each other home just inside the top 15 with Golding passing Slade on the final lap. Slade challenged for the top 10 but fell back, while Golding did a late-race change from 17th.

“We got off to a pretty good start and made up a couple of spots and then I was just trying to manage the rears pretty much the whole way through the race and didn’t quite have it for those other cars around us and dropped back a few; but I had a good battle with my mate Tim here at the end,” Golding said.

“My day at Sydney Motorsport Park was average, that probably sums it up. We had decent pace at the start on the older tyre but nothing at the end on the new tyre,” Slade said.

Team 18 – P17 David Reynolds P24 Mark Winterbottom

A sudden snapped steering arm sends Mark Winterbottom out of control and into Macauley Jones approaching turn 2. Image: Mark Horsburgh

There was little joy for Team 18 as Reynolds slumped from a Shootout appearance to 17th, while Winterbottom’s race unravelled as early as turn 2 where he clashed with Jones. It turns out a broken steering arm forced the #18 to suddenly spear right under braking and hit the #96.

“Rolled out today much better in qualifying. We made small changes to the car and the car came alive. In the race got an average start and then kind of just managed my life from that point on,” Reynolds said.

“Not a good day. Unfortunate for Macauley [Jones], didn’t want to see him off the track, but then we got damage, and it was a nothing race, really,” Winterbottom said.

Supercars return to the track at 12.05 AEST for qualifying

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