Feeney cruises to another success
Peerless Broc Feeney took another unchallenged win ahead of Anton De Pasquale and Kai Allen, who notched up breakthrough podiums in Darwin.
The Super Soft sprint of the Darwin Triple Crown ended under Safety Car conditions after some late drama, but no one could get near Feeney as he cruised to a fourth straight win.
But behind him, there were bigger cheers for the other members of the podium De Pasquale and Allen.
De Pasquale converted a front row start to secure his first trophy in 32 races and first in Team 18 colours. It is a timely one as well as he inserts himself back into the finals race.
In third place at the tender age of 19 was Allen, who fulfilled his promise to get a maiden Supercars podium in just his 19th start.
Feeney again got a strong launch and was able to slot in front of De Pasquale before they reached the braking zone.
Rookie Allen showed no nerves starting from the heights of the second row for the first time, clearing the experienced Waters to steal third.
The top four all ventured into Turn 1 single file as Heimgartner locked down fifth ahead of Kostecki and Fullwood.
The opening lap was clean, but that trend did not continue as Stanaway was sent into a spin at Turn 1 by Payne, who was quickly penalised.
Wood knocked Courtney out of the top 10 with a last-minute divebomb at the final corner, which also opened the door for Payne.
Further back, under pressure, stars Brown and Mostert made up ground to sit 16th and 20th respectively.
Brown’s progress was slowed when he found the rear of Randle, who went off and kicked up dirt into the path of the Triple Eight driver at Turn 5.
Once again Feeney was in command, punching out fastest laps and built a 1.5s lead in eight laps.
That advantage doubled to 3s by the end of the opening stint, while Allen continued to impress by pulling a second and a half on the Monster Mustang.
As a result, Tickford was the first team to blink from the leading group, servicing four tyres for Waters on Lap 26.
Any hope of gaining time on the undercut was ruined when he rejoined right behind Heimgartner and Murray as part of a six-car train.
Allen went to the lane a lap later and he rejoined four positions and 5s clear of Waters, having critically stayed in front of the undercutting Fullwood.
However, it was not all smiles for Grove Racing as a wheel rolled into the fast lane after being changed in the process and a post-race investigation will be launched into the matter.
De Pasquale did not enjoy a fast stop, but he still kept track position ahead of Payne.
But the undercutting Kostecki and Payne gained significant track position, slotting into the top three just behind Feeney, who remained untouchable with 13 laps left.
The racing was willing following the stops with Hill and Mostert losing out as they both went off at Turn 1.
De Pasquale was determined to return to the rostrum and did so with a big lunge on Payne at the opening corner.
The Team 18 driver needed just one more lap to claw in Kostecki in the valley and resume his stint in second place.
Having eased past his teammate, all eyes were now on Allen to see if he could haul in Kostecki and get the maiden podium.
In the end, it was not much of a fight as Allen flew past down the straight and before they reached the braking zone with nine laps still remaining.
Attention turned to Brown to see how many more spots he could regain to limit the damage.
Some aggressive racing saw the #1 get the better of Payne and Wood, who locked up at Turn 1 in a costly mistake in the fight for Finals.
Things were also compressing in the fight for fourth as Heimgartner passed teammate Fullwood to close in on Kostecki.
The BJR Kiwi did it comfortably to lock down fourth just before things got wild.
Waters cracked under pressure with Brown closing in and fired off at Turn 1 and the mistake saw him fall from seventh to 10th.
But that was nothing compared to what was happening in the valley.
A willing battle for 12th saw Randle get into Courtney, who set Davison skittling into Reynolds.
The contact between the DJR and Team 18 driver was so heavy the #20 was stranded in the hairpin, forcing the race to end under Safety Car.
The action continues on Sunday where strategy will come into play.
Results Race 18 42 Laps Hidden Valley
Pos Driver Team Laps Time
1 Broc Feeney Triple Eight 42 49:50.4547 –
2 Anton De Pasquale Team 18 42 +1.1070 –
3 Kai Allen Grove Racing 42 +1.9143 +1
4 Andre Heimgartner BJR 42 +3.1021 +2
5 Brodie Kostecki DJR 42 +3.7621 –
6 Bryce Fullwood BJR 42 +4.7385 +2
7 Will Brown Triple Eight 42 +5.4574 +10
8 Matt Payne Grove Racing 42 +6.4292 +5
9 Ryan Wood WAU 42 +7.3960 +2
10 Cameron Waters Tickford 42 +7.9228 -7
11 Nick Percat MSR 42 +8.2651 +8
12 James Courtney BRT 42 +9.0124 –
13 Cameron Hill MSR 42 +9.9947 +5
14 Jack Le Brocq Erebus 42 +11.4949 -7
15 James Golding PremiAir 42 +12.3544 +6
16 Will Davison DJR 42 +12.6197 -1
17 Chaz Mostert WAU 42 +13.1121 +6
18 Cooper Murray Erebus 42 +13.7923 -9
19 Macauley Jones BJR 42 +14.5756 +6
20 Aaron Cameron BRT 42 +15.0467 +2
21 Rylan Gray Tickford 42 +15.6877 +3
22 Thomas Randle Tickford 42 +24.4367 -6
NC David Reynolds Team 18 39 +3 Laps -9
NC Richie Stanaway PremiAir 7 +35 Laps -13
DNS Jaxon Evans BJR
Supercars Darwin Triple Crown (times AEST)
Practice 1: Fri 13.20
Practice 2: Fri 15.25
Qualifying R17: Sat 9.05
Qualifying R18: Sat 9.55
Race 17 (42 laps): Sat 12.15
Race 18 (42 laps): Sat 15.40
Qualifying R19: Sun 9.35
Top 10 Shootout: Sun 12.05
Race 19 (70 laps): Sun 15.10
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