Feeney and Triple Eight carry on dominance

Broc Feeney and Triple Eight completed a perfect weekend in the Townsville 500, with another comfortable win in Race 22 that puts him on the edge of Sprint Cup glory.

Despite teammate Will Brown offering a late challenge, Feeney had enough pace up his sleeve to ensure his grip on the 70-lap affair was never seriously threatened.

The victory was the latest chapter of Feeney’s brilliant 2025, being his seventh success in the last eight races and 11^th for the season as effectively sealing the Sprint Cup with a massive 220-point advantage and only 315 on offer.

Brown completed Triple Eight’s dominance by rising five spots to second, 3s adrift and fourth one-two of 2025.

Chaz Mostert put in a strong drive home to secure another Townsville podium, while Cameron Waters threatened early with an undercut, but had to settle for fourth.

Despite being commanding up front, Feeney revealed it was the hardest he fought for the top step in 2025 after a big push from his teammate.

“Huge credit to Will. That was the hardest race I have had in a long time because he was definitely the faster guy today and put a lot of pressure on me,” Feeney said.

“In that second stint, he was coming at me with newer tyres, and he had so much pace on me in that last one, but once he got close, he dropped off, I’m guessing overheating from being close.

“I didn’t think I was going to hang on and was asking all the questions in that final stint, so this means a lot.

“It is a huge win and an awesome roll we have been on.”

It was an even start with the top six all door to door in a two-car formation after the first three rows got even starts.

Feeney retained the lead on the inside line, while be winner was De Pasquale, who hugged the kerbs at both Turns 2 and 3 to muscle his way into second ahead of Payne.

The Team 18 driver was on a mission and even came close to stealing the lead, getting some overlap coming out of Turn 10 and having a big look at the hairpin, but the Triple Eight prevailed.

The Tickford teammates also put on some good racing, going side by side through the esses with Randle getting his nose in front.

It was a clean start and there was little in it with just 4s covering the tightly bunched top 10.

After eight laps the moves were on again with Waters getting the better of his teammate at the final corner, which brought Brown and Mostert into the picture as Randle slipped from fourth to seventh in two laps.

Kotecki tried to pull a similar move on Allen at the final turn, but got it wrong and contact put the rookie on the back foot.

Despite coming under early threat, Feeney was able to pull 2.3s away from De Pasquale across the first 12 laps.

This meant the Team 18 driver was now on the back foot and he could not stop Payne from barging his way up to second at the final turn.

Waters tried to follow suit, but was unsuccessful and turned to the undercut instead.

Tickford was the first team to blink by boxing the Monster Mustang as early as Lap 15.

No one joined him as Brown was more focused on knocking De Pasquale off the podium with a nice move at the hairpin.

However, the undercut still paid off for Tickford as Waters emerged 8s clear of Feeney and the rest.

The Triple Eight leader was the last of the contenders to pit, having waited until Lap 28, 13 laps later than Waters, who rose from fourth to first.

De Pasquale was the first to react, seven laps after Waters and the Team 18 crew managed to retain track position over Payne.

However, they could not stop Brown from being a further 2s up he road just behind his teammate.

If Waters was the big winner of the pit cycle, Davison was the big loser.

For the second day in a row, the DJR veteran saw a much-needed top 10 disappear due to tyre trouble.

On Saturday it was due to some aggressive racing from Brown, whilst this time it was an accident in the lane.

Davison sat seventh during the opening stint, but his first pit stop went wrong with the front right wheel not being fitted properly.

With the wheel nut loose, Davison had to crawl back home and he lost a lap in the process, seeing another promising result disappear.

To make matters worse, Kostecki disappeared as the race went on, dropping to 15th.

Courtney suffered a similar, but not as costly fate, being spun by a locked-up Reynolds at Turn 2 where the Team 18 driver received a 15s penalty.

Hill was the biggest victim of the mid-race journey with his front left brake destroyed, which saw him stuck in the garage after 38 laps. The MSR driver lost eight laps before returning to the field.

It took Feeney 10 laps to reel in Waters and he reclaimed the lead with ease at the hairpin and the sister Triple Eight Camaro soon followed suit.

The second and final cycle of stops was actually sparked by the Groves, boxing Payne on Lap 42.

Tickford reacted two laps later, and Waters rejoined 5s ahead.

There were some interesting dynamics in play at Triple Eight with Brown asking to undercut his teammate – a request the team denied.

Feeney boxed and emerged 6s clear of Waters as Brown had to wait another three laps and rejoined 3s behind his teammate, setting up a 20-lap dash home.

Brown needed nine laps to come within a second of his teammate and set the scene for an exciting finish.

The fight for third was not as competitive, with Mostert easily picking off Waters at the hairpin and driving away.

As Brown caught the bumper of Feeney with eight laps left, Triple Eight Managing Director Jamie Whincup made it clear no team orders would ruin the fight saying “the punters are here for a race, so let’s give them what they want.”

However, Feeney ensured that would never eventuate, having the final say by pulling 2s clear before the final two laps.

Attention turned to the fight for sixth with Randle and Wood hounding the back of De Pasquale.

In the end the Fords swapped places with Wood, snaring seventh, while De Pasquale held firm.

In a quiet end to a quiet race, Le Brocq lost three spots after running out of fuel on the final lap.

With Triple Eight back to its Townsville best, ominously, the field heads to its test track, Queensland Raceway for the first time in six years on August 8-10.

Image: DMAC Photography

Results Race 22 Townsville 70 laps

Pos Driver Team Laps Margin

1 Broc Feeney Triple Eight 70 1:29:19.8367 –

2 Will Brown Triple Eight 70 +3.0195 +5

3 Chaz Mostert WAU 70 +12.6640 +5

4 Cameron Waters Tickford 70 +21.7796 –

5 Matt Payne Grove Racing 70 +23.3860 -3

6 Anton De Pasquale Team 18 70 +25.8048 -3

7 Ryan Wood WAU 70 +26.5485 +3

8 Thomas Randle Tickford 70 +27.3121 -3

9 Bryce Fullwood BJR 70 +38.3828 -7

10 Kai Allen Grove Racing 70 +39.7407 -1

11 Andre Heimgartner BJR 70 +40.4495 +10

12 Nick Percat MSR 70 +53.7775 +11

13 James Golding PremiAir 70 +54.3500 +1

14 Richie Stanaway PremiAir 70 +56.8666 +3

15 Macauley Jones BJR 70 +58.3846 +9

16 Brodie Kostecki DJR 70 +1:02.9863 -5

17 Jaxon Evans BJR 70 +1:05.7787 +3

18 James Courtney BRT 70 +1:11.4331 –

19 Aaron Cameron BRT 70 +1:12.6219 –

20 Jack Le Brocq Erebus 70 +1:21.6219 +2

21 David Reynolds Team 18 69 +1 Lap -8

22 Cooper Murray Erebus 69 +1 Lap -7

23 Will Davison DJR 68 +2 Laps -17

24 Cameron Hill MSR 60 +10 Laps -12

2025 Townsville 500

FRIDAY 11th July

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