Brown wins, Feeney drops to fourth after late moment

Broc Feeney (#88 Camaro) looked to have secured second place, and thus a third one-two for Triple Eight Race Engineering in four races this season, until he ran well wide on what would be the penultimate lap around Albert Park.

Mark Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro) inherited second and Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang) finished third for a second day in a row, with Feeney fourth and the Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Will Davison (#17 Mustang) getting home in fifth, ahead of Nick Percat (#10 Bendix Camaro) and pole-sitter Cam Waters.

Brown scooped 80 points having also set the fastest lap of the contest and now leads the drivers’ championship by 18 points over Feeney.

Waters had lined up in first position but Brown (#87 Camaro) made a superior launch from the other side of the front row and, despite the grid stagger, was able to lead the field into the first corner.

Waters slotted into second place, just ahead of Feeney, with Winterbottom fourth and a battle for fifth between Payne and Anton De Pasquale.

The latter two banged together at Turn 4, sending De Pasquale off the track and through the Lakeside Stadium car park with broken steering for the #11 Shell V-Power Mustang.

It was Jack Le Brocq (#9 TFH Camaro) who emerged from the drama with fifth position, before Davison was able to grab sixth from Payne when Waters went defensive at Ascari and bottled up the pack.

On Lap 6, Davison made a move on Le Brocq through Turn 3/Turn 4 and Payne was able to follow Car #17 past Car #9 as they sped away from Lakeside Stadium.

A lap later, the order was shaken up again when Feeney got under Waters at Ascari, the Tickford Racing driver tried to fight back at Turn 12 but made contact with took both wide.

Winterbottom passed both to snatch second place while Waters dropped all the way back to sixth by the time that bunch had settled down again.

The Team 18 driver did not hold onto second spot for very long, with Feeney making the move on Lap 8 at Turn 3, while Payne relieved Davison of fourth position, half a lap later at Ascari.

Feeney snipped Brown’s margin to 0.4s on Lap 13 but then the race leader put the hammer down, setting a new fastest lap of 1:49.7203s on Lap 15 and stretching the gap beyond two full seconds.

Brown began to ease off again on Lap 16 but then Feeney ran well wide at Turn 13 and dropped to fourth, behind Winterbottom and Payne.

The race would go time-certain, with Brown officially winning by 0.9693s after 17 laps, from Winterbottom, Payne, Feeney, Davison, Percat, Waters, Le Brocq, Todd Hazelwood (#99 TFH Hire Camaro), and Tim Slade (#23 Nulon Camaro).

Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) ended up 17th after exhaust damage from contact with Hazelwood.

The Supercars Championship field is back on-track tomorrow from 09:00 local time/AEDT for a pair of qualifying sessions which will set the starting grids for Races 5 and 6 of the season, respectively.

Results: Race 4, MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint

Fastest lap (bonus): William Brown, 1:49.7203s, Lap 15

Drivers’ championship

Teams’ championship