Le Brocq takes out bruising Super2 race

Jack Le Brocq has won a messy Dunlop Super2 Series Race 2 at Sandown in which series contender Todd Hazelwood ended up off the road at the first corner.

Bryce Fullwood achieved a personal best result of second to give MW Motorsport a one-two, while Paul Dumbrell extended his series lead with a third placing.

Starting from pole, Anton de Pasquale (#67 Paul Morris Motorsports FGX Falcon) outbraked himself at the first corner and locked up, hitting Hazelwood and taking the #35 Matt Stone Racing VF Commodore onto the grass with him.

Fullwood (#16 Altima) made a stellar start from fourth on the grid but also pinched a brake and ran wide at Turn 1, allowing Le Brocq (#28 Altima) to get past.

The Safety Car was required when Jake Kostecki (#56 Kostecki Brothers Racing VF Commodore) and Richard Muscat (#44 Garry Rogers Motorsport VF Commodore) ended up in the tyre wall together at Turn 3 after those two and Macauley Jones (#14 Brad Jones Racing VF Commodore), who was in the middle of the squeeze, tried to get through the tight right-left complex three cars wide.

The two incidents left Shae Davies (#26 Altima) third in an MW one-two-three for the restart, but he and Fullwood came together on Lap 7 and Davies dropped back to seventh.

Fullwood had locked his left-front wheel at Dandenong Road, incentivising Davies to get alongside on the run to the final complex, but the two leaned on each other in the braking zone and Davies slid off the track.

Will Brown inherited the place, but threw it away with a big lock-up that carted his #38 Eggleston Motorsport VF Commodore off the track at Turn 1 on Lap 9, meaning that his team-mate Dumbrell (#88 VF Commodore) moved into the podium positions after starting 10th.

Garry Jacobson (#1 Prodrive Racing Australia FGX Falcon) fell afoul of officials for the second time in as many days when he punted seventh-placed Andrew Jones (#8 Brad Jones Racing VF Commodore) on Lap 11, before the Safety Car was called again when Jack Smith (#21 Brad Jones Racing VF Commodore) locked up and knocked Adam Marjoram (#15 Matt Stone Racing VF Commodore) into the gravel trap at Dandenong Road.

Those were two of many clashes in a short space of time, prompting race control to advise over timing simply that “Multiple incidents (were) under investigation.”

Green flags waved again with just enough time for two more laps, with Le Brocq comfortably pressing on for victory.

Fullwood, who seemed to have marked that left-front tyre, managed to keep Dumbrell behind him in order to better his previous best Super2 race result of third at Sydney Olympic Park last year.

Kurt Kostecki (#55 Kostecki Brothers Racing VF Commodore) ended up fourth despite being bumped off-track by Davies earlier in the race, with Jack Perkins (#4 Dragon Motor Racing VF Commodore) passing Josh Kean (#5 Prodrive Racing Australia FGX Falcon) up the back straight on the final lap to finish fifth.

Kean took sixth, Hazelwood managed to avoid any further dramas to salvage seventh, Jordan Boys (#98 Dragon Motor Racing VF Commodore) was a commendable eighth in his first ever Super2 round, Nathan Morcom (#54 Eggleston Motorsport VF Commodore) finished ninth, and Mason Barbera (#99 Garry Rogers Motorsport VF Commodore) 10th.

De Pasquale was handed a time penalty for his first corner incident, and also ended up facing the wrong way at Turn 13 mid-race, as he ended up 16th.

Davies took 17th after being slapped with multiple time penalties, including for the incident with Kurt Kostecki.

Smith was a position further back after having the equivalent of a drive-through added to his race time for the hit on Marjoram.

Macauley Jones was the fourth drive given a time penalty, five seconds for bumping Jacobson off-track in a battle for fourth early on, finishing 19th.

Jacobson managed to serve his expected drive-through for the contact with Andrew Jones and crossed the line 20th.

The non-points Bathurst 250 is next up at Mount Panorama on October 5-8.

Results: Race 2, Round 6, Sandown

Series Points: After Round 6