But that didn’t mean team principal Jamie Whincup left Symmons Plains satisfied.
Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaro drivers Broc Feeney and Will Brown finished second and third to Grove Racing’s Matt Payne in the 200km Sunday finale.
Brown had started from pole but fell as low as sixth in the early laps after losing the lead to James Golding off the line and then being bumped wide by Cam Waters at Turn 4.
Feeney meanwhile charged from fifth on the grid but found himself having to fight back through the field after the team made an each-way strategy bet.
Brown took his first pit stop early in the race and ticked off his second under a crucial Safety Car, while Feeney pitted once under the Safety Car and required a second service later on.
“I’m really torn at the moment,” said Whincup after watching Feeney carve through the pack to finish just 0.05s behind Payne at the chequered flag.
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“Of course it’s a great weekend, it’s a great day for the sport, it was a fantastic race, but I’m just filthy we didn’t win.
“We come down here with two extremely quick cars, thought Broc drove unbelievably well all weekend, thought Will’s Shootout lap was sensational to get the pole for that race…
“And then to have one car (Brown) get ‘Liberace’d’ at the hairpin and that’s sort of the end of that, and then strategy-wise, you roll the dice.
“I think the crew did a great job, we’ve got two cars for a reason, we needed an each-way bet.
“[After] the Safety Car we had one car that’d done two and one car that’d done one and any Safety Car after that, the ones that had done one were going to be in the box seat.
“But [without] that, it was the ones that had done two stops.”
Payne’s victory made it two Sunday wins on the bounce for the young Kiwi driver and Grove Racing, which is led by ex-Triple Eight men David Cauchi and Grant McPherson.
“There’s been three of four of those where the Penrite boys have beaten us on strategy, which pisses me off. It smells like Grant McPherson to me!” Whincup added.
“That’s gutting that we didn’t get the win, but all in all, we’ll take all the good stuff out of the weekend and see if we can do a better job next time.”
Two Saturday wins vaulted Broc Feeney to the lead of the championship, now 33 points ahead of teammate Brown after four rounds.
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