Payne beats Feeney by 0.05s in Tassie thriller

The result proved a remarkable turnaround for the Grove Ford driver who had struggled for speed all weekend and started the 200km race down in 11th.

Feeney was the weekend pacesetter, winning both Saturday races and marching towards the front in the early stages of the 78-lap finale before a Safety Car intervention brought strategy into play.

Payne was among a group to clear both of his pit stops before the Safety Car restart with just under 50 laps to go.

He cycled to the front once those ahead – led by Feeney – completed their second service and then had to hold on with old tyres in the dying laps.

Feeney led those on the traditional strategy and added to his championship lead with second place, while teammate Will Brown rounded out the podium.

PremiAir duo James Golding and Richie Stanaway were fourth and fifth, while David Reynolds, Ryan Wood, Andre Heimgartner, Nick Percat and Cam Hill completed the 10.

Brown and Wood had both made poor starts from the front-row, the latter darting to the inside of the track and baulking third-placed starter Cam Waters in the process.

That cleared a path for Golding, who swept around the outside and into the lead from Brown, Waters, Wood and Feeney.

Waters immediately pounced on Brown into the Turn 4 hairpin and, out of position, Brown fell to the back of the top five.

Once the frantic opening laps shook out Golding had a lead of over two seconds and it was Waters struggling to hold the pace.

Feeney had no such troubles, rounding up Wood on lap three and Waters 10 laps later before setting on after leader Golding.

Wood demoted Waters to fourth ahead of the first round of pit stops, which came with a flurry thanks to a lap 29 Safety Car period.

That was called to retrieve Brodie Kostecki’s Mustang from the circuit; the Shell Ford having spun into the wall at Turn 3 after contact with Bryce Fullwood.

The stops shook out with Feeney now ahead of Golding, Wood, Stanaway, Waters, Percat, Hill, Heimgartner, Payne and James Courtney.

Payne, Brown, Reynolds and Randle were among those to tick off both pit stops by the end of the Safety Car period, putting them on an alternate strategy.

They restarted ninth, 13th, 14th and 16th respectively and faced a marathon run to conserve their tyres to the chequered flag.

Feeney, Golding, Wood and co meanwhile had no choice but to go flatout and build a gap over those on the Payne-led strategy before undertaking their second stops.

Wood pounced on Golding for second place when the PremiAir driver was distracted by Courtney, who had pitted and rejoined the circuit a lap down but with fresh rubber.

Feeney meanwhile had his head down until pitting on lap 58, with Wood and Golding also in shortly afterwards.

That cleansed the order with Payne leading from Brown, Reynolds, Randle, Feeney, Golding, Stanaway and Wood; Feeney 14s behind the new leader with 20 laps to go.

Feeney got to the back of Randle with 13 laps remaining, just as the Tickford driver was pulling a move on Reynolds at the Turn 4 hairpin.

The Triple Eight driver followed Randle through on Reynolds down the back straight, before ducking to the inside of the Tickford Mustang at Turn 6.

Randle turned in behind Feeney only to find Reynolds filling the gap, spinning the Castrol Ford back to 12th place.

Feeney continued his march and grabbed second from teammate Brown with seven to go, by which point Payne was just over 4s ahead and being reeled in at a rapid rate.

The gap was as good as gone by the start of the penultimate lap, giving Feeney 14 turns and just under five kilometres to find a way by.

Payne though held his nerve, blocking into the key braking areas and just doing enough through the final corner to keep his nose ahead at the chequered flag.

Tickford’s day promised much but delivered little; Waters 12th after a slow pit stop under the Safety Car and Randle falling to 14th after his late incident.

Chaz Mostert’s miserable weekend ended with an 18th place finish. He’d started 23rd and copped a 15-second penalty for causing a multi-car incident in the early going.

Mostert tagged the back of Courtney into the Turn 4 hairpin, which pushed Courtney into Will Davison, and Davison into Jack Le Brocq, spinning the Erebus driver.

Le Brocq’s teammate Cooper Murray found even earlier trouble; over-committing into Turn 2 on the opening lap and making contact with Anton De Pasquale and Kai Allen.

That resulted in Murray – who was dealt a 15s penalty – and Allen both heading to the garage for repairs, while De Pasquale surfed through the gravel trap and rejoined.

De Pasquale soldiered on but eventually ran into engine trouble.

Feeney leaves Symmons Plains 33 points behind Brown, with Payne 75 adrift of the lead in third.

Results: Tasmania Super440 Race 3, Symmons Plains