Broc Feeney had never won a Supercars race on the streets of the Gold Coast before Sunday but he was on top form, taking a convincing win in the second of the Supercars Finals.
For the second day in a row, Feeney launched his Triple Eight Chevrolet Camaro from pole position, but unlike Saturday’s race, his car speed carried over from Qualifying to the race. He quickly established a lead but while he did, it was the turn of team-mate Will Brown, who started alongside him, to fall back through the pack.
Into that gap came another Ford, the Dick Johnson Racing Mustang of Brodie Kostecki. From fourth on the grid, Kostecki charged through, because he had to. Chaz Mostert started four places behind him but the Walkinshaw TWG Toyota driver was again in great form, charging up to the back of Kostecki and then Brown.
But winning the race was not his consideration; his team-mate Ryan Wood was. After a tough Saturday, and with Mostert assured to advance to the next round of the Finals, getting Wood further through the field was WTWG’s priority.
So it would have been frustrating to Mostert – looking for a fourth straight win on the Gold Coast – to be told to make room for Wood, who was 11 seconds behind him in fourth. On lap 74, Wood swept by and Mostert took over as his tail gunner, until the final lap when Wood surrendered and handed the place back.
“That was an emotional last lap, I nearly looped it on the final lap,” said Feeney, who grew up a couple of miles from the track.
“Even on Friday we were fast [in the dry], but I knew in the first stint it was not going to be easy. It’s Finals time, and we pulled another gear. We haven’t won since QR, and Bathurst was gut-wrenching. We needed that momentum to go into the Finals.”
Second place was a good result for Kostecki after a difficult Saturday.
“We made a little mistake in Friday’s Qualifying, and that put us out of the Shoot Out,” he said.
“I made too many mistakes in that race and I broke a splitter. The car is really fast in race trim at the moment I need to stop making so many mistakes.
Mostert was a strong third, ahead of Wood and Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner, who ran a long opening stint so long that he made his first pitstop a lap before one lap before Brown made his second.
Mostert was disappointed with his Qualifying performance.
“Gutted that I didn’t qualify very well, it is so enjoyable to drive,” he admitted.
“You do whatever you can for your team, I only just found out that Ryan did not make it in. I am gutted for him. But it all comes back to my mistake in Qualifying.”
There were no Chevrolets among the top 14 finishers – but there was a reason why. In his first race as a full-time driver, Erebus Motorsport’s Jarrod Hughes looked superb. He was bowling along in eighth place when suddenly he made a third pitstop for a splash of fuel. In doing so, he dropped back to 17th place.
That stop was important for Anton De Pasquale. His Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro was all over the place in the first, wet Qualifying session and started the race from 21st. Then at the first corner, contact with another car flattened a tyre and by the end of the lap, after a fast pitstop, he was last.
After Saturday’s result, ‘ADP’, who had qualified as a Finalist, was on the see-saw of making to the next round or not but when Wood passed Mostert, he fell onto the wrong side of the see-saw.
That put Saturday’s result into perspective. Had Team 18 asked David Reynolds to slow, to advance De Pasquale, he would made qualified through to the next round.
But when Hughes stopped for fuel – and a couple of laps later, another non-Finalist Chevrolet driven by Team Sydney’s Cooper Murray – none of that mattered...
So Wood, Kai Allen (Kelly Racing Ford) and Jack Le Brocq (Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet) have been eliminated from the Finals, and seven drivers are still in contention.
The next round of the Supercars Championship will be at Sandown Park in Melbourne, on 6-8 November.