Matt Payne has extended his lead in the Supercars championship with a win and a second place in the two races at Wanneroo Raceway in Perth.
The Kelly Racing Ford driver started from pole position in both 50-lap races and except for a slow start to the opening race, the New Zealander made no mistakes worth mentioning, to take the win.
Even a safety car in race one, which erased a lead of nearly five seconds, did not worry Payne, who quickly re-established his advantage.
In the second race he solved his temporary starting woes but following his pitstop was baulked by a car that was about to enter the pitlane.
In a flash Broc Feeney, who had been closing in on the leader after his own stop, bolted into the lead in the Triple Eight Ford, and hung on to end a seven-race winless streak by 1.58s.
“It’s probably more of a relief, to be honest,” said Feeney, who finished seventh in the opening race, after a difficult qualifying.
“We still have a fair bit of work to do. In the first stint Matt disappeared into the distance but he came back to me in the second stint. I lit into wheelspin [at the start] and I had a bit of an issue in the first stint. My guys are second to none in the pitlane and they put me back into it.”
Payne had no qualms about Feeney’s opportunistic overtake.
“I would have done the same thing,” he said. “We just got caught out with lapped traffic at absolutely the wrong time. I don’t think there is anything I would have done.
“I was just understeering too much. I was getting frustrated, to lose it like that was unfortunate.”
Third place in the second race went to Payne’s Grove team-mate, Kai Allen. He was involved in a major battle in the opening race when, under pressure from the Team 18 Chevrolet of Anton De Pasquale, Allen was attacking Kostecki at Turn 1 and the result was Kostecki beached, which triggered the safety car with 11 laps remaining. That left the 2023 champion last and Allen sixth, with the stewards opting for no further action after investigation in the clash post-race.
“I had a bad start and Broc had a shocker too,” Allen said after Race 2.
“For a while there… I was really happy after that. The car was a good one. We are missing a bit, Broc did a good job and that team did a really good job with their stops.”
In the second race Kostecki had to come through the field and over the closing laps fought an epic battle with his former team-mate, Will Brown. The Triple Eight Ford driver started from 11th to Kostecki’s seventh but made strong early ground, and completed a solid day for Triple Eight.
It was a good Saturday for the Walkinshaw TWG Toyotas. Ryan Wood was second in the first race, even if Payne had the speed to have him covered, but he did not have the same speed in the second race, finishing eighth.
Team-mate Chaz Mostert had two solid races, and looked to be in contention for a podium finish in the opening race, in spite of starting outside the top 10. His Toyota showed good race pace and the team’s decision to change only two tyres in the single pitstop got him up to third, until he lost ground to ‘four-tyre’ cars in the closing laps. In the second race he made an early stop and thereafter, drove a lonely race to fourth.
The other notable performances came from De Pasquale, who was the best Chevrolet driver in both races, taking third in race one and 11th in the second race. De Pasquale had great pace in the second half of the opening race on Dunlop’s soft tyre but on the super soft in the afternoon could not repeat the performance.
The Supercars teams and drivers have one more race in Perth on Sunday afternoon.
Supercars Perth - Race results
RACE1
| Cla | Driver | Car | Laps | Time | Interval | Retirement | Points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M. Payne Grove Racing | Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | 50'52.2735 |
80 | ||||||
| 2 | R. Wood Walkinshaw TWG Racing | Toyota GR Supra | 50 | +3.1782 50'55.4517 |
3.1782 | 74 | |||||
| 3 |  A. De Pasquale Team 18 |
Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +3.8666 50'56.1401 |
0.6884 | 68 | |||||
| 4 | C. Waters Tickford Racing |
Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +5.5920 50'57.8655 |
1.7254 | 62 | |||||
| 5 | C. Mostert Walkinshaw TWG Racing |
Toyota GR Supra | 50 | +6.6264 50'58.8999 |
1.0344 | 57 | |||||
| 6 | K. Allen Grove Racing | Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +7.1057 50'59.3792 |
0.4793 | 53 | |||||
| 7 | B. Feeney Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +7.4877 50'59.7612 |
0.3820 | 54 | |||||
| 8 |  A. Heimgartner Brad Jones Racing |
Toyota GR Supra | 50 | +8.0338 51'00.3073 |
0.5461 | 45 | |||||
| 9 | T. Randle Tickford Racing |
Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +10.6520 51'02.9255 |
2.6182 | 41 | |||||
| 10 | R. Gray Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +11.0871 51'03.3606 |
0.4351 | 38 | |||||
| 11 | J. Le Brocq Matt Stone Racing |
Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +12.9245 51'05.1980 |
1.8374 | 35 | |||||
| 12 | W. Brown Triple Eight Race Engineering |
Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +13.1210 51'05.3945 |
0.1965 | 32 | |||||
| 13 | C. Murray Erebus Motorsport Penrite | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +13.2660 51'05.5395 |
0.1450 | 29 | |||||
| 14 | C. Hill Brad Jones Racing | Toyota GR Supra | 50 | +13.7864 51'06.0599 |
0.5204 | 27 | |||||
| 15 | J. Golding Blanchard Racing Team |
Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +14.0836 51'06.3571 |
0.2972 | 25 | |||||
| 16 | A. Cameron Blanchard Racing Team | Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +14.4066 51'06.6801 |
0.3230 | 23 | |||||
| 17 | J. Walls Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +14.9774 51'07.2509 |
0.5708 | 21 | |||||
| 18 | J. Stewart Erebus Motorsport Penrite | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +15.2296 51'07.5031 |
0.2522 | 19 | |||||
| 19 | D. Reynolds Team 18 |
Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +16.3600 51'08.6335 |
1.1304 | 18 | |||||
| 20 | J. Ojeda PremiAir Racing | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +16.4487 51'08.7222 |
0.0887 | 16 | |||||
| 21 | D. Fraser PremiAir Racing | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +16.8461 51'09.1196 |
0.3974 | 15 | |||||
| 22 | Z. Bates Matt Stone Racing | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +17.0092 51'09.2827 |
0.1631 | 14 | |||||
| 23 | M. Jones Brad Jones Racing |
Toyota GR Supra | 49 | +1 Lap 51'11.1001 |
1 Lap | 13 | |||||
| 24 | B. Kostecki Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Mustang S650 | 47 | +3 Laps 51'14.8682 |
2 Laps | 12 | |||||
| View full results | |||||||||||
RACE2
| Cla | Driver | Car | Laps | Time | Interval | Retirement | Points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B. Feeney Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | 46'58.8626 |
|||||||
| 2 | M. Payne Grove Racing | Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +1.5833 47'00.4459 |
1.5833 | ||||||
| 3 | K. Allen Grove Racing | Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +5.7178 47'04.5804 |
4.1345 | ||||||
| 4 | C. Mostert Walkinshaw TWG Racing |
Toyota GR Supra | 50 | +12.8120 47'11.6746 |
7.0942 | ||||||
| 5 | W. Brown Triple Eight Race Engineering |
Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +13.4713 47'12.3339 |
0.6593 | ||||||
| 6 | B. Kostecki Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +13.8262 47'12.6888 |
0.3549 | ||||||
| 7 | A. Heimgartner Brad Jones Racing |
Toyota GR Supra | 50 | +18.2241 47'17.0867 |
4.3979 | ||||||
| 8 | R. Wood Walkinshaw TWG Racing | Toyota GR Supra | 50 | +21.3460 47'20.2086 |
3.1219 | ||||||
| 9 | C. Waters Tickford Racing |
Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +21.6617 47'20.5243 |
0.3157 | ||||||
| 10 | T. Randle Tickford Racing |
Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +24.7474 47'23.6100 |
3.0857 | ||||||
| 11 | A. De Pasquale Team 18 |
Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +25.6790 47'24.5416 |
0.9316 | ||||||
| 12 | D. Fraser PremiAir Racing | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +27.4458 47'26.3084 |
1.7668 | ||||||
| 13 | J. Le Brocq Matt Stone Racing |
Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +27.7436 47'26.6062 |
0.2978 | ||||||
| 14 | J. Golding Blanchard Racing Team |
Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +29.5254 47'28.3880 |
1.7818 | ||||||
| 15 | D. Reynolds Team 18 |
Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +29.8942 47'28.7568 |
0.3688 | ||||||
| 16 | J. Stewart Erebus Motorsport Penrite | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +32.3048 47'31.1674 |
2.4106 | ||||||
| 17 | R. Gray Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +32.4564 47'31.3190 |
0.1516 | ||||||
| 18 | J. Ojeda PremiAir Racing | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +32.9715 47'31.8341 |
0.5151 | ||||||
| 19 | C. Murray Erebus Motorsport Penrite | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +39.1744 47'38.0370 |
6.2029 | ||||||
| 20 | C. Hill Brad Jones Racing | Toyota GR Supra | 50 | +43.4149 47'42.2775 |
4.2405 | ||||||
| 21 | A. Cameron Blanchard Racing Team | Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +44.5513 47'43.4139 |
1.1364 | ||||||
| 22 | Z. Bates Matt Stone Racing | Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 | 50 | +46.0528 47'44.9154 |
1.5015 | ||||||
| 23 | M. Jones Brad Jones Racing |
Toyota GR Supra | 50 | +47.4797 47'46.3423 |
1.4269 | ||||||
| 24 | J. Walls Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Mustang S650 | 50 | +49.0963 47'47.9589 |
1.6166 | ||||||
| View full results | |||||||||||
