Supercars Sandown: Feeney and Whincup score tense 500 win

Whincup executed two moves on Will Brown's Erebus co-driver Jack Perkins during the early stages of the race, one either side of the first stops, to set up yet another Sandown victory for Triple Eight.

Feeney inherited the car in a comfortable lead at the second round of stops and looked to be on for an easy win – only for a late restart to bunch up the field. But Whincup's replacement in the Chevrolet Camaro outfit held off series leader Brodie Kostecki to secure his first Sandown 500 win and a sixth for team boss Whincup.

Kostecki and co-driver Dave Russell both contributed to the recovery of an early double stack that dropped them back into the pack to finish a fine second while Brown made a late mistake to fumble a podium, handing third spot to Shane van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway.

Whincup made good early progress in the #88 entry, the veteran moving past Erebus co-drivers Russell and Perkins in the first couple of laps to lead the way. Whincup was leading by about a second on lap 19 when fourth-placed Garth Tander's Grove Mustang shed its left-rear wheel on the way through the fast Dandenong Road section.

The stray wheel bounced onto the back of James Moffat and Cam Waters' fifth-placed Tickford Mustang and tore off the rear wing. With Tander beached in the Turn 9 sand, the safety car arrived to prompt a flurry of early stops, Tickford completing its repairs in time to keep Moffat on the lead lap.

Perkins managed to jump back ahead of Whincup amid all the stops, while Russell plummeted from third to 10th in the order after being forced to double stack behind Perkins.

The race went green again on lap 26, Perkins initially leading comfortably over Whincup and Michael Caruso's Team 18 Camaro, until lap 39 when Caruso was easily passed by Porsche World Endurance Championship ace Kevin Estre's #19 Grove Mustang into Turn 1. Two laps later there was a change for the lead when Whincup eased past Perkins again.

Once the magic lap 54 had been reached – the minimum for co-drivers – the second round of stops burst into life. Perkins was the first of the front-runners to pit, handing his car over to Brown for the run to the finish. Whincup and Estre then followed suit, Feeney resuming in a comfortable effective lead as Matt Payne slotted back into third behind Brown.

Broc Feeney, Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Photo by: Edge Photographics)

Russell, meanwhile, had managed good progress during his second stint, moving into the top six before handing over to Brodie Kostecki, who found himself running fourth. By half-race distance, Kostecki was back on the podium after easing past Payne into Turn 1.

Feeney made light of the third stint, pulling nearly nine seconds on Brown before his 2024 team-mate pitted from second on lap 87. Feeney stopped two laps later, resuming in a lead over Brown that ballooned to more than 13 seconds over the 10 laps that followed. Kostecki continued in third while van Gisbergen used a long third stint to jump Payne for fourth during the third round of stops.

The fourth stint then saw Kostecki make ground on team-mate Brown, closing to within a second as the race neared the three-quarter mark. On lap 119 the fight between the Erebus cars was called off when Brown looked to let Kostecki through into second place as they blasted up the back straight.

Kostecki made his final stop on lap 125, followed by Brown on the following lap, the pair resuming in the same order as before the stops. Meanwhile Feeney executed his final stop with the lead intact, although his advantage over Kostecki was cut down to just over six seconds.

That margin was then erased entirely 20 laps from home when Cam Hill ended up beached at turn 9, sparking a second safety car of the race. That led to a tense sprint to what became a time certain finish, Feeney leading with the two Erebus cars under his rear wing. He was up to the task, though, withstanding the pressure to win by just under a second.

Kostecki was second while Brown made a costly late mistake at Dandenong Road. With three minutes to go he flew wide on the first left-hander, which allowed van Gisbergen through to snatch third.

The podium capped off an incredible recovery drive for van Gisbergen and Stanaway, who came all the way from 19th on the grid. It also keeps NASCAR-bound van Gisbergen's title hopes well and truly alive, although Kostecki did manage to increase his lead over the reigning champion to 155 points.

Feeney is now 204 points back in third, while Brown has lost more ground and is 294 points back in fourth.

Broc Feeney, Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Photo by: Edge Photographics)

Andre Heimgartner and Dale Wood made it an all-Camaro top five, while Payne and Estre were the best-placed Ford duo in sixth.

They finished ahead of Will and Alex Davison and Anton De Pasquale and Tony D'Alberto, with Tim Slade/Jono Webb and the T8 wildcard entry of Zane Goddard/Craig Lowndes rounding out the top 10.

The season continues with the Bathurst 1000 on October 5-8.

Supercars Sandown Race Results:

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data

     

Driver Info		Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	Retirement	Points
1	B. Feeney J. Whincup Red Bull Ampol Racing		Chevrolet	158	1'10.3432			150
2	B. Kostecki D. Russell Coca-Cola Racing by Erebus		Chevrolet	158	+0.0077	0.0077		138
3	S. van Gisbergen R. Stanaway Red Bull Ampol Racing		Chevrolet	158	+0.0797	0.0720		129
4	W. Brown J. Perkins Coca-Cola Racing by Erebus		Chevrolet	158	+0.1937	0.1140		120
5	A. Heimgartner D. Wood R&J Batteries Racing		Chevrolet	158	+0.1264			111
6	M. Payne K. Estre Penrite Racing		Ford Mustang GT	158	1'10.2349			102
7	W. Davison A. Davison Dick Johnson Racing		Ford Mustang GT	158	+0.2233	0.3316		96
8	A. De Pasquale Dick Johnson Racing		Ford Mustang GT	158	+0.0887			90
9	T. Slade J. Webb Nulon Racing		Chevrolet	158	+0.3777	0.2890		84
10	C. Lowndes Z. Goddard Tickford Racing		Chevrolet	158	+0.1067			78
11	M. Winterbottom M. Caruso DEWALT Racing		Chevrolet	158	+0.1807	0.0740		72
12	J. Courtney Z. Best Snowy River Racing		Ford Mustang GT	158	+0.5771	0.3964		69
13	D. Fraser T. Everingham Tradie Racing		Ford Mustang GT	158	+0.4742			66
14	B. Fullwood D. Fiore Middy's Racing		Chevrolet	157	+1 Lap	1 Lap		63
15	J. Golding D. O'Keeffe Nulon Racing		Chevrolet	157	+1 Lap	0.3019		60
16	J. Le Brocq J. Ojeda Truck Assist Racing		Chevrolet	157	+1 Lap			57
17	T. Hazelwood T. Blanchard Brad Jones Racing		Ford Mustang GT	157	+1 Lap	0.3821		54
18	J. Smith J. Evans SCT Motorsport		Chevrolet	157	+1 Lap			51
19	M. Jones J. Boys Pizza Hut Racing		Chevrolet	157	+1 Lap			48
20	C. Waters J. Moffat Tickford Racing		Ford Mustang GT	157	+1 Lap	0.1639		45
21	S. Pye T. Everingham Toyota Forklifts		Chevrolet	157	+1 Lap	0.3461		42
22	C. Mostert L. Holdsworth Mobil 1 Optus Racing		Ford Mustang GT	157	+1 Lap			39
23	N. Percat W. Luff Mobil 1 NTI Racing		Ford Mustang GT	157	+1 Lap	0.1622		36
24	A. Love J. Kostecki Racer Industries		Ford Mustang GT	156	+2 Laps	1 Lap		33
25	T. Randle G. Jacobson Castrol Racing		Ford Mustang GT	145	+13 Laps	11 Laps		30
	C. Hill J. Robotham Truck Assist Racing		Chevrolet	137	+21 Laps	8 Laps	Retirement
	D. Reynolds G. Tander Penrite Racing		Ford Mustang GT	18	+140 Laps	119 Laps	Retirement
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