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AAP
AAP
Sport
Oliver Caffrey

Rising stars taking it to Supercars great van Gisbergen

Broc Feeney celebrates his win in the final race of the Supercars round at Albert Park. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Shane van Gisbergen's stranglehold on the Supercars championship is under threat after the emergence of two rising stars at Albert Park.

Erebus's Brodie Kostecki has claimed a shock early championship lead following the Australian Grand Prix round where he broke through for two victories.

After impressing in testing and at the season opener in Newcastle, the 25-year-old secured his maiden Supercars victory on Friday.

The Chevrolet Camaro driver backed up his breakthrough triumph with another win in the third race of the round on Saturday.

Van Gisbergen's promising Red Bull Ampol teammate Broc Feeney saluted on Sunday in the final 13-lap sprint race to secure the second win of his burgeoning career.

Kostecki was quick to play down any talk of seriously challenging two-time defending champion van Gisbergen for the title, but admitted Coca Cola Racing have put together an impressive car for the debut Gen3 campaign.

"I obviously care about the championship but I just live day by day," Kostecki said.

"We went to Newcastle and seemed pretty fast and obviously we've come here, a completely different circuit and the team's been really fast.

"Going into the next round in Perth, there's no reason why we shouldn't be up the front but anything can happen. It's a steep learning curve with this car."

Feeney, the youngest pole-sitter in Supercars history aged 20, turned his front-row advantage into his first win of the season to end the weekend.

He finished off his rookie season with a famous win at the Adelaide 500 last December.

Feeney let out "oh yeah, baby!" over the team radio as he took the chequered flag in the fourth and final Supercars race of the round.

The Camaro driver finished in front of Brad Jones Racing's Andre Heimgartner in second, while Kostecki capped off an extraordinary weekend by adding another podium to his victories on Friday and Saturday.

"What a way to win on grand prix Sunday, I've dreamt of this for a long time," Feeney said.

"I knew we were in a good place, just needed to knuckle down. Bloody awesome."

Broc Feeney charges to victory in Sunday's Supercars race at Melbourne's Albert Park. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

The race began with a rolling start following an emergency meeting on Saturday night after two separate fires to the new Gen3 cars.

Ford veteran James Courtney's Mustang was engulfed in flames on Saturday on the opening lap, with the vision even more dramatic than when Nick Percat's engine caught fire 24 hours earlier.

"As always, the safety of our drivers, team personnel and marshals is paramount to Supercars," Supercars boss Shane Howard said.

"In consultation with the Supercars Commission, Supercars and the Gen3 technical working group will conduct a further review into this weekend's incidents over the coming weeks and in advance of the Perth SuperSprint."

SUPERCARS MELBOURNE SUPERSPRINT RACE FOUR

1. Broc Feeney (Red Bull Ampol)

2. Andre Heimgartner (Brad Jones Racing)

3. Brodie Kostecki (Coca Cola Racing)

4. Shane van Gisbergen (Red Bull Ampol)

5. Jack Le Brocq (Truck Assist Racing)

SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

1. Brodie Kostecki 514 pts

2. Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw Andretti United) 482

3. Shane van Gisbergen 428

4. Andre Heimgartner 386

5. Will Brown (Coca Cola Racing) 383

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