Feeney completes clean sweep at Hidden Valley

Broc Feeney completed a clean sweep of all three Supercars races at Hidden Valley, taking another convincing win at the Darwin circuit.

Feeney started from pole position, again, and was headed only briefly over the 70-lap distance to take his third win of the weekend and sixth at the track for and his Triple Eight Chevrolet.

From pole he dominated the early going, building a small gap before he dropped the hammer on lap 10, building a 3s lead in four laps. But Grove Racing’s Matt Payne made his first compulsory pitstop on lap 14, undercutting Feeney and seizing the lead when the Camaro driver emerged from the pitlane on lap 30. But Feeney, on much fresher tyres, duly reclaimed the lead two laps later.

In the second half of the race the two drivers stuck to their strategies. Feeney’s second stop came with just eight laps to go and he resumed 2.4s in the lead, stretching that to six seconds at the flag, the first driver to sweep the Darwin races since Scott McLaughlin did it six years ago.

“The triple crown has always been a thing for me,” said a happy Feeney.

“I watched Scotty win it back in 2019 and I am so proud of this team. It is hard to put together a weekend like that. I tried to look after the tyres and I got three cracker starts, and I could put my foot down when it was needed.”

For Payne third would have to suffice, still a strong result from the third row of the grid, just behind of his team-mate Kai Allen, on the podium for the second day in a row. On fresher tyres than Payne the 19-year-old found a way past with five laps of the race remaining.

Jack Le Brocq took fourth for Erebus Motorsport after starting second, but only after a late fight to hold out the man he replaced last season. Will Brown had to play another recovery role, starting 11th after missing the top-10 qualifying shootout by less than a tenth of a second, and finishing a similar margin behind Le Brocq.

Chaz Mostert produced an impressive recovery drive for Walkinshaw Andretti United, having started from the pitlane after experiencing a clutch problem on the formation lap, but managed the problem during the race and brought his Ford Mustang home in 12th place.

Feeney leaves Darwin 183 points up on Brown, but Payne is now just 14 points in arrears in third place. Cameron Waters, whose Tickford Mustang shed a wheel with a lap to go, was classified 24th and is now fourth in the points, 320 – effective an entire round – behind Feeney.

Supercars returns to action at Townsville on 11-13 July for the seventh round of the season, with three races at the Reid Park street circuit.

Supercars Darwin – Race 3 results