Kostecki and Payne lead Ford’s march in New Zealand

Brodie Kostecki and Matt Payne took a win apiece on Saturday on the second day of Supercars racing at Ruapuna Park near Christchurch in New Zealand.

Kostecki took the opening 37-lap sprint race, but everyone had to give best to Grove Racing’sPayne in the second encounter, as he dominated the race to lead home Triple Eight Ford’s Broc Feeney.

The first Saturday race was a reverse image of Friday’s encounter – this time, Kostecki seizing the lead and Grove’s Kai Allen not being able to find a way around him. That was how they finished, with Wood taking third from the Triple Eight Fords of Will Brown and Feeney, and Team 18’s Anton De Pasquale in the first of the Chevrolet Camaros.

The battle between Brown and Feeney was aided by Brown undercutting his team-mate and taking the position.

It was a disaster for Payne, who lost a wheel on the track and had to recover to make it to 19th, but he cleared out in the second race with a comfortable victory. The fight for second place featured Wood and Kostecki, until both went off at the same corner, and Feeney, who made ground from sixth on the grid, blasted by to take second and somewhat right the Triple Eight ship.

“What a turnaround,” Payne said after his first win of the season, with a dominant 11.6431s victory. “Our car has been so fast all day, to get the win this afternoon has been so worth it. I thought we were going to get there in the first race but fortunately we got there in the second. I didn’t get it right the first couple of starts but I finally got it done.”

Feeney was a happy man with second: “It’s been such a challenging weekend. These guys are on fire this weekend, to be able to take it to then is great but Matty is on another planet. I am a long way from where we want to be but we are slowly getting on top of it.”

There was a great battle for third in the second race, with Wood eventually giving way to the Blanchard Racing Team Ford of James Golding, who was assisted by taking four tyres during his pitstop. He raced his way past Wood with three laps to go, to give BRT a welcome podium finish.

“It felt pretty good at the start and I knew we were in the mix,” he said. “The car kept getting better during the race. Head down, the car was unbelievable. I had a couple of moments after I got Brodie but I kept going and fortunately, got the result.”

The best of the Chevrolet Camaro drivers was, once again, De Pasquale, with a second sixth place, while the second race might have been an even better one for Grove Racing, but at Allen’s second stop, his team appeared to have a change of mind about whether they were changing the front or the rear first, losing 9s to Kostecki, who pitted at the same time.

Allen came home seventh ahead of Cam Waters, the Tickford Ford driver recovering after continuing his trend of not qualifying inside the top 10 in any of the six races in New Zealand held so far.

Supercars champion Chaz Mostert had a difficult Saturday, adding only and 13th and a 12th to his eighth place on Friday in the other Walkinshaw TWG Toyota.

The Supercars action will return to the Christchurch track on Sunday, for a single, 61-lap race.

Supercars Christchurch – Race 2 results

All Stats

1	B. Kostecki Dick Johnson Racing		Ford Mustang S650	37
2	K. Allen Grove Racing		Ford Mustang S650	37		0.5980
3	R. Wood Walkinshaw TWG Racing		Toyota GR Supra	37		8.0133
4	W. Brown Triple Eight Race Engineering		Ford Mustang S650	37		0.3909
5	B. Feeney Triple Eight Race Engineering		Ford Mustang S650	37		1.1569
6	A. De Pasquale Team 18		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		8.5621
7	C. Waters Tickford Racing		Ford Mustang S650	37		1.7055
8	J. Ojeda PremiAir Racing		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		0.5967
9	A. Cameron Blanchard Racing Team		Ford Mustang S650	37		1.1548
10	Z. Bates Matt Stone Racing		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		0.8396
11	R. Gray Dick Johnson Racing		Ford Mustang S650	37		4.0114
12	J. Le Brocq Matt Stone Racing		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		2.7440
13	C. Mostert Walkinshaw TWG Racing		Toyota GR Supra	37		7.3907
14	T. Randle Tickford Racing		Ford Mustang S650	37		0.8031
15	J. Golding Blanchard Racing Team		Ford Mustang S650	37		0.6411
16	C. Murray Erebus Motorsport Penrite		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		0.7116
17	J. Stewart Erebus Motorsport Penrite		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		4.5822
18	M. Jones Brad Jones Racing		Toyota GR Supra	37		0.6758
19	M. Payne Grove Racing		Ford Mustang S650	37		0.5656
20	D. Fraser PremiAir Racing		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		3.3330
21	D. Reynolds Team 18		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		3.2577
22	J. Walls Triple Eight Race Engineering		Ford Mustang S650	37		5.4313
23	A. Heimgartner Brad Jones Racing		Toyota GR Supra	31		6 Laps
24	C. Hill Brad Jones Racing		Toyota GR Supra	30		1 Lap

Supercars Christchurch – Race 3 results

All Stats

1	M. Payne Grove Racing		Ford Mustang S650	37
2	B. Feeney Triple Eight Race Engineering		Ford Mustang S650	37		11.6431
3	J. Golding Blanchard Racing Team		Ford Mustang S650	37		2.5209
4	R. Wood Walkinshaw TWG Racing		Toyota GR Supra	37		1.2742
5	B. Kostecki Dick Johnson Racing		Ford Mustang S650	37		2.9704
6	A. De Pasquale Team 18		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		1.4817
7	K. Allen Grove Racing		Ford Mustang S650	37		0.2579
8	C. Waters Tickford Racing		Ford Mustang S650	37		0.4635
9	J. Le Brocq Matt Stone Racing		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		0.3068
10	R. Gray Dick Johnson Racing		Ford Mustang S650	37		2.1438
11	J. Ojeda PremiAir Racing		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		3.1695
12	C. Mostert Walkinshaw TWG Racing		Toyota GR Supra	37		2.1958
13	W. Brown Triple Eight Race Engineering		Ford Mustang S650	37		3.2897
14	Z. Bates Matt Stone Racing		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		0.2436
15	A. Heimgartner Brad Jones Racing		Toyota GR Supra	37		0.9104
16	C. Hill Brad Jones Racing		Toyota GR Supra	37		2.9536
17	T. Randle Tickford Racing		Ford Mustang S650	37		9.6214
18	C. Murray Erebus Motorsport Penrite		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		1.2646
19	D. Reynolds Team 18		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		1.0727
20	J. Stewart Erebus Motorsport Penrite		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		0.2293
21	A. Cameron Blanchard Racing Team		Ford Mustang S650	37		3.7289
22	D. Fraser PremiAir Racing		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	37		8.0264
23	M. Jones Brad Jones Racing		Toyota GR Supra	37		1.0306
24	J. Walls Triple Eight Race Engineering		Ford Mustang S650	37		3.0726

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