Repco Supercars Championship leader Broc Feeney has dominated the opening race of the Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway.
The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver led from start-to-finish to defeat Monster Castrol Racing’s Cam Waters and Matt Payne for Penrite Racing.
Despite the final race result being fairly straightforward, there was chaos throughout the field in the early stages beginning on the opening lap when Jaxon Evans was fed off exiting Turn 1 and into the outside armco. The resulting damage means the SCT Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro will be absent from Race 18.
At Turn 5, there was further contact between Macauley Jones and Anton De Pasquale, which sent the Pizza Hut Racing Camaro into a spin
The safety car was required to retrieve the SCT Motorsport Camaro, but the restart proved even more chaotic than the race start.
Ryan Wood’s Mobil 1 Truck Assist Racing Mustang was reportedly leaking fluid during the opening stages and the engine cried enough on the restart causing a concertina. Cam Hill and Jack Le Brocq made contact seeing the Erebus Motorsport Camaro into the wall as it lost a wheel in the process.
Further around the lap at Turn 5, David Reynolds half spun into Nick Percat and Richie Stanaway was damaged while taking evasive action down the inside leading to a broken wishbone.
The second restart was less chaotic as the race moved into a rhythm led by Feeney and held this until the pit stops.
Behind, Waters held onto second and Payne third until Brodie Kostecki completed a robust pass to elevate his Shell V-Power Racing Team Mustang into third. However, the 2023 champion was handed a 5s penalty for the contact.
The pit stops came for the leaders and Monster Castrol Racing elected to fit fresh tyres all round compared to Red Bull Ampol Racing hoping to gain an advantage, but this hurt when Waters emerged behind Payne when he re-joined the race.
Although Payne didn’t make the battle all that that hard, Feeney was already comfortably in front and took the win by 1.8s.
Bryce Fullwood finished just off the podium in fourth from a charging James Courtney, Chaz Mostert, Nick Percat, Will Brown, Kostecki and Andre Heimgartner.
Kai Allen was shuffled to 11th after starting inside the top 10, with Cam Hill, Thomas Randle, De Pasquale, Will Davison and James Golding all outside the top running.
Race 18 of the Repco Supercars Championship is scheduled for 3:10pm ACST or 3:40pm AEST.