Will Brown has overhauled Broc Feeney in a tense battle to win the ITM Taupō Super400 finale, with Anton De Pasquale clinching the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.
Brown cleared Feeney with nine laps remaining to claim the lead, following a nail-biting battle that saw the two Red Bull Ampol Camaros run side-by-side on multiple occasions.
Behind them, De Pasquale finished a distant third to claim the Richards Trophy, emulating former Shell V-Power Racing Team driver Scott McLaughlin, who won the trophy in 2018.
De Pasquale hung onto the trophy despite a spirited charge from Saturday winner Andre Heimgartner, who missed out on an emotional Richards Trophy win by one position.
Heading to the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint, Brown leads Feeney by an extended 71 points.
Watch every race of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship LIVE & ad-break free during racing. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
Payne won the race to Turn 1 over Feeney as Kostecki bogged down behind, with the reigning champion turning shallow to hang onto fourth behind De Pasquale.
Behind them, Mostert was boxed in and dropped from ninth to 15th by the end of the first lap, forcing the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver into an early recovery mission.
Payne opened up a 1.6s lead over Feeney by lap 6, with Kostecki defending from former teammate Brown. Brown passed Kostecki at Turn 11 on lap 9, and set off after the leaders.
Payne began to hit tyre trouble and was initially passed by Feeney on lap 11, before retaking the lead. Feeney eventually got past, leaving Payne vulnerable to De Pasquale and Brown behind.
De Pasquale got past his Ford rival at Turn 1 on lap 15, with Brown going by at Turn 11 of the following lap. By that time, Feeney led De Pasquale by 2.6s, with Brown 1.3s behind.
De Pasquale was first of the leaders to stop on lap 18, with Feeney coming in on the following lap, along with Le Brocq, Mostert and Randle.
Brown, Payne, Kostecki and Heimgartner were brought in on the next lap, with Feeney regaining the lead by 2.4s over De Pasquale when the field cleansed on lap 23. Brown was 4.1s behind in third ahead of the undercutting PremiAir Nulon teammates of Slade and Golding, with Payne sixth ahead of Kostecki, Davison, Le Brocq and Percat.
Mostert, meanwhile, dropped to effective 14th after a slow stop, leaving the WAU star remonstrating in the cabin.
Brown caught De Pasquale and was within striking distance on lap 32, with Brown showing the nose at Turn 5. At Turn 11, Brown made his move stick, with Feeney 4.3s up the road.
Mostert’s charge continued, with the WAU driver up to seventh on lap 36. However, there was a minor scare with smoke emanating from behind the car, albeit from a suspected rubber clump. The #25 was brought in on lap 37 for his second stop.
Feeney’s lead over Brown dipped below two seconds on lap 37, with a number of teams beginning to head into three-stop territory. Golding, Le Brocq, Hill and Winterbottom stopped on lap 38. By then, De Pasquale was 6.7s behind Brown.
Just as the margin between Feeney and Brown dipped under a second, Triple Eight brought the leader in, with Brown stopping on the following lap. Feeney retained the effective lead over Brown, with Wood undercutting De Pasquale into effective third.
With 17 laps remaining, Feeney led Brown by 2.3s, with Wood 7.7s behind Brown. De Pasquale was 3.2s behind Wood, with Mostert and Payne disputing fifth position.
Brown slashed the lead to 0.8s by lap 46, with De Pasquale reeling in Wood. WAU brought Wood in for a third stop, releasing De Pasquale into third, with Brown all over his teammate. The two ran line astern into Turn 11 on lap 49, with Brown hitting the rear of the #88 on the following lap. Brown tried again on lap 51, first at Turn 6 before running line astern again into Turn 11.
On lap 52, Feeney bowled a wide into Turn 5, opening the door to Brown to take the lead, with the points leader opening up a 1.6s lead by lap 57.
Behind them, Mostert dropped behind Golding, with Heimgartner chasing the WAU Ford in a bid to keep his Richards Trophy hopes alive. However, the Kiwi fell one position short as Brown claimed victory by 3.3585s, with De Pasquale 14.2612s down in third.
Payne, Golding, Heimgartner, Mostert, Le Brocq, Waters and Wood rounded out the top 10, with Kostecki dropping from 10th to 12th after being penalised over a late clash with Stanaway.
This article was originally posted at Supercars.com and was republished with permission.
Source Agencies
