‘Selfish’ Brown denies Feeney to end Supercars drought
Joanna Guelas |
Will Brown admits his race victory in Ipswich wasn’t entirely earned on merit, but you won’t find the defending Supercars champion complaining about it.
Brown ended a 17-race winless streak and claimed the second sprint at Queensland Raceway thanks to a controversial five-second penalty to Triple Eight teammate Broc Feeney.
Inaugural Sprint Cup winner Feeney was on his way to claiming back-to-back victories on Saturday before race stewards adjudged the pole-sitter had committed a false start.
Made to serve the time penalty when making his pit stop, the 22-year-old desperately tried to hunt down the lead across the final 13 laps.
But Brown prevailed by 0.884 seconds, and Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Ryan Wood followed in third.
“It’s a tough one with that race. It’s not really on merit,” Brown said.
“But I’ll still take it … I’m a selfish race car driver. I’ll take any win.”
Brown was left bootless after celebrating his second race win of the season.
He threw away the first shoe after drinking from it on the podium.
“Some kid asked me for (the second one) when I was walking out,” Brown added.
Feeney said the penalty was hard to accept given he hadn’t felt the jump in the car.
“No, I haven’t seen the vision, but the team told me I moved,” Feeney said.
“I was a whole lot surprised when I first heard it.
“I don’t know how much of a tyre (off the starting line), but a smidge of a tyre.
“I’ve never, ever had that in my whole career, so it’s a first for me today.”
Feeney will at least find consolation in having automatically qualified for this year’s inaugural finals by claiming the Sprint Cup with victory in the opening sprint.
He won largely unchallenged, leading home Grove Racing rookie Kai Allen and sophomore driver Wood for the youngest-ever Supercars podium.
Feeney now boasts a 232-point lead ahead of Brown with one race left in Ipswich and will take 25 bonus points into the elimination finals series.
Brown had to settle for fourth in the opening race, which ended under the safety car.
The yellow flag was brought out with three laps remaining when David Reynolds, in a bid to overtake James Golding, veered off track after locking up.
The safety car came out again before the first lap of the second sprint could be completed when Blanchard Racing Team driver Aaron Cameron spun off at the first turn.
Cameron tried to evade a red-hot Matt Payne on his tail but instead misjudged the open space between Tickford’s Thomas Randle and Erebus rookie Cooper Murray.
Murray’s teammate Jack Le Brocq and Brad Jones Racing driver Jaxon Evans suffered race-ending damage in the jam.
Supercars action returns to Queensland Raceway on Sunday, getting underway at 10.20am (AEST) with qualifying.
RACE 23 RESULTS:
1. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Race Engineering)
2. Kai Allen (Grove Racing)
3. Ryan Wood (Walkinshaw Andretti United)
4. Will Brown (Triple Eight)
5. Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing)
RACE 24 RESULTS:
1. Will Brown (Triple Eight)
2. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight)
3. Ryan Wood (WAU)
4. Anton De Pasquale (Team 18)
5. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing)
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight) 1918points
2. Will Brown (Triple Eight) +232pts
3. Matt Payne (Grove) +309pts
4. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing) +499pts
5. Chaz Mostert (WAU) +599pts
AAP
