Supercars Adelaide: Brown crowned champion as Feeney wins Saturday race
Broc Feeney won the Saturday race at Adelaide but second place was enough for his Triple Eight Chevrolet team-mate Will Brown to secure the 2024 Supercars championship with a race to spare.
Feeney started the race from third on the grid, and watched as the Tickford Racing Ford Mustangs of Tom Randle and Cam Waters led away from the front row of the grid.
Feeney followed his now-common race strategy of making an early first pitstop to take the lead and when he made his second, longer stop, he made it back onto the track just in front of Waters.
Brown, who started fifth, made his way past Randle with 21 laps of the 78-lap race remaining, the place just enough to move his points lead beyond the 150 he needed to win the title with a race yet to run.
As if to confirm the title, 10 laps later he took second off Waters to give T8 a 1-2 result.
“We knew what we had to do today,” said Feeney after his victory.
“A 12-second win is really big but we have a bigger job to do next year. He’s done a fantastic job this year, we’ve got one to go.
“He’s pushed me to another level this year, the results have been good but not good enough.”
Brown was understandably delighted with second and his maiden Supercars title.
“It was so hot out there!” smiled the new champion.
“It’s cool to get a podium, we got one at every round. I came into this year thinking that if I didn’t win or come second, I had let the team down.”
Waters had to settle for third place and only got that after he held off a challenge from the Grove Racing Ford of Matt Payne, who split the T8s in the top 10 shootout but then had a otherwise mostly solo race to fourth place.
Fifth was Randle, who won the start from second on the grid and led his Tickford Racing team-mate until they swapped positions during the pit cycle.
Brodie Kostecki took sixth place in his Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet ahead of the Blanchard Racing Ford of James Courtney and Andre Heimgartner in the Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet.
The race also featured the rarity of two substitute drivers taking part, with Cooper Murray taking over the Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet of Jack Le Brocq, who returned home on Friday for the birth of his first child.
The other driver was Dale Wood, who stepped into the Grove Racing Ford after Richie Stanaway showed delayed concussion symptoms after a crash in qualifying.
Supercars will be back in action on Sunday, with the drivers taking to the track at 10:20am, Australian Central Daylight Savings Time, for a 15-minute qualifying session. The single-car top 10 shootout will start at 12:35pm and the 24th and final race of the year, over 78 laps, is set for 3:15pm.
