Will Brown and Scott Pye led a dominant one-two result for the Triple Eight Chevrolet Camaros at the Sandown 500 in Melbourne.
Not even late-race contact between Brown and Broc Feeney or a sprint to the flag after a late safety car could derail the dominant result, though it did lead to red faces at the end of 155 laps, the race shortened by six laps due to time constraints.
The two drivers clashed, fortunately without damage, when Feeney, who was sharing with Jamie Whincup, rejoined after his final pitstop, allowing the championship points leader to stretch his advantage and give him his first win at the iconic circuit.
“I was a bit nervous at the start but I did not want to put a foot wrong, with Broc right there,” Brown said after the team’s third 1-2 Sandown result.“I saw him rejoin and he ran wide, I was hoping there was no damage. I got some new tyres and I just got out back in front of him.”
“I couldn’t watch in the race,” admitted Brown’s co-driver, Pye. “Broc is so fast, [but] I am so stoked for Will.
“I have learned so much, my tyre management in the middle of the race was so good.”
The two cars dominated the second half of the race, after Brown made a near-perfect start from pole position and controlled the opening laps. The pair swapped positions during the pit cycles, but Brown had a fraction too much pace over the final five laps.
The only team that looked to have the pace to truly challenge was PremiAir Racing, with James Golding vaulting into the top five early in the race and aided by an excellent stint from his first-time co-driver, veteran David Russell, who got the car into a solid position mid-race to complete the podium.
Brown and Pye claimed victory in Chevrolet Camaro
Photo by: Supercars
“It’s about bloody time!” said Golding. “The team did a really good job, Dave did a really awesome job, I can’t thank him enough.”
“We knew we needed to work on our race car, even when it was wet on Saturday, we knew it was going to be dry,” said Russell.
The best of the Ford Mustangs was that of Grove Racing’s Matt Payne, backed up by former Holden legend Garth Tander in fourth.
Fifth was an astonishing result for the pairing of Craig Lowndes and Cooper Murray. In Triple Eight’s wildcard Chevrolet entry, Lowndes made good early ground from 18th on the grid before handing over to the 23-year-old Super2 regular, who survived an off-road moment in the closing laps to complete T8’s amazing day.
Cameron Waters and James Moffat had a struggle in the Tickford Ford, which finished sixth, while Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth finished seventh in the Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford, Holdsworth spinning out of fourth place at one-quarter race distance.
The other fancied runners were the Erebus Motorsport Chevrolets. Brodie Kostecki/Todd Hazelwood ran as high as second place, only for Hazelwood to fire off the road at high speed when a tyre went down after contact while overtaking Whincup for second place.
Then Kostecki copped a 15-second penalty for spinning the wheels during a tyre change, and although they mounted a strong recovery, Kostecki stopped with 20 laps to go with a blown engine.
Team-mate Jack Le Brocq and Jayden Ojeda were in contention for a top-five finish until the final laps, Le Brocq making contact with a wall after being forced wide as they dropped to 20th.
With the win Brown stretches his points to 2280, well clear of Mostert on 2091 and Feeney on 2058.