In a 14-lap race that featured plenty of hand-to-hand combat, Matt Stone Racing's Percat held off a double dose of Red Bull opposition, with Will Brown taking second place ahead of Broc Feeney.
The telling moment of the race came on lap 4, when second-placed Chaz Mostert (WAU Ford Mustang) was looking to challenging Matt Payne for the lead. Mostert locked a brake at Turn 10 and nerfed the rear of the Grove Racing Ford, sending both cars off the road and gifting the lead to a surprised Percat. Payne recovered in third place and for his sins, Mostert had to carry on with a five-second time penalty.
Then Payne was in the wars again, sent into a spin at Turn 1 by Bryce Fullwood (Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet), dropping the Ford to 22nd place. He went on to finish 14th.
Feeney bided his time, closed onto the back of Percat and picked his way past on lap 8 – only for Percat to fend him off and, at the same time, open the door for Brown. He was quickly onto the rear of Percat but there were no mistakes from the leader and he held on to win by 0.38sec.
“I am kind of speechless,” said an emotional Percat, whose last win came at Sydney Motorsport Park in the Covid-plagued 2020 season.
“Everyone backed me so hard. I wanted to quit and now, Round 2, we have won a race. The last 18 months, I hated every second with that mob. As soon as I walked into Matt Stone Racing, I knew this was where I wanted to be.”
Brown’s first round win with Triple Eight awards him the Larry Perkins Trophy, named after the legendary six-time Bathurst 1000 winner – and Brown’s regular endurance co-driver has been Jack Perkins.
“It was so close between me and Broc. I would have liked to have got Nick, I made a mistake out of Turn 1 and cooked them [the tyres].”
Said Feeney, “[I am] pumped for Nick, he is a great bloke and he deserves that. I am gutted with the third, I had a crack but I didn’t execute it. Any kids watching, make sure you hit the brakes in the middle of a corner!”
Mostert finished fourth on the road but the time penalty dropped him to fifth behind Thomas Randle (Tickford Ford). Dick Johnson Racing’s Will Davison was sixth ahead of Cam Waters (Tickford), Richie Stanaway (Grove) and David Reynolds (Team18 Chevrolet).
Second place means that Brown leads the championship pointscore on 575, from Feeney on 558 and Mostert on 478. Percat’s win lifts him to fourth on 405, ahead of Reynolds (358).
The next round of the race will be at a venue new to Supercars, Taupō Motorsport Park in New Zealand, on 20-21 April.
Race results:
| Cla | Nº | Driver | Car / Engine | Laps | Delay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | Nick Percat | Chevrolet | 14 | |
| 2 | 87 | William Brown | Chevrolet | 14 | 0.3810 |
| 3 | 88 | Broc Feeney | Chevrolet | 14 | 0.9944 |
| 4 | 55 | Tom Randle | Ford | 14 | 9.9320 |
| 5 | 25 | Chaz Mostert | Ford | 14 | 10.0349 |
| 6 | 17 | Will Davison | Ford | 14 | 14.4397 |
| 7 | 6 | Cameron Waters | Ford | 14 | 16.2138 |
| 8 | 26 | Richie Stanaway | Ford | 14 | 17.0547 |
| 9 | 20 | David Reynolds | Chevrolet | 14 | 17.5480 |
| 10 | 23 | Tim Slade | Chevrolet | 14 | 17.9223 |
| 11 | 31 | James Golding | Chevrolet | 14 | 19.4039 |
| 12 | 3 | Aaron Love | Ford | 14 | 22.4735 |
| 13 | 18 | M.Winterbottom | Chevrolet | 14 | 23.2947 |
| 14 | 19 | Matthew Payne | Ford | 14 | 23.5688 |
| 15 | 99 | Todd Hazelwood | Chevrolet | 14 | 27.8397 |
| 16 | 7 | James Courtney | Ford | 14 | 29.2972 |
| 17 | 8 | A.Heimgartner | Chevrolet | 14 | 30.6780 |
| 18 | 12 | Jaxon Evans | Chevrolet | 14 | 31.0113 |
| 19 | 96 | Macauley Jones | Chevrolet | 14 | 32.3274 |
| 20 | 14 | Bryce Fullwood | Chevrolet | 14 | 35.2442 |
| 21 | 2 | Ryan Wood | Ford | 14 | 48.9565 |
| - | 4 | Cameron Hill | Chevrolet | 13 | |
| - | 9 | Jack Le Brocq | Chevrolet | 0 | |
| - | 11 | A.De Pasquale | Ford | 0 |
