MOTORSPORT: Ford dominates Townsville Supercars

Ford has returned to the forefront of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship at the NTI Townsville 500, where Ford Mustang drivers Cameron Waters and Matthew Payne shared the honours over an action-packed weekend.

The Saturday race, in particular, was highly entertaining, with the battle for the lead involving multiple drivers before ultimately going right down to the wire.

Sunday’s encounter was more straightforward, however, the leaders from Saturday were able to replicate their form.

“Awesome, unbelievable. We’ve had a tough couple of rounds lately,” said Payne after Sunday’s win.

“I knew we had a good race car yesterday. My final stint pace was really strong, so to put it all together today and try and replicate that with a different strategy from the team was absolutely wicked.

“I can’t thank them enough. They gave me an awesome car and I’m just happy to put it where it belongs.

“There was no backing off; with our strategy, we were pushing the whole way – tough work but very rewarding.”

The opening race was back to the best of Supercars racing, with a mix of drivers battling changing conditions on the circuit and opposing strategies off-track.

The race started in spectacular circumstances when Nick Percat, Anton De Pasquale and Brodie Kostecki tangled on the opening circuit, however, they were all able to continue after repairs.

From pole position, Waters led the opening stanza of the race, although he was shadowed throughout by Chaz Mostert.

The race developed into an interesting tactical affair, with provisional polesitter Will Davison showing his hand at one stage, ditto Thomas Randle, who was in the thick of the action.

Running a contrary strategy, Waters emerged in seventh position with 27 laps of 88 remaining.

Charging through the field, Waters ultimately claimed the lead from Mostert with seven circuits remaining as the heavens opened.

Waters held on to the victory by less than 2sec from Mostert, with Will Brown continuing his 2024 podium streak in third, having moved through from 13th on the grid.

Payne was another stout performer in fourth, ahead of Randle, Jack Le Brocq, Davison, Andre Heimgartner and Cameron Hill, who put in a big drive to round out the top 10 after being a long last on the first lap after being spun out.

The start of the second race proved to be a tough one for both Red Bull Ampol racers, who met the wall entering and exiting turn three on the first lap, with Brown’s damage relegating him to 24th at the finish.

The threat of rain failed to materialise and the race ran green throughout, which saw strategy once again come to the forefront.

Electing to take three stops, Payne pushed hard throughout and ultimately claimed a comfortable victory, the second of his career following the Sunday race at Adelaide last year.

Waters, in second, registered a podium sweep – his second for the season after Wanneroo – ahead of Mostert, who once again demonstrated strong race pace in driving from eighth to third.

Le Brocq rounded out a solid weekend in fourth after scoring the Sunday pole and being in the conversation throughout.

Randle was fifth again from Ryan Wood, followed by Feeney, Mark Winterbottom, Hill and James Golding.

Next up on the Supercars schedule is the Sydney SuperNight on July 20-21.

Race 1 – 88 laps

Race 2 – 88 laps

Championship points:

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