MOTORSPORT: Triple Eight on top at Bathurst

Red Bull Ampol Racing has fired a warning shot at the Repco Supercars Championship competition, with a weekend sweep from the Thrifty Bathurst 500 at Mount Panorama.

Broc Feeney led home a team one-two in the opener, while the Chevrolet squad’s new recruit Will Brown broke through in the second race, to claim the lead in the championship standings.

The only true challenge to the duo came from Chaz Mostert, who led the Sunday race aboard the Mobil 1 Optus Mustang until being jumped by Brown on the final pit cycle.

“It was a great way to start the year and of course the race win was also really cool," said Brown.

“It’s pretty cool to know that after weekend one, the team is back at the front of pit lane.

“The team all did an awesome job this weekend and we’ll be working hard back at the workshop to make a few tweaks before round two, but overall the weekend was a great one for the team."

The opening race almost immediately came under the control of the safety car after debutant Ryan Wood (Truck Assist Camaro) received the worst of an opening corner squeeze and retired into the Hell Corner sand trap.

The race then developed into a strategic affair among the leaders, with Feeney able to jump Brown in the pits.

On the track, the series encountered its first full course yellow, during which the cars hold station on the circuit to a speed limit, after Cam Waters lost a wheel on the run-up to The Cutting, with the stray Dunlop coming perilously close to other cars.

The race eventually finished under the safety car when rookie Aaron Love crashed his CoolDrive Mustang at the Cutting for the second time in the race.

At the chequered flag, it was Feeney from Brown, Mostert, Richie Stanaway – in his return to full-time competition – and Cameron Hill, who registered a personal best finish in fifth.

Wood was in the thick of the action again on the run into turn one of race two, with he and Hill receiving the worst damage from a mid-field tangle.

Other early drama saw Feeney receive a 5sec penalty for contact with James Golding’s Nulon Camaro in the Chase.

Mostert led the race until the final pit sequence, however, Brown stopped at the same time as the Walkinshaw Andretti United Mustang, with a swift service seeing the Red Bull Ampol machine claim the advantage.

Brown ultimately held on to victory by a little over a second from Mostert, with the minor placings filled by Feeney, Thomas Randle and Golding.

Next up on the Supercars schedule is the Melbourne SuperSprint with the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park from March 21-24.

Elsewhere in the motorsport world, Shane van Gisbergen has broken through for third place in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Atlanta.

The Kiwi was in the thick of the action throughout and capitalised on fuel strategy late, with the result seeing him sit ninth in the season standings after two events.

Race 1 – 40 laps

Race 2 – 40 laps

2024 Supercars Championship points:

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