THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE – RACE 14 SUPERCARS TOWNSVILLE 500

Penrite Racing’s Matt Payne has taken the win in Race 14 of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship at the nti Townsville 500.

Jack Le Brocq had pipped Waters to pole position by 0,002 of a second, the closest margin between the top two in Supercars history. Sadly, for Le Brocq that advantage didn’t last long.

As the race began it was Waters who jumped into the lead as Le Brocq went nowhere with excessive wheelspin, a long line of tyre marks from P1 testimony to the fact. The Tyrepower Erebus Motorsport Camaro was then swamped by a hoard of Mustangs on the run towards Turn 2. First it was Waters, then Randle and finally Davison who moved ahead before Courtney tried to barge down the inside at the approach to the corner.

SEE OUR FULL TOWNSVILLE GALLERY HERE

With Feeney already on his left, Le Brocq was literally the meat in the sandwich as the trio bumped around the corner. Feeney and Courtney both backed out of the challenge on the run towards Turn 3, as the Red Bull Ampol Racing driver got into a spot of bother after light contact with the wall at Turn 3 and dropped down to eleventh.

Teammate Will Brown had another qualifying to forget and found him down in 17th place on the grid. It placed him right amongst the midfield jostling and, unlike Saturday, he didn’t come out of the opening exchanges unscathed. A brush with the Tradie Camaro of David Reynolds had Brown sideways and into the wall on the approach to Turn 3. The #87 driver had the presence of mind to downshift the car and then file back into the pack as the Camaro straightened up once more.

Brown ventured back to the pits with damage to the left front splitter and rear tyre, though the team soon had him back on track after a change of tyre. That dropped him to last, but still on the lead lap, though one wondered for how long given the damage to the front of his car.

It became a Tickford 1-2 with Randle riding shotgun for race leader Waters. Mostert sat comfortably in third while Davison held sway in a five-car battle for fourth, with Le Brocq, Payne, Courtney and De Pasquale in close company. He held off a challenge from Le Brocq on Lap 8 which then became a bump and grind between the Tyrepower Camaro, and the Penrite Mustang as Payne forced his way past.

The Penrite driver was on a charge towards the front, as was Mostert just ahead. The pair displaced Randle from second by Lap 15 and ranged up onto the back of the leader.

Ignoring the dark skies overhead and the real chance of rain, Matt Payne was the first of the leaders to pit on Lap 20 of 88. Mostert was in next on Lap 24. A cross-threaded right front wheel on the Optus Mobil 1 Mustang was covered by a longer fuel drop, which placed him behind Payne on his return to the track.

Thomas Randle ran to Lap 30 before his first stop, while Waters ran a further two laps before his first stop took place. That handed the effective race lead to Payne, from Mostert, Le Brocq, Wood, Waters, Golding, Randle and Heimgartner.

Mostert took a second stop just shy of half race distance, as did Payne and Wood a lap later, with the trio seemingly on a three-stop strategy.

That saw Jack Le Brocq take the race lead from Waters, Golding, Randle and Heimgartner as the race moved past half-distance. Water regained the lead on Lap 50 with Le Brocq offering little resistance from Waters’ late braking dive at Turn 2.

By Lap 59 Payne was right on the tail of the Monster Energy Mustang and made a half-hearted lunge for the lead at Turn 11. Waters covered the move and then peeled to the right for his second and final stop.

SEE OUR FULL TOWNSVILLE GALLERY HERE 

SEE OUR FULL TOWNSVILLE GALLERY HERE

Payne and Mostert made their final stops in unison two laps later which set the scene for an exciting run to the finish.

As the final round of stops cleared, it was Payne who held an eight second lead over Waters. Le Brocq, Mostert, Randle, Evans, Winterbottom, Heimgartner, Courtney and Feeney completed the Top 10.

Payne eased out to a nine-second lead over Waters as the race ticked down towards the chequered flag.  Mostert harried Waters throughout the closing laps but was unable to find a way by.

Jack Le Brocq finished fourth from Randle, Wood, Feeney, Winterbottom, Hill and Golding.

SEE OUR FULL TOWNSVILLE GALLERY HERE

Will Brown finished last and had his championship lead over Feeney reduced to 78 points. Mostert sits third a further 96 points in arrears with Waters fourth, 389 points behind.

“Awesome, unbelievable you know,” Matt Payne replied to Fox Sports when asked about the win/

“We’ve had a sort of tough couple of rounds lately. I knew we had a good race car yesterday with the final stint pace really strong.”

“So, to put that altogether today with a different strategy from the team was absolutely wicked!”

“ I can’t thank the team enough, they gave me an awesome car and I was just happy to put it where it belonged.”

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