Brown wins Townsville opener, snatches title lead

SUPERCARS has a new championship leader after contrasting fortunes for Erebus Motorsport’s drivers in Race 1 of the NTI Townsville 500.

Will Brown now holds a 43-point advantage atop the standings after winning Race 1 by 3.3008s from Broc Feeney, who is now just one point adrift of second-placed Brodie Kostecki.

It was a tough day for Kostecki, missing the Top 10 Shootout and then having his race compromised by a transaxle issue that rendered him unable to select second gear.

The afternoon’s action was spiced up by Walkinshaw Andretti United opting for a bold three-stop strategy call that helped Chaz Mostert to his first podium since Round 1 in Newcastle.

It was a dramatic start to the 88-lapper as Shane van Gisbergen vied for the lead into Turn 2 despite having been fourth on the grid.

The now NASCAR Cup Series winner dove down the inside of polesitter Brown, and with David Reynolds tucked in behind them, Cam Waters cut inside to pass all three in one swift move to grab the lead.

Van Gisbergen meanwhile went further backwards on Lap 1 as he and Jack Le Brocq made contact and both tumbled into the midfield.

There was no further action on that matter, but there will be a post-race investigation regarding an opening lap incident at Turn 8 involving Scott Pye, Thomas Randle and Andre Heimgartner.

The first to fall foul of the stewards was Mark Winterbottom, for spinning Nick Percat at Turn 2.

That incident seemed to affect the #2 Mobil 1 NTI Mustang adversely, with Percat running well off the pace before pulling into the garage reportedly with steering rack damage.

By then, Brown had closed in on Feeney, who pulled off a bold early overtake on teammate van Gisbergen, and grabbed second place from the #88 driver.

Anton De Pasquale was the first driver to blink, pitting for tyres and fuel on Lap 19.

Mostert followed suit two laps later, having just been demoted to fifth by Reynolds. Notably, WAU only changed two tyres on its #25 entry.

Brown seized the lead with a Lap 23 pass on Waters at Turn 11 as Feeney faded.

Strategies diverged between the leaders, with Waters taking much more fuel at his first visit to the pits than other two-stoppers.

Meanwhile it soon became clear that WAU had Mostert on a three-stop strategy, the two-time Bathurst 1000 winner holding a 19.5s lead once the first round of stops had shaken out.

Mostert came in for his second stop on Lap 42, as did De Pasquale.

While Mostert began charging back through the field, an electrical issue became evident for De Pasquale as his #11 Shell V-Power Mustang intermittently stopped and started on track before forcing him into the garage.

Reynolds meanwhile flashed his credentials as a contender, having passed Feeney and closed to within 1.7s of Brown on Lap 46.

Brown gradually widened the buffer once more before the two-stoppers started taking their final service for tyres and fuel.

By the time van Gisbergen and Mostert made their last stops, the latter on Lap 66, they rejoined in ninth and 11th with the top five order being Brown, Feeney, Waters, Heimgartner and Bryce Fullwood.

The race was spiced up by a Lap 69 Safety Car, triggered by smoke coming from the CoolDrive Mustang which forced Todd Hazelwood to stop on-track.

The likes of James Golding, Tim Slade and Kostecki took the chance to make an additional stop before the race restarted on Lap 73 with SVG and Mostert now eighth and ninth.

Critically, Mostert barged past van Gisbergen at Turn 3 on the restart, clearing the path for him to charge forward.

From there, Mostert passed Reynolds, Fullwood, Pye, Heimgartner and Waters to get onto the podium.

Brown and Feeney ahead had enough in hand to make it a Camaro one-two, with Mostert and van Gisbergen third and fourth.

Waters, Pye, Heimgartner, Fullwood, James Courtney and Will Davison rounded out the 10.

Winterbottom completed a strong recovery day for Team 18, finishing 11th (Pye’s sixth place came after he was last on Lap 1).

Reynolds was just 21st in the end after some sort of late issue, just behind Golding who survived a clumsy intra-team clash with Slade that had sent the #31 Nulon Racing Camaro airborne.

Kostecki ultimately split the PremiAir duo, in 19th.

Results: Race 1, 2023 NTI Townsville 500