Ford clash hands Triple Eight Albert Park 1-2

A CLASH between Matt Payne and Cam Waters opened the door to another Triple Eight 1-2 finish in the Saturday evening Supercars race at Albert Park.

Broc Feeney led home teammate Will Brown by 1.7911s after a lengthy Safety Car period led to a four-lap sprint to the finish.

Chaz Mostert was third following a failed attempt to burgle second from Brown on the last lap; the pair running side-by-side through Turns 3 and 4 before the Camaro pulled ahead.

The biggest talking point, though, was the early Mustang mayhem.

For the third race in succession, P2 proved the place to be at the start as Waters beat polesitter Payne to the first corner.

Feeney tucked into third ahead of a squabbling Brown and Jack Le Brocq, while Mostert dropped from third to sixth with a tardy getaway.

Payne tracked Waters until making his move at Turn 11 on lap two, pulling a clean pass for the lead down the inside.

Waters then bumped Payne wide at Turn 13 before ducking to the outside of the Penrite entry on the run to the final corner.

Payne swung wide to take the racing line for the right-hander and the pair collided, elbowing Waters into the wall and spinning himself.

The two Mustangs ended up facing each other. Waters got out of his car before marching over to remonstrate with Payne, slamming the door shut after a brief exchange.

Officials deemed no punishment was necessary to either driver.

The incident triggered the first Safety Car intervention of the weekend, under which Feeney led Brown, Mostert, David Reynolds, Mostert and Le Brocq.

It took four full laps under Safety Car to retrieve the two Fords, leaving a four-lap run to the finish before the dreaded time-certain cut-off.

Feeney came under initial pressure from Brown before the latter had to deal with the fast-finishing Mostert.

“I’m pretty bloody excited about that one,” said Feeney.

“Another ripper start, which was great, we have been working on that, and then far out, those boys were racing for sheep stations at the start.

“That was pretty wild. I just tried to settle in, I knew something was going to happen at some point, and I just tried to capitalise when I could.

“Unfortunate for those guys, they have been super quick, but another Red Bull 1-2, how good.”

Reynolds kept a watching brief to take fourth ahead of Erebus duo Le Brocq and Todd Hazelwood, who made a successful dive on Tim Slade for sixth on the restart lap.

Richie Stanaway also made his way around Slade to take seventh, while Nick Percat rose from 18^th on the grid to finish ninth and Ryan Wood scored 10^th.

It was a horror day for Dick Johnson Racing, which had Will Davison 14^th and Anton De Pasquale 16^th, while Brad Jones Racing’s cars filled 18^th through 21^st.

A fourth and final Supercars race of the weekend will take place on Sunday morning.

RESULTS: Race 3, 2024 MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint