Supercars Perth: Coca-Cola Camaros dominate at Wanneroo
The Coca-Cola Camaros have total control of the Supercars championship as Broc Feeney took home the final race at Wanneroo. See top ten finishers and championship standings.
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Broc Feeney won the Sunday afternoon battle but it’s Erebus in control of the Supercars championship war after another dominant display from the Coca-Cola Camaros at Wanneroo Raceway.
Starting on pole for just the third time in his career, Red Bull young gun Feeney fended off Erebus rivals Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki to take his third chequered flag and second in the past four starts.
On a historic day in Perth, Brown led his teammate home for the Dandenong squad’s maiden one-two Supercars finish in the early race, before he and Kostecki ran second and third to Feeney in the afternoon.
The 20-year-old Red Bull star drove a perfect race to keep the Coca-Cola Camaros at bay and remind the world of his race-winning pedigree.
“Once I got the start (after) the first five laps I thought we had a pretty good car and man, this thing was so good to drive in this race,” Feeney said on broadcast.
“It’s pretty crazy to qualify P21 (in the early race) and then pole in the next one. It’s the ups and downs, that’s the thing we have to work on.
“When we qualify up here we can certainly take it to them (Erebus), it’s just about being here more often so hopefully we can fix that qualifying and keep the battle going to them.”
“To convert that (pole) to a win means a lot,” he added.
“These Coke cars are very fast at the moment so anything that we can do to put one back on them and prove that we do have the pace is really positive for myself and I think the team as well.”
Feeney’s brilliant drive ensured Triple Eight banked two out of three wins at Wanneroo, however the uber-consistency of Erebus meant Barry Ryan’s squad left Perth further ahead in the Teams Championship than when it arrived.
Sunday started with news Erebus had appealed the result of Race 7 – when van Gisbergen muscled up to pass Kostecki for the victory in the dying stages – but after a meeting between stewards and drivers, the protest was waved away.
Following his stunning Saturday drive to outduel Kostecki, van Gisbergen left himself a monumental effort by qualifying in P9 and P21 for Sunday’s races.
The reigning champion rose four places to clinch fifth in the early running and clawed his way into 12th in the afternoon.
With Chaz Mostert bagging fourth and fifth on Sunday, Kostecki’s dual podium performances extended his lead over the Walkinshaw star.
The West Australian now boasts a 100-point buffer atop the Drivers’ Championship, while Erebus is 180 points clear of Triple Eight in the Teams standings.
“Overall to have both cars on the podium again is absolutely bloody awesome – and congrats to Broc Feeney and their crew on the win, great job,” Kostecki said.
“The cars have been stout everywhere they’ve been so you definitely need fast cars everywhere and consistency to win this championship.
“We’re putting our heads down and seem to be getting it done so far, but there’s still a long way to go.”
RACE 8 TOP 10
1. Will Brown
2. Brodie Kostecki
3. James Courtney
4. Chaz Mostert
5. Shane van Gisbergen
6. Will Davison
7. Todd Hazelwood
8. Cam Waters
9. Matt Payne
10. Andre Heimgartner
RACE 9 TOP 10
1. Broc Feeney
2. Will Brown
3. Brodie Kostecki
4. David Reynolds
5. Chaz Mostert
6. Cam Waters
7. Will Davison
8. Tim Slade
9. James Courtney
10. Scott Pye
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 10
1. Brodie Kostecki 784pts
2. Chaz Mostert 684pts
3. Shane van Gisbergen 648pts
4. Will Brown 613pts
5. Broc Feeney 569pts
6. David Reynolds 533pts
7. Cam Waters 523pts
8. Andre Heimgartner 492pts
9. Will Davison 463pts
10. Jack Le Brocq 433pts
‘I GOT VIOLATED’: HISTORIC ONE-TWO IN PERTH FOR EREBUS DUO
The Coca-Cola Camaros have arrived.
Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki drove clear of the field to clinch a historic one-two finish for Erebus in Race 8 at Wanneroo on Sunday.
Young gun Brown converted just his second career pole position into a second Supercars race victory, leading home championship leader Kostecki and Tickford veteran James Courtney in third.
It was Brown’s first win since his maiden chequered flag at Sydney Motorsport Park in 2021.
He now joins teammate Kostecki as a two-time Supercars race winner, after the West Australian’s double at Albert Park last round.
With the stewards still deliberating over the result of Saturday’s race after Erebus filed a protest on Shane van Gisbergen’s victory, the Coca-Cola Camaros put the controversy behind them to rocket home uncontested in Sunday’s opening race.
“It’s pretty surreal for me and Brodie to only be signed a couple of years ago and to be here, one-two, is fantastic,” Brown said on broadcast.
“For us to get a one-two is really cool … a lot of firsts for Erebus lately.”
Brown blasted off the line and beat David Reynolds to the first turn. By turn seven, Kostecki had thrown his No.99 Camaro down the inside of Reynolds and passed the Penrite Mustang to take ownership of second.
Pit stops aside, the Erebus duo went untouched from then on to cruise home for a maiden one-two finish for the team.
“First of all congratulations to the whole team, what a fantastic feat to get a one-two here in Perth,” Kostecki said.
“I felt like I got violated that race, Will was just on another planet.
“The expectation since the first round, getting that first pole for this new (Gen3) era was really cool, but to be able to carry that pace all the way to this round has been absolutely unreal.”
Reigning champion and Saturday’s race winner Van Gisbergen started ninth on the grid and rose four spots to finish fifth, while his Red Bull teammate Broc Feeney crossed for 13th.
Brown’s victory underlines Erebus’ case for championship contention – the team fielding two race-winning drivers who appear capable of serving it right up to the preeminent favourites at Triple Eight.
The result extended Erebus’ Teams’ Championship lead over Triple Eight to beyond 150 points.
Kostecki also extended his Drivers’ Championship lead to Chaz Mostert, though the Walkinshaw star limited the damage by crossing fourth in the race.
Race 9 of the Supercars championship begins at 5.45pm AEST.
RACE 7: REIGNING CHAMPION SENDS MESSAGE IN PERTH
It looms as Supercars’ next great championship battle but Shane van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki were all smiles after their thrilling head-to-head in Perth on Saturday.
Red Bull’s reigning champion came from the clouds to deny hometown hero Kostecki a magical Wanneroo win, stealing his way into the race lead with a lap remaining to take his second chequered flag of the season.
The two Camaros went hell for leather with the race on the line and if it serves as an early glimpse of what is to come this season, the category is in for a treat.
Van Gisbergen got his elbows out in the dying stages as he chased down a two-second gap on fresher tyres and bumped his way past championship leader Kostecki to remind the Erebus ace who the Supercars top dog really is.
Kostecki was flagged for bad sportsmanship after refusing to yield to the rampaging Red Bull, but the pair shook hands in victory lane following arguably the best finish to a race since van Gisbergen and Cam Waters went neck-and-neck in Pukekohe last season.
“It’s pretty awesome - and then (I felt it was important to) get out afterwards and make sure he enjoyed it too,” van Gisbergen said of Kostecki.
“I’ve enjoyed the battles. As much as I don’t like driving the (Gen3) car, the racing is all right.”
But the West Australian’s late bad sportsmanship flag cast a shadow over the enthralling battle.
It served only as a warning to Kostecki for his blocking maneuvers on van Gisbergen but both drivers were left confused by the ruling.
The reigning champion had no issue with Kostecki’s fight but questioned what room there was within the rules for him to challenge from behind.
“It’s always a great area within our rules,” van Gisbergen said.
“In a one-on-one battle you should be able to do what you want but yeah, I don’t know.
“If someone is blocking like that, am I allowed to move them? In a normal situation no, but maybe if he deserves it because he’s got a bad sportsmanship (warning) … surely if someone is blocking like that, you should be allowed to move them out of the way a little bit.
“You want to be able to defend your position. He (Kostecki) was doing nothing wrong with his defending … but there should be some leeway for me to do it in the opposite way I feel.”
Kostecki lamented small errors earlier in the race that left him unable to defend the gap from van Gisbergen at the death.
“It’s obviously not as fun for me coming second – (the battle was) for the win and it was three laps to go, so it is how races should be,” he said.
“He was coming at me with a lot of pace. There’s probably a few things I could have done differently early in the race that wouldn’t have put me in that scenario, but as far as the last few laps, I did what I could (to defend).”
Nevertheless, the 25 year old extended his Drivers Championship lead over Chaz Mostert to 76 points after the Walkinshaw star could only manage 11th in the Perth opener.
Van Gisbergen is now only two points behind Mostert as he continues to claw back from his disqualification in the season opener at Newcastle.
RACE 7 TOP 10
1. Shane van Gisbergen
2. Brodie Kostecki
3. David Reynolds
4. Todd Hazelwood
5. James Courtney
6. Matt Payne
7. Tim Slade
8. Will Davison
9. Thomas Randle
10. Broc Feeney
BIG NAMES FALL IN BRUTAL START TO SUPERCARS KNOCKOUT SESSIONS
Supercars’ first knockout qualifying session of the year claimed a host of big name scalps as reigning champion Shane van Gisbergen put his Red Bull on pole for Saturday’s feature race at Wanneroo Raceway.
Rivals handed van Gisbergen the track to himself to open Q3 and the Triple Eight superstar said thank you very much, clocking 54.362 before returning to the pits to watch the rest of the field fail to match his time.
“We really struggled yesterday (in practice) and today (the car) came alive,” van Gisbergen said.
“It’s a long session. We just picked a path where we thought there would be no cars on the track and went around by ourselves.”
Championship leader Brodie Kostecki will join van Gisbergen on the front row after running second-fastest, with David Reynolds and Jack Le Brocq lining up on the second row of the grid.
After showing great pace in the first two qualifying sessions, Will Davison put his Shell V-Power Mustang onto the fourth row of the grid.
Further down the field, Chaz Mostert, Cam Waters, Broc Feeney and Anton De Pasquale all failed to clear Q2 while the high-performing Camaros of Andre Heimgartner and Will Brown were shock exists in Q1.
Team 18 veteran Mark Winterbottom will start his 600th Supercars race from 13th.
QUALIFYING TOP 10
1. Shane van Gisbergen
2. Brodie Kostecki
3. David Reynolds
4. Jack Le Brocq
5. Matt Payne
6. James Courtney
7. Will Davison
8. Thomas Randle
9. Tim Slade
10. Bryce Fullwood
CAN YOUNG GUNS HANDLE HEAT AT THE TOP?
Erebus Motorsport’s meteoric rise from midfield marker to championship contender cannot be a flash in the pan says CEO Barry Ryan.
Arriving in Perth with a 101 point lead over Triple Eight in the Teams Championship standings, the Victorian outfit has shown incredible pace over the opening two rounds.
Brodie Kostecki’s maiden Supercars win at Albert Park was quickly followed by a second race victory at the same track a day later, and the West Australian is back home this weekend as the Drivers’ Championship leader.
In Kostecki and Will Brown, Erebus has two of the most exciting young guns in the category and this season looks to have a car underneath them to match the talent.
The early running has the Supercars world glowing about the prospect of an Erebus title challenge, but for Ryan it’s meant heaping further pressure on his shoulders.
“It’s funny, I thought it would be … I thought it would be a relief, but it’s actually not,” he said.
“We’ve ticked that box and now we have to aim higher. We have to win this championship and not just compete and think, ‘Oh you know, let’s take another year to see if we can win a championship’. We want to win it this year.”
The team finished fourth with David Reynolds and Anton de Pasquale at the wheel in 2018 and has not managed higher since then.
In 2022 – the second season of a Kostecki-Brown pairing – Erebus managed three podiums and ended the campaign sixth in the Teams Championship.
Already this season that number has been shattered, but Ryan says the team must continue to raise the bar.
“We’re not going to rest on (the results so far). So the pressure is on probably more than ever,” he said.
“Even though the workshop is very relaxed, the drivers are very relaxed, it’s probably me that’s having sleepless nights making sure we don’t look like fools coming to Perth and not winning.
“We want to make sure we don’t go up and down the ladder. We want to stay consistently in that top-five and that’s how you win championships (according to) history.
PARITY IMPORTANT BUT COST CUTTING CRUCIAL
The hot topic ahead of the Perth SuperSprint was ongoing parity tests between the Gen3 Camaro and Mustang, with centre of gravity and engine mapping high on the Supercars agenda.
Almost 5kg of ballast has been shifted in the Camaros to alleviate the COG difference between the Chevrolet and Ford cars, while the 11 Mustangs are running a new engine map in Perth designed to improve throttle response following data collected at the season-opener in Newcastle.
With the parity problem edging closer to a solution, teams are turning their attention to making the Gen3 product more cost-effective.
“We’ve got to be able to bring the cost down,” Grove Racing owner Stephen Grove said.
“That’s something as a whole group we need – to be able to make sure the things that we’re putting on the cars we can fix them competitively.
“The cars have been built at a price that’s probably a bit higher than we all would have liked. They are what they are. But for us it’s not so much the initial cost it’s the cost going forward.
“The centre of gravity, yes it has been changed. Yes we’re there and it’s important we’ve got it, but it doesn’t have a big impact.
“I would like to see as a group we continually work hard to bring the cost down because it needs to be sustainable over the long term and if it’s not sustainable it’s a problem for the industry.”
Triple Eight shock, Gracie returns to the track
Penrite Racing veteran David Reynolds topped a marathon 90-minute practice in Perth on Friday as hometown hero Brodie Kostecki underlined his hopes with another impressive performance at the helm of the championship-leading No.99 Camaro.
Having notched the first two race wins of his Supercars career at Albert Park last time out, Kostecki put a home race victory on his agenda ahead of a return to Perth and did his chances no harm in practice.
But it was Reynolds who set the benchmark pace on Friday, dodging heavy traffic in the dying stages of the marathon session to punch in a 54.528, ahead of Todd Hazelwood and Kostecki.
Nine teams put cars inside the top 10 but a notable absentee was reigning champion team, Triple Eight.
The fresh tyres went on late for Broc Feeney and Shane van Gisbergen but the pair could only manage 11th and 13th respectively in the qualifying simulation scramble.
On the same day team boss Jamie Whincup declared van Gisbergen “an absolute beast” and “no doubt the best driver in the country”, the reigning champion appeared to have a gear shift issue in the final sector which hampered his final lap.
But, having won twice at Perth last season, the Kiwi superstar – who this week signed a multi-year contract extension with Triple Eight – should still feature near the top of the field this weekend.
With drivers reporting significant changes to the surfaces at Wanneroo in the 12 months since they last raced the track, van Gisbergen’s mastery of slippery conditions and tyre management will likely make him a key threat come Saturday’s opening race.
But picking a clear favourite for the weekend may be tough, given the scope of teams featuring at the pointy end in practice.
The traditional 30-minute practice session format was abandoned in favour of a single 90-minute jaunt for the Perth round this weekend.
And it was a widely popular move in pit lane, with the Triple Eight and Dick Johnson racing bosses both welcoming the opportunity for setup changes in a single session.
“For me the long sessions make sense,” Whincup told Fox Sports.
“A big, long session where there is time for the drivers to get out of the car, work with the engineers and make the cars faster – that’s what motorsport is about.”
For DJR, Perth represents a prime opportunity to return to the podium after a disappointing start to the 2023 campaign for Ford’s flagship team.
“It’s a vital weekend for us,” team principal Ben Croke said.
“This 90-minute session is a great chance to really have a good go and put a complete session together.”
And the early signs appear promising for the Shell V-Power Mustangs, with Anton de Pasquale going fourth-fastest.
Saturday’s slate includes the first knockout qualifying format of the Supercars season. The action begins from 1.10pm AEST, followed by Race 7 from 5.45pm.
Fan-favourite Mark Winterbottom will ring-in a massive 600 race starts when he lines up on the grid for Saturday’s 47-lapper. He becomes just the third driver in Supercars history to reach the milestone, after Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander.
Winterbottom laid down the fifth-fastest time in practice – and Wanneroo has been a happy hunting ground for ‘Frosty’ in the past, with the Team 18 veteran notching seven career wins at the track.
ONLYFANS STAR GRACIE’S ROUGH RACING RETURN
Renee Gracie looks to have some catching up to do after the adult actress was second-slowest in practice for her GT World Challenge Australia debut in Perth on Friday.
Piloting her unmissable No. 181 OnlyFans Audi for the very first time, Gracie punched out a fastest lap of 56.222 in the morning session – almost 2.5 seconds slower than practice pacesetter, Chris Mies – and was more than three seconds off Mies in practice two.
Two-time Bathurst 1000 driver Gracie shocked the racing fraternity earlier this month when she announced her competitive comeback via the GT World Challenge.
After announcing her partnership with OnlyFans for the remainder of the season, Gracie conceded she would need time to get up to speed with the Audi R8 LMS Ultra given she had never gotten behind the wheel before Friday’s practice session.
And the early indication is she has some work to do to be competitive.
The 28 year old pushed pause on her Supercars dream in 2017 to build her brand on OnlyFans, which has netted her millions of dollars in the meantime.
But Gracie maintains racing is her major passion and the tricky Barbagallo Raceway just north of Perth is the scene for her long-awaited return, via the Supercars support category.
The GTs are first on track on Saturday morning with back-to-back qualifying sessions from 11.10am AEST, before Race 1 of the series at 2.40pm.
BARBAGALLO COMES AT RIGHT TIME FOR DJR AND DAVISON
Will Davison hopes a return to Barbagallo Raceway this weekend can kickstart his Supercars campaign just as it did last season.
The Dick Johnson Racing star earned a pole and race win at Wanneroo 12 months ago and a similar showing would be a welcome reward for the team after a middling start to the Gen3 era.
The Shell V-Power duo of Davison and Anton de Pasquale is yet to feature on the podium in 2023 and the team languishes at ninth in the championship standings after two rounds.
Following a horror Gen3 debut at Newcastle, DJR showed improved pace at Albert Park and Davison would have had a podium if not for a late penalty for a pit infringement that knocked him down the order.
With the form arrow trending upwards, the 40 year old has set his sights on a breakthrough performance at Barbagallo.
“(It was) my first win of the year last year and it’s always a fun place to race, it always throws up some curveballs,” Davison said.
“Since Albert Park we’ve had our heads down and we’re all very focused on trying to make sure we can take another step and improve some of our little weaknesses and some of the mistakes we made.
“We had lots of good information out of Melbourne – we learnt a lot about the car.
“We’re very keen to make sure we can get some trophies back here very soon.”
Barbagallo was a happy hunting ground for both drivers last season.
Davison left Perth with a win and podium, while de Pasquale notched two second-place finishes.
A similar return this weekend would catapult the Ford flagship team straight back into contention.
Perth will feature a knockout qualifying format for the first time this season, akin to that in Formula One.
Given the abrasive track surface at Barbagallo, coupled with the sub-one minute lap times, it leaves little room for error in qualifying.
“It’s a short lap … with 25 cars on track trying to get clear space, (that) always provides its challenges,” Davison said.
“These Gen3 cars are already showing that the field is close. You seem to be able to run very close to one another, the passing opportunities have been more frequent, so I think Perth is one of the first circuits we will see the true colours of Gen3.
“I think we could be on for three pretty crazy races.”
The Perth SuperSprint action begins on Friday with a 90-minute Supercars practice session from 2.25pm local time.
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Originally published as Supercars Perth: Coca-Cola Camaros dominate at Wanneroo
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