F1 schedule and rain chaos has Supercars finale abandoned at Albert Park
Heavy rain conditions and a packed F1 track schedule has put an anti-climactic end to the Supercars round, with the 14-lap sprint race abandoned, leaving Broc Feeney shattered.
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Frustrated pole sitter Broc Feeney hit out at the decision to abandon the Supercars’ finale at Albert Park, declaring he “wanted to go racing” after treacherous wet conditions forced the race to be cancelled.
The Triple Eight young gun cut a dejected figure sitting in his car when the call came in from the race director that the sprint battle would not be resuming after the field had completed just a couple of laps behind the safety car.
Starting in heavy rain, the Supercars field began the race under the control of the safety car before they were called into pit lane due to the conditions.
The visibility was poor with substantial spray when race control instructed the field to gradually increase their speed behind the safety car before the were called in, while puddles on the track had also been a concern.
While conditions cleared slightly after the field parked in pit lane, a time certain finish in the small window Supercars had on the wider Formula 1 race-day schedule also impacted on the ability to return to the track.
No points were awarded for the cancelled sprint.
Feeney, who claimed all four poles for the round, had been in the box seat to take his second win of the weekend and was shattered not to get the chance to race.
“I want to go racing, it’s not even raining at the moment,” Feeney said.
“It’s the unfortunate thing about having the short periods of time, but I’m sure everyone has come out here to see some racing.
“It was obviously raining pretty hard there for a sec, but it has cleared up and we have parked it.
“It’s really disappointing for obviously my car, this was our day to make heaps of points and by the sounds of it, no points will be taken for today.
“Unfortunate for us and unfortunate for the fans.”
Feeney had won the opening race at Albert Park on Thursday and had been in the fight for the overall round winner with his championship-winning teammate Will Brown.
After the race was called off, Brown was declared the winner of the Larry Perkins Trophy for the second year in a row.
Brown ended the round in Melbourne as the new championship leader, ahead of Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters and Feeney.
The defending series champion said the conditions on track had been “pretty bad”.
“I definitely got kissed on the elbow out there. I got super lucky, at the end of the day that’s not how I want to win the Larry Perkins Trophy, but definitely honoured to,” said Brown, who was starting 20th on the grid.
“For people not to make a mistake I would have been very impressed. Getting up to the 200s (km/h), I don’t think you would have had much vision at all.
“There were so many puddles out there, at 80km/h you were nearly on the limit around turn five and some of those corners that had puddles.
“When you’re up the front, you can see everything …. me being down the back where I was you could hardly see anything. “Everyone is going to have different opinions on it, I don’t think many cars would have made it through (turn) seven and eight on the first lap if we went racing, but who knows?
“Disappointing for everyone watching, but ultimately the conditions were pretty bad out there.”
.@will_brown87 is the first driver to secure back to back Larry Perkins Trophies! ðŸ†#RedBullAmpolpic.twitter.com/EUHgAWKYAo
— Red Bull Ampol Racing (@redbullampol) March 16, 2025
Compounding concerns for the Supercars field with the threat of potential damage racing in wet conditions had been the tight turnaround with cars due to be loaded onto shipping containers on Tuesday to make the trip to New Zealand for the next round in Taupo.
Erebus Motorsport rookie Cooper Murray, who was starting third on the grid, said the right call had been made not to race.
“I think they made the right choice cancelling the race, it was quite bad out there, especially with the cars having to be in the container by Tuesday morning to go on a ship to New Zealand,” Murray said.
“We probably didn’t want to risk any damage to more cars and more repair bills.”
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1. Will Brown (Triple Eight) 467 points
2. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing) 460
3. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight) 418
4. Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw Andretti United) 333
5. Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing) 331
Defending champion prevails in chaotic Supercars race in Melbourne
Reigning champion Will Brown chalked up the first race win of his Supercars’ title defence during another bruising contest at Albert Park as Triple Eight completed another one-two finish in Melbourne.
Brown beat teammate pole-sitting teammate Broc Feeney to the first corner and controlled two safety car restarts to take the win.
Feeney scored second while Nick Percat, struggling with a power steering problem, fought off DJR duo Will Davison (fourth) and Brodie Kostecki (fifth) to round out the podium.
It was a thrilling finish to another action-packed Supercars race peppered with action throughout the field and ultimately running to its time cut-off after 15 of 19 laps.
The opening lap featured three major incidents, the last of which triggered the deployment of the safety car.
Third place starter Matt Payne was the first victim, spun at Turn one after contact from Cooper Murray, who had in turn received contact from Davison.
David Reynolds was the next to be facing the wrong direction, his Camaro rotating at turn five after side-on contact with Bryce Fullwood.
In the middle of that scrap was Thomas Randle, who appeared to be struggling with damage inflicted earlier in the lap.
Unluckiest of all was James Golding, who was punted into the turn 11 gravel trap by Chaz Mostert.
The WAU ace had braked too late while attempting to pass Murray, locked his inside front wheel and slammed into the PremiAir Camaro.
Racing resumed once Golding was recovered from the gravel and the man on the move was Percat, who took second from Feeney and began to pressure Brown.
Racing was again interrupted on lap six when Murray speared off at Turn 11 and head-butted the tyre barrier.
Feeney fought back on Percat at the second restart, sliding down the inside of the MSR Camaro into the first turn.
Percat fell back from the Triple Eight duo in the remaining laps and then came under huge pressure from the DJR Mustangs on the final lap.
Struggling with what appeared a power steering issue, Percat was overtaken by Kostecki into Turn 11, only for Percat to take the place back at the next corner.
Percat and Kostecki ran side-by-side through the final turn, the former hanging onto the podium spot and Davison nabbing his teammate for fourth at the line.
SUPERCARS - MELBOURNE SUPERSPRINT
RACE 6 results
1. Will Brown (Triple Eight)
2. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight)
3. Nick Percat (Matt Stone Racing)
4. Will Davison (Dick Johnson Racing)
5. Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing)
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1. Will Brown 462
2. Cameron Waters 456
3. Broc Feeney 418
4. Chaz Mostert 365
5. Brodie Kostecki 331
Hill stuns for first win as LeBrocq unleashes on Supercars officials
Rising star Cameron Hill secured his maiden Supercars race victory and a quinella for Matt Stone Racing with a stunning start-to-finish race win at Albert Park as a frustrated Jack Le Brocq unleashed on officials after his race ended in a wall on the opening lap.
Hill secured his first Supercars podium with a third place on Thursday and less than 24 hours later he was back on track with a commanding drive to beat polesitter Broc Feeney off the line and claim the win in the 100km sprint in Melbourne.
Teammate Nick Percat snuck past Feeney a few turns later with the duo then safely holding off the Red Bull pair of Feeney (fourth) and Will Brown (third) to secure a one-two finish for their team.
“This is a career-defining moment for the young bloke from Canberra,” said Supercars legend Mark Skaife on Kayo Sports.
Hill said it was a dream come true to win his first Supercars race and a perfectly executed race plan for the Matt Stone Racing duo.
“You could say I’ve been working towards this for a long time,” Hill said.
“Man I just had a good feeling about today. I was so nervous before the race, I recognised the fact if we got off the line we could get the win today.
“One-two, so cool… wow what a day.
“(Percat) was in a good place for me, I said over the radio we have a good opportunity here. We had a plan in the truck beforehand and it worked out nicely.”
It’s a stunning turnaround for the race team who were ranked last among all Supercars teams after the series opening event in Sydney two weeks ago.
“We just had a hard look at ourselves,” Percat said of the turnaround in form.
“I took a lot of the blame, we did some one per centers wrong (in Sydney) and that is all it takes.”
Hill was faultless in his drive to victory, but the race wasn’t without incident after Le Brocq found the wall for the second race in a row after he was clipped by Ryan Wood on the inside coming out of turn five and then fired straight to the inside wall on the opening lap.
A furious Le Brocq unleashed upon Supercars Driving Standards advisor Craig Baird, upset that he had issued no penalties on Thursday after similar incidents.
“Supercars can pay for this one,” he said on team radio.
“We can send that cheque to Bairdo.”
Le Brocq doubled down on his complaints in an interview shortly after Wood was handed a pitlane penalty for the incident.
“It’s frustrating, I don’t know what’s going on at the moment … we need to have a good hard look at ourselves and clean up our act,” Le Brocq said on Kayo Sports.
“I’m all for a bit of hard racing but when we’re writing cars off like that it’s getting pretty silly and I think the reins have been let loose the last couple of rounds.
“I’m all for seeing some good hard racing but there’s a bit of silliness going on.
“We all want to see everyone out there having a good hard go and creating some good entertainment but I don’t know the answer.”
SUPERCARS - MELBOURNE SUPERSPRINT
RACE 5 results
1. Cameron Hill (Matt Stone Racing)
2. Nick Percat (Matt Stone Racing)
3. Will Brown (Triple Eight)
4. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight)
5. Andre Heimgartner (Brad Jones Racing)
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1. Cam Waters 418 points
2. Will Brown 387
3. Broc Feeney 349
4. Chaz Mostert 320
5. Matthew Payne 283
Feeney survives rivals, run-in with ducks, in win
Triple Eight young gun Broc Feeney survived a run-in with some track-invading ducks to strike the first blow for the championship-winning squad this season, leading home a Red Bull one-two in the opening Supercars race of the Melbourne SuperSprint.
After a dominant weekend for Ford rivals Tickford in the opening round in Sydney, Feeney put the powerhouse Triple Eight squad back on top after converting from pole in a chaotic first Supercars sprint race at the Australian Grand Prix on Thursday.
Having earlier claimed back-to-back-poles for first two sprint races at Albert Park, Feeney led home teammate and defending champion Brown to take his first win of the year, while Cameron Hill celebrated his first Supercars podium for Matt Stone Racing.
The star of the opening round in Sydney when he swept all three races and pole positions, Ford ace Cam Waters produced one of the drives of the day to charge from second-last on the grid to finish sixth, also claiming the fastest lap of the race.
The win was a turn-around in fortunes for Feeney after he suffered a couple of heartbreaking results in the opening round at Sydney Motorsport Park when a tyre puncture ruined his first race before he was passed for the lead just metres from the finish in the second race.
He avoided early trouble in the race when the yellow flags were deployed to caution drivers as a group of ducks wandered across the track on the second lap.
Feeney and the race leaders managed to thread between two groups of the strolling wildlife as they crossed the circuit.
Amid plenty of action back in the field, a safety car was later deployed after Supercars debutant Aaron Cameron, who was called in to replace Aaron Love at Blanchard Racing Team earlier this week, ended up in the turn-three gravel trap.
Feeney was able to hold off Brown following the race restart to add to his two wins at Albert Park last season.
“It’s so good to be back at the grand prix, I love it here and I’ve had a really good run here the last few years and today has been nothing short of that,” Feeney said.
“I can’t thank the team (enough). Although we were close in Sydney a lot of times, they really deserve a win here, a one-two, and Will drove unreal there today.
“Great teamwork and the team has done a fantastic job and stoked to get back up on the top step.
“I got the start and we just tried to manage it from there and it’s great having a teammate from behind who you know is fast and where their car is going to be good.
“We were able to manage it from there, but it was awesome. It was fast paced after the safety car.”
Defending Supercars champion Brown started alongside Feeney on the front row, but said he had been unable to match his teammate’s start.
“It did a great job getting it off the line and I just didn’t get the best start,” Brown said.
“Managed to stay in second and stayed there and we did a great job as a team to come home as one-two.”
In his third season at Matt Stone Racing, Hill was celebrating his breakthrough podium, but felt there was still more he could extract from his Camaro.
“It’s been a bit of a journey, right? It was obviously a dream to make it to the main game and then it’s another mountain to climb when you get here,” Hill said.
“I really thought this year we had the potential to get on the podium and just a massive thanks to the guys at Matt Stone Racing. This car is special, it’s built for greatness and there’s more in it.”
Waters maintains the championship lead over Brown and Feeney and starts Friday’s second Albert Park race from a much better position of sixth on the grid after qualifying 22nd for the first race.
Feeney and Hill will start on the front row for the second 19-lap battle.
SUPERCARS - MELBOURNE SUPERSPRINT
Race 4 results
1. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight)
2. Will Brown (Triple Eight)
3. Cameron Hill (Matt Stone Racing)
4. Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing)
5. Ryan Wood (Walkinshaw Andretti United)
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1. Cam Waters 369 points
2. Will Brown 324
3. Broc Feeney 291
4. Chaz Mostert 285
5. Matthew Payne 250
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