Matt Payne and Broc Feeney left the field behind as Supercars' elite drivers fought for the win in the third Supercars race at Wanneroo Raceway, Payne emerging victorious in the Grove Racing Ford Mustang.

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Feeney took pole position in his Triple Eight Ford and led the opening stint of the 80-lap race, which came down to strategy and track position.

The decisive moment of the race came immediately after the second round of pitstops. Payne pitted on lap 50 and Feeney a lap later. After a seven-second stop (identical to Payne’s) the blue Ford rejoined the track ahead of Payne, but the Kiwi elbowed Feeney out of the way and seized the lead, before the latter had a chance to get temperature into his tyres.

But in the process the two Fords banged wheels, leaving Payne with a bent rear rim, which he could feel but which did not seem to much slow his car. He held on to the chequered flag, and even a celebratory burnout did not prompt a tyre failure from the offending item.

“I knew Broc was going to be quick, we had to try to undercut them,” smiled Payne after taking the win by 1.27s.

“We banged wheels and something felt off. The car felt loose and it was so hard to drive. I had to not carry too much speed into the corners.

“I knew what I had to do. I knew it was going to be close and I was really trying on the out lap. I went for a gap that was there, we ran the strategy we wanted to and it worked.”

Matt Payne, Grove Racing

Photo by: Supercars

Feeney struggled to be satisfied with second place, even if his car also suffered wheel damage in the clash.

“To come that close to winning a race, I am pretty disappointed with that race,” he said.

“We are still not as fast as these guys. We had a bit of speed in that last stint but we struggled in the first stint. I think it half-popped a tyre off the rim but I could not feel it, to be honest. Not much I could do with it.”

Third place went to Anton De Pasquale. Once again his Team 18 Chevrolet was much happier on the Soft Dunlop tyre (as opposed to the Super Soft used in the second race on Saturday) and ‘ADP’ moved assuredly through from sixth on the grid to the podium position, again showing great speed late in the stints.

“We are in a good position, the longer race suits us always,” he said.

“We did a bit of fuel-saving early in the race, we just had to try to stay in their race. We had a good result yesterday and we had a swing at it in the second race, but it didn’t work. I am just trying to keep up with the pace.”

Cameron Waters finished fourth for Tickford Racing, but he did not display quite the same speed in race trim as he did in Qualifying, after he put the car on the front row of the grid. De Pasquale jumped him in the second pit cycle and pulled two seconds on him in the final stint.

The drive of the race came from the other Grove Ford. Kai Allen had to start from the rear of the grid after power steering drama derailed him for setting a proper Qualifying time. The youngster surged through the field, gaining five places on the opening lap, and continued to pick off car after car.

By the end of the race Allen was fifth – remarkably enough, three places better than the eighth place he scored a year ago at the same track, a year after starting in Perth in a similar situation.

Chaz Mostert was sixth in the Walkinshaw TWG Toyota, but team-mate Ryan Wood was all out of luck. He was clearly the best of the GR Supras in qualifying, starting the race from fourth – or he would have, until an engine problem prompted him to pit and retire after the formation lap.

Brodie Kostecki’s Sunday was compromised when the Dick Johnson Racing team did not get all the fuel into his Ford at the first pitstop. That necessitated an eventual third pitstop, leaving Kostecki stranded in 12th place.

It was a rough Sunday for the other Triple Eight Ford driver. Will Brown clashed with the Dick Johnson Racing Mustang of Rylan Gray early on, earning himself a 15s time penalty to add to the misery of starting a lowly 19th. By the time the race played out Brown was 17th.

As a result of his win, Payne has stretched his lead in the championship standings. He is on 1950 points, 118 clear of Feeney and 277 ahead of Waters. Kostecki and Allen are close behind, followed by De Pasquale.

The Supercars will reconvene for the next round of the championship at Queensland Raceway for the final round of the Sprint Cup part of the series, on 21-23 August.

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- The Motorsport.com Team