Supercars Tasmania: Brown dominates finale after Sweeney triumphs in Race 2

The Erebus driver roared into Supercars title contention across the weekend with two wins from the three races.

His Sunday afternoon effort was particularly impressive, a rapid start helping him into a lead that he would comfortably hold until the finish ahead of Broc Feeney and Brodie Kostecki.

That helped Brown to within 87 points of team-mate and series leader Kostecki.

Brown made a blinder of a start from the outside of the front row to grab the lead from polesitter Kostecki.

Jack Le Brocq slotted straight into third as Cam Waters dropped back to sixth, behind Feeney and Tim Slade, thanks to a sluggish start from the inside of the second row.

For a moment it looked as if the two Erebus cars would duke it out at the front, Kostecki glued to Brown's bumper for several laps. However he swiftly looked to call off the fight and let Brown settle into a lead of just over a second.

Behind those two cars Race 2 winner Feeney made good early progress, grabbing third from Le Brocq on lap 10.

The top three ran in that order across the first stint, Feeney sitting just over three seconds behind the leader.

On lap 19 Kostecki kicked off the stops for the leaders, Brown waiting four laps before doing likewise.

Feeney then pitted another lap later, Brown finding himself with nearly four seconds up his sleeve as Feeney closed to within a second of Kostecki.

It soon became clear that Kostecki was in trouble in terms of pace, Feeney breezing through into second at the hairpin.

Shane van Gisbergen soon followed suit, the Kiwi having used an early stop and undercut to drag his Camaro, wounded from its Race 2 crash, into podium contention.

Tyre condition would ultimately be an issue for van Gisbergen, though, with Kostecki able to reclaim third spot four laps from home.

That's how the top three then finished, Brown's advantage over Feeney just under four seconds at the finish.

"It's been awesome," said Brown. "To get off the start line and get the lead, and then have the pace we had, was awesome. I was just excited to be able to do some burnouts."

Van Gisbergen limited the damage to his title hopes with his fourth place, which leaves him fourth in the standings, 172 points behind Kostecki.

Le Brocq finished fifth while Chaz Mostert was the best-placed Ford in sixth, ahead of Waters who dropped back in the second stint,.

Mark Winterbottom finished eighth ahead of Anton De Pasquale and Bryce Fullwood.

Broc Feeney, Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Photo by: Edge Photographics

Feeney wins Race 2 in Tasmania as van Gisbergen crashes out

Broc Feeney won the second heat of the Tasmania SuperSprint while Shane van Gisbergen failed to score after crashing out on the opening lap.

It was a race of contrasting fortunes for Triple Eight, with Feeney putting together a well-executed race to beat Erebus pair Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown.

However van Gisbergen's title hopes took a hit when his Red Bull Camaro hit the wall hard on the first lap.

The reigning champion tried to take the outside line around Turn 6, before contact with David Reynolds sent him into the fence.

He limped the car back to the lane but never got back out, making it a zero score for the man who came into the race sitting second in the points.

Out front it was initially a race between the Erebus drivers, Brodie Kostecki leading the field from pole as Will Brown settled into second after muscling past Broc Feeney.

On lap 4 to Coca-Cola Camaros swapped positions after Brown got a run on Kostecki out of the hairpin and then breezed into the lead at Turn 6.

They ran in that order until lap 16 when Kostecki pulled a near identical move to reclaim the lead.

A lap later Brown took his mandatory stop, followed into the lane by Will Davison, the resuming nose-to-tail in that order.

Davison managed to jump Cam Hill, who had ran third in the first stint, in the process of the stops.

On lap 21 Kostecki pitted from the lead, resuming well clear of Brown and Davison. However Feeney jumped the lot of them after taking his stop on lap 22.

Within a few laps Brown was able to claw onto the back of Kostecki, before asking the team if they could swap positions so that Brown could have a crack at Feeney.

The team told Brown to hold station, the Race 1 winner then making a small mistake that cost him ground to Kostecki.

As the second stint wore on Cam Waters bought into the fight for the podium, closing in on Brown and Davison.

On lap 34 he got next to Davison on the exit of the hairpin, the pair making light side-by-side contact before Waters streaked into fourth place.

He then went after Brown but couldn't find a way past the Erebus entry and onto the podium.

Feeney, meanwhile, was unstoppable out front, a controlled drive yielding a 1.7s win over Kostecki and Brown.

Waters and Davison finished fourth and fifth with Chaz Mostert making good progress to come home sixth.

Tim Slade got by Jack Le Brocq late in the race for seventh place, with James Golding ninth and Nick Percat 10th.