Brown inherits comeback win after Feeney takes out Mostert

Will Brown has coronated his Repco Supercars Championship triumph with victory in the VAILO Adelaide 500, after Broc Feeney spun long-time leader Chaz Mostert out of contention.

Brown crossed the line a distant second behind teammate Feeney, who copped dual 15-second penalties, with Mostert nursing his damaged car home to finish second ahead of Randle.

It was a stunning comeback by Brown, who was sent into a spin at Turn 7 by Brodie Kostecki on lap 9, dropping the Triple Eight Race Engineering driver to 23rd.

However, it was Feeney's clash with Mostert that made the biggest waves, with Feeney hitting Mostert into the Turn 6 barriers despite copping a penalty over an unsafe release. Feeney was demoted to seventh, with Thomas Randle, Will Davison, Nick Percat and Kostecki filling positions three through six.

"I feel like a bit more of a champion after that drive, that was awesome," Brown said.

"I can't believe we got turned around, I probably turned in on Brodie there, and I thought that was our day done, so we'll go out and have some fun. I never thought we were going to win there.

"To win that, bad luck to Broc, I don't know what happened there, but it's an awesome way to end the year, that was a stellar race."

Mostert and Feeney made even starts, and after a dramatic run through the Senna Chicane, Mostert swept through into the lead at Turn 4. Feeney tried to get an overlap exiting Turn 7, but the WAU Ford held sway.

As the Triple Eight drivers challenged Mostert, Percat escorted Matt Payne into the Turn 11 barriers, triggering the bp pulse Safety Car on lap 3. Payne tried to get his car out, but was wedged, with the bonnet flying off the Penrite Ford as he returned to the lane. The #19 lost three laps, and came home 24th and last.

Mostert led the field to green on lap 8, and Feeney put the pressure on immediately. On lap 9, Mostert hung Feeney out wide at Turn 5, inviting Brown into the battle. Brown baulked to avoid contact with Feeney exiting Turn 6, but Kostecki got down the inside and sent the champion-elect into the spin. Kostecki was slapped with a 15-second penalty over the Brown contact, with the latter beginning his march through the field.

As Mostert denied Feeney into Turn 9, Anton De Pasquale got into Ryan Wood, garnering the #11 driver a penalty, with Cam Waters catching air on Davison's wheel. On the following lap, Waters and Cooper Murray collided, the latter nudging the tyre barriers. Waters was penalised, also to the tune of 15 seconds.

Behind them, the retiring Mark Winterbottom and Tim Slade collided at Turn 4, Slade being tipped into a spin. Like Kostecki, De Pasquale and Waters, Winterbottom was also hit with a 15-second penalty.

Through the chaos, Mostert opened up a 1.3s lead on lap 15, with Randle, De Pasquale, Kostecki, Davison, Percat, David Reynolds, Waters and Andre Heimgartner rounding out the top 10. Feeney responded with the fastest lap of the race on lap 15, with the two cars nose to tail.

De Pasquale and Kostecki, carrying penalties, got past Randle, with Davison and Percat first of the top 10 runners to stop at the end of lap 24. Triple Eight blinked first and pulled Feeney in on lap 24, with Randle following the Saturday winner win. As Davison climbed over Randle, De Pasquale, Brown and Slade stopped.

Waters stopped on lap 27 and served his penalty, with Mostert short-fuelled on lap 30 to hold track position over Feeney, who hit traffic after his stop. Through the first stops, Mostert led Feeney, Davison, Randle, Percat, Reynolds, Heimgartner, James Golding, Brown and Bryce Fullwood, with Kostecki 13th, Waters 15th and De Pasquale 16th.

Feeney put Mostert under pressure, but the two-time Bathurst winner responded with a string of personal best laps to open up a 1.8s lead by lap 35. It emerged that Feeney had a three-second fuel advantage on Mostert, whose lead breached three seconds on lap 39. Feeney was also pushing, losing his left mirror at Turn 6, and right mirror at Turn 11. By lap 47, Feeney had dragged the margin back to 2.5s.

Eighth-placed Reynolds kicked off the second round of stops on lap 45. By that stage, Brown was already back up to sixth, and 17.5s from the lead. Fullwood assumed eighth before he made his third stop on lap 47, the #14 driver having stopped under the early Safety Car.

The first defining moment of the race came when Feeney followed Mostert into the lane on lap 49. Feeney was released into the path of Mostert, whose car caught air as the two cars made contact. Feeney baulked to let Mostert by, akin to a redress at pit exit. It did little to deter the officials, with Feeney slapped with a 15-second penalty over an unsafe release.

Triple Eight brought Brown in on lap 53, with Feeney nearly wiping Mostert out at Turn 9 with a big lock-up. Feeney's error let Mostert off the hook, the margin blowing out to 1.9s. Davison was net third, 16.3s behind Feeney, with Randle 0.8s back. Brown cleared Percat for effective fifth on lap 55, and set off after the two Fords.

Brown passed Randle and Davison to get back to effective third, which became third once Waters and Kostecki made their second stops by lap 60. By the end of the pit cycle, Mostert led Feeney, with Brown 19.1s behind. Davison, Randle, Percat, Heimgartner, Golding, Reynolds and Kostecki rounded out the top 10.

The second defining moment came with 16 laps to go, with Feeney serving Mostert at Turn 6. The WAU Ford spun into the barriers; Mostert got going again, but sustained minor damage. Feeney was immediately placed under investigation and later hit with another 15-penalty, with Mostert rejoining 2.3s ahead of the charging Brown.

With 12 laps to go, Mostert had nothing to deny Brown, who sailed through into Turn 8. Feeney was 13.7s up the road, all but sealing victory for Brown.

Mostert dropped back into the clutches of Davison and Randle, with Mostert hanging tough through Turn 9 and Turn 11 with three laps remaining. Percat, Heimgartner and Kostecki joined the queue, with Davison attacking Randle on the penultimate lap.

Mostert hung on, with Brown victorious by the official margin of 9.1234s thanks to Feeney's penalties. Golding, Heimgartner and Waters rounded out the top 10, with stand-in rookie Kai Allen 23rd ahead of teammate Payne after requiring repairs.

The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship will commence at the Sydney 500 on February 21-23. Tickets for the event are on sale now.