Feeney wins wild AGP opener, Waters mounts comeback

Broc Feeney has won a Supercars race for the ages at Albert Park, with the Triple Eight Race Engineering driver holding off Will Brown in an action-packed Race 4.

As Feeney controlled the race from pole position, all hell broke loose behind him as several drivers were caught up in a dramatic array of battles, clashes and incidents.

Brown closed out a Red Bull Ampol one-two ahead of the impressive Cameron Hill, who recorded his first Supercars podium for Matt Stone Racing.

The story of the day, however, was the stunning charge by points leader Cam Waters, who powered from 22nd on the grid to sixth, out-dragging Anton De Pasquale to claim sixth by 0.0461s.

Brodie Kostecki held out Ryan Wood for fourth, with Waters, De Pasquale, Thomas Randle, Matt Payne and Chaz Mostert rounding out the top 10.

"It's been awesome, look at all the people here and it's only Thursday," said Feeney, who claimed his first win since Adelaide last November.

"It's good to be back at the Grand Prix, I love it here, I've had a really good run the past few years and today has been nothing short of that.

"I can't thank the team enough, although we were close at Sydney a lot of times, they really deserve a win here and a one-two too, Will drove unreal out there today. Great teamwork, the team has done a fantastic job, and I'm stoked to get back up on the top step."

Feeney got the jump and led the field through Turn 1, and opened up a one-second lead after the first tour.

Brown had to get his elbows out to deny Hill a run at second, which included a defensive run down to Turn 9 after local yellow flags waved due to crossing ducks.

The battles were lively down the order as Waters tried to force his way through the pack. The points leader got by Kai Allen, who had wheel-to-wheel contact with Aaron Cameron.

As Feeney controlled the race, Kostecki caught and passed Richie Stanaway for fifth as De Pasquale was muscled down to 11th. All the while, Mostert and Wood had charged to eighth and 10th from 13th and 17th.

Waters survived a thrilling battle to emerge 14th in a battle pack including Randle, Andre Heimgartner, Will Davison and David Reynolds. Behind them, Allen sent himself into spin at the final corner around the outside of Jones.

Just corners later, Cameron and Macauley Jones collided at Turn 3, the former stranded in the gravel trap.

Feeney took the restart on lap 10, with Waters failing to clear the racy Cooper Murray through Turn 1. It kicked off on the following lap as Mostert pounced on Stanaway, setting up an almighty battle pack through Turns 4 and 5.

Wood survived a push from behind through Turn 5 as Mostert fell down the order, before James Golding nailed the tyre bundle through Turn 9, losing bodywork and his front right tyre. The PremiAir Camaro surfed through the gravel, with Golding forced into the garage.

At Turn 4, Kostecki and Jack Le Brocq collided, the latter spinning to the rear of the field. Kostecki then fell into the clutches of Payne, who made the pass for fourth stick on lap 14. However, Kostecki and Wood got by Payne to begin lap 16, with Wood challenging the 2023 champion for fourth.

Feeney turned up the wick and put two seconds on Brown on lap 16, but missed out on taking the fastest lap point away from Waters by just 0.0140s. Murray was the next to drop down the order after being tipped into a spin by Percat at Turn 3.

Waters retained fastest lap bonus points, beating De Pasquale to sixth. However, the win went to Feeney by the official margin of 1.0924s, with Hill 2.6679s down in third.

Waters will take a reduced 45-point lead over Brown into Friday, with Feeney jumping Mostert for third overall. Payne remains fifth, with Kostecki jumping from eighth to sixth.

Supercars will return to the track on Friday for the 19-lap Race 5 at 2:50pm local time.