On the global stage for the Formula One circus to see, the Supercars championship took up its traditional place of undercard to the Australian Grand Prix with its Melbourne SuperSprint round at Albert Park.
Another weekend of chaotic sprint racing, a first one-two finish for an outfit and plenty more fallout from Triple Eight’s Ford defection – here is the round up.
Will Brown wins the Larry Perkins Trophy as Sunday race is abandoned
The reigning Supercars champion claimed the round win on Sunday, having led the points tally coming into Race 7. The final sprint was abandoned due to heavy rain at Albert Park.
Brown’s teammate Feeney led the field away under the Safety Car in Race 7, with the intensifying rain triggering a suspension only two-laps in.
Will Brown driver of the #1 Red Bull Ampol Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Albert Park on March 16, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
Featuring on the podium in all three of the races that they run, Brown also took the lead of the standings as Cameron Waters only recorded a pair of top-six finishes in what was a difficult weekend for the Tickford team.
“I definitely lucked into it this year to be honest,” Brown said after the race.
“We had a very poor qualifying for this race, and I’m sorry to all the fans that have come out and watching on TV, we wanted to put on a show, but there were so many puddles out there.”
Feeney finished second overall for the weekend, ahead of first time race winner Cameron Hill, who moved into the top ten of the championship standings as well.
First ever one-two for MSR
Impressing in Thursday’s Race 4 with his maiden Supercars podium behind the Red Bull Ampol duo, Hill is now a race winner – leading a first ever one-two finish for Matt Stone Racing ahead of Nick Percat in Race 5.
A pair of Safety Cars shortened the 19-lap sprint to just 12, though Hill from the front-row had the measure of polesitter Feeney from the outset.
“I just had a good feeling about today, I was so nervous before the race because I recognised the fact that if we could get off the line we could get the win today,” said Hill after arriving in victory lane.
“Unbelievable, one-two, a one-two for MSR! It’s so cool, credit to them, they’ve just put so much work in, and they deserve this.”
Chaos ensued on the opening lap, as Jack Le Brocq tangled with Ryan Wood at Turn 5, with the Erebus Camaro ending up a casualty and triggering the first Safety Car. Wood was penalised with a drive-through.
A lap after the restart, David Reynold was thrown into the gravel after contact from Thomas Randle at Turn 1. This brought out the second Safety Car – while the race was already restricted to a time certain finish, due to an incident in F3 qualifying earlier.
Feeney was dispatched by Percat and then by teammate Brown after the second Safety Car restart – losing his spot on the podium in the end. Reigning champ Brown did further reduce the gap to championship leader Waters on Friday – as the Tickford racer started and finished sixth.
Driving standards & the sprint format
There was a sense that after the Sydney opener and the robust battle between Waters and Feeney that led to the famous photo finish, that ‘hard racing’ would be what to expect throughout the season to come.
However, throughout the Melbourne SuperSprint, driving standards was under the spotlight as the ambiguity between incidents penalised and not penalised raged. Reigniting the old question of ‘penalising the offense, not the outcome.’
Albert Park – given its unique layout, which blends street circuit characteristics with high-speed sections – does lend itself to outcomes of incidents being exacerbated. Particularly when the races are so short given the sans pit-stop sprint format.
Race 4 saw no penalties handed out, amongst a swathe of incidents which triggered Safety Cars too. Jack Le Brocq lost out in a late clash with Brodie Kostecki battling for fourth, while the luckless Richie Stanaway got spun in a four-way tussle with Mostert, Cooper Murray and Nick Percat.
Reynolds was another luckless contender throughout the weekend, getting drilled by Waters on Thursday.
Le Brocq’s Race 5 incident with Wood drew most ire, as the Kiwi was slapped with a drive-through penalty – but it didn’t stop the Erebus racer from expressing his displeasure at the driving standards post-race.
“It’s frustrating, I don’t know what’s going on at a moment, I feel like we’re DVS [Super2]. I think we need to have a good hard look at ourselves and clean up our act.”
“I’m all for a bit of hard racing, but when we’re writing off cars like that it gets pretty silly. The reins have been let loose a little bit the last couple of rounds.
Conceding too ultimate “I don’t know the answer to it, we all want to see everyone out there having a go and creating some good entertainment, but I don’t know the answer.”
Love out, Cameron in at BRT
One Aaron was replaced for another Aaron, as the 22-year old Love announced on the eve of the Melbourne event that he and Blanchard Racing Team had decided to split. His 2024 co-driver Cameron being announced as the successor.
Love endured a difficult rookie season with BRT in 2024, finishing last in the full-time driver standings and failing secure a top-ten race finish. Despite a promising junior pathway, of which the highlight was his 2022 spell in Porsche Carrera Cup – finishing runner up.
16th was the highlight for the Perth born driver in Sydney, however the run-in with teammate James Courtney during qualifying for Race 2 upon exiting the pits, would’ve left little to be desired by team management.
A four-place grid penalty and $2000 fine ($1000 suspended) was also handed to the embattled Love ahead of what would be his final two races for the outfit.
25-year old Cameron slotted in for Melbourne, boasting an impressive Super2 campaign last year – finishing second in the ultra-competitive field behind Zach Bates and ahead of the much hyped Kai Allen.
19th was the highest result that Cameron achieved across the weekend, which was filled with incidents throughout.
Lowndes to depart Triple Eight, commits to GM
The fallout of Triple Eight’s defection to Ford in 2026 has continued in between the first and second rounds, as legend-of-the-sport Craig Lowndes announced that he’d be departing the organisation at the end of this season.
Having been with Triple Eight since 2005 and winning six of his seven Bathurst 1000s with them, Lowndes is choosing to stay loyal to GM – as their next homologation team remains a question.
“To be honest, I have been in both camps over my career but really my alliance has been with GM,” said the 50-year old in a social media clip released by the American marque.
“I started with GM when I first started in ’96 and for me it’s just really one of those manufacturers that I have really been able to grow with and really just embrace.”
It has also been announced that Triple Eight’s longtime engine supplier in KRE will not be building motors for their 2026 Ford Mustang, while Technical Director Jeromy Moore has also announced that he’s leaving the Red Bull Ampol squad to take a role with GM in their Corvette GT3 programme.
While Triple Eight’s founder and former boss in Roland Dane has taken on an advisory role with rival Supercars team PremiAir – who is a possible contender for GM’s next homologation team.
