From the southern end of the country all the way out to the west, the Supercars championship continued to thrill during this Sprint Cup portion of the championship at Wanneroo Raceway on the outskirts of Perth.

While its future may not look certain, Wanneroo celebrated a 100th race in the championship on Sunday as well as seeing a mixture of delight and despair throughout the field. Here’s the Perth Super 440 round up.

Delight and despair for Ryan Wood

Saturday was a spectrum of emotions for the 21-year old Kiwi, going from the highs of claiming pole position and a maiden Supercars race victory, to having a mechanical failure cruel him in the second race.

In his sophomore season, Wood broke through in Race 13 for his first win in the category from the front-row alongside teammate Chaz Mostert. Before lining up for pole in Race 14 and in control until Lap 22 when he went off road at Turn 6.

The Race 13 victory vindicated the upward trajectory for Wood, who has had the upper hand against Mostert since the last round in Tasmania. Keeping with his two-time Bathurst 1000-winning teammate in the opening laps, it was on Lap 11 that the Kiwi executed down the inside of Turn 7 to take the lead.

A slow pit-stop for Mostert denied Walkinshaw Andretti United a one-two finish in Race 13 with reigning champion Will Brown emerging in second.

Wood’s win was also the first for WAU’s #2 car since that sensational twilight race in the wet at Albert Park in 2018, with Scott Pye powering through for his maiden Supercars win at the time.

Left-rear suspension failure denied Wood later that day, despite having what the Kiwi described as a ‘jet’ of a car. He had lost out to Cameron Waters and Matt Payne at the start but had the pace to recapture the lead – prior to the failure.

The only solace for Wood, was that similar failures were sustained by Cooper Murray and compatriot Jaxon Evans during the 50-lap sprint.

Strategic masterclass for Feeney

While the suspension failure denied Wood a near-guaranteed win in Race 14, Red Bull Ampol Racing proved through strategy again why they’re still the sharpest outfit in the Supercars pitlane.

Championship leader Broc Feeney headed up a one-two finish for Red Bull, after overcutting teammate Brown a lap after the reigning champion’s stop on Lap 24. Despite the cold tyres, Feeney emerged ahead of his teammate and maintained the lead after the pit-stop cycle ended.

Brown ended up having to defend against Mostert for the final seven laps of the 50, allowing Feeney to power through for his fourth win of the season. The Mobil 1 Optus Mustang stopped on the same lap as Feeney, taking three tyres over Brown’s two.

Broc Feeney (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)

Despite the tyre delta, Mostert ultimately fell short of the Red Bull Ampol Camaro, with the one-two result further bolstering the squad’s stranglehold of the team’s championship.

Though twin top three finishes on Saturday for the Race 13 polesitter, did result in keeping Mostert within 300 points of the championship leader.

Payne falls short of another Sunday win

Penrite Racing’s Matt Payne has made a habit of winning on Sundays in the 2025 Supercars championship, though on this occasion in Perth fell short by 0.567 seconds to championship leader Feeney.

In Wanneroo Raceway’s 100th championship race, there was all sorts of action akin to a Supercars race, with strategy variation, a late Safety Car, hard racing and even a first podium for one of the championship’s youngest team.

Feeney converted pole, getting the jump on Waters with a lightning start – while Payne from fourth
picked off Brown on the opening lap.

There was a hiccup for Payne during his first stop on Lap 19, with a fuel churn issue hampering the Penrite Racing crew on that occasion.

Though in the second stop, which came during the Safety Car for when rookie Murray stopped at Turn 6, both Payne and James Courtney benefitted to rejoin the race in second and fourth respectively.

Courtney from thirteenth was in pursuit of Blanchard Racing Team’s first podium in Supercars, since the father-son owned operation turned into a solo effort in 2021.

With 14 laps to go after the Safety Car restart, 2010-Supercars champion Courtney had stepped past Wood, who was the in the wars with James Golding and Waters. There was contact between Wood and Golding at Turn 4, which saw the latter penalised and Saturday’s winner fail to finish.

Feeney kept Payne at arm’s length however, with the gap hovering around four-tenths of a second for the remaining 8-laps. The Red Bull Ampol Camaro triumphing eventually to extend their championship lead to 72-points.

While it was a maiden podium for BRT in third, as 44-year old Courtney also scored his first top-three finish since 2023 – also at Wanneroo Raceway.

Tickford duo commit their futures

Incumbents Waters and Randle have both taken themselves out of any silly season contention, committing themselves to the Campbellfield Ford squad till the end of 2027 at the least.

With speculation rife over Waters’ future and whether he was being courted by GM, who are looking for a marquee driver to lead them in the post-Triple Eight era, the 2017-Sandown 500 winner chose loyalty.

In a hilarious social media announcement – for which Tickford’s socials team needs all the plaudits – parodying an iconic scene from The Wolf of Wall Street, both Waters and Randle announced they’re going nowhere.

Consistency in drivers is key and this partnership has proven to have potential, with Waters the spearhead chasing that elusive maiden Supercars title and Randle very much positioned as the supporting act.

Waters stays in fourth overall, with Randle also in a handy seventh position with the cutoff heading into the Finals Series at tenth in the championship.

James Warburton; a welcome return?

The global search for a new Supercars CEO following the exit of Shane Howard and his heir apparent Tim Watsford has led the sport back to its former chief in James Warburton who served in role between 2013 and 2017.

Having been the chief for Seven West Media in the eight years away from Supercars, the announcement of Warburton’s return has been a divisive one with the industry itself hailing the appointment – while some circles of fans being cautious.

Warburton was known as a dealmaker, bringing the likes of Virgin Australia on board as a title partner of the category in 2016, heavily expanding the calendar and looking at Asia (which eventuated in the stillborn KL City GP) and ultimately saving the teams from the brink of financial ruin with the 2015 broadcast rights deal – which saw Supercars shift to Pay TV with limited FTA access.

A move that some circles of fans are still critical of a decade on – despite the holistic benefits Fox Sports brought overall to the sport.

However, on the precipice of a crucial new broadcast deal and introduction of the Finals format, Toyota, as well as a desire to expand the calendar again – there’s no one with a track record like Warburton who can steer the ship.

Especially too, considering the ownership of Supercars is vastly different to when Warburton was previously CEO. Private equity firm Archer Capital sold its ownership to the Barclay Nettlefold-headed consortium RACE in 2021.