Supercars Championship: 2026 Ipswich Super 440 Race 28 Report | Feeney crowned winner of Repco Sprint Cup and Finals Golden Ticket
- Tayla Purves
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
Photo Credit: Mark Horsburgh | Red Bull Content Pool
A Red Bull Ampol Racing front row lockout has been confirmed in an earlier Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout with Will Brown strenghtening his Saturday comeback for Sunday's long race, qualifying on pole with a 1:08.832. Teammate Broc Feeney joins him in second, behind by 0.0993.
In the row behind, Kai Allen and Brodie Kostecki, posing a threat on the Bull's ahead for Race 28.
Today's race will feature two compulsory pit stops, with one of the stops containing refuelling for the first time this weekend.
62-laps will see the Supercars field utilise Dunlop Soft tyres, the tyre wear rating at the paperclip circuit sitting on medium.
Within the top ten, nine Ford's are accompanied by one singular Toyota GR Supra.
By the end of the race, the winner of the Repco Super Sprint Cup will be confirmed, giving the winner an automatic entry to the Finals. As it stands prior to Race 28, Matthew Payne is only ahead of Feeney just by 110 points. Today's race winner will earn themselves 150 points, and a fastest lap will see that driver awarded an additional 5 bonus points. Second will gain 138 points, third gaining 128 points.
As it happens
The race start has the Red Bull teammates going side by side all throughout Turns 1 and 2, the battle clear for the end of the Repco Super Sprint Cup.
Three wide with Feeney, Brown and Allen in Turn 3 - the three slotting in to single file, but not for long as the battle of the bull's continues all the way to Turn 6 - Feeney now still in the lead.
Lap 3, further down the grid is young-gun Rylan Gray making his way down past Jack Le Brocq, effectively placing him in thirteenth after dropping four positions on the start.
Lap 7, the field look to be in their race pace rhythm; a smooth train of Supercars race cars gliding on track - minimal errors, contact and chaos visible during the opening laps - a welcome change from Race 27 yesterday afternoon.
Feeney pushes hard on track, gaining the fastest lap of the race, roughly +1.149 in front of Brown; a clear focus of what the end of today could mean for the Gold Coast resident.
Lap 9, Payne's engineer asks the No.19 Penrite Mustang driver how he's finding the balance of the car, to which the New Zealander gives minimal reply; a simple alright.
On Lap 11, stewards imposed a 5-second time penalty for car No.11, Jackson Walls, for a driving infringement - a battle for twenty-something position early on in the race. On the same lap, Declan Fraser opens the pit window for the first compulsory stop.
Lap 13, Gray gets into the bumper bar of David Reynolds; the rookie applying some heat on the old-school veteran. He dives down the outside, not quite getting the job done at Turn 3. Gray gets the job done the following corner, Reynolds not putting up much of a fight.
Le Brocq's worries of a steering issue seems to have fizzled out, great news for the team.
Lap 16, Cam Waters complains of being held up by James Golding; their battle a tricky, albeit slow one for seventh position - all while Cooper Murray and Le Brocq come into the pit lane for their stops.
Penrite Racing look to be trying to get their strategy into play, preparing for a pit stop as Allen comes in taking four new tyres and a top up of fuel, Gray following suit, as well as Ryan Wood.
Lap 18, Brown comes into the pit lane to cover Allen - four tyres and a fuel top up; fuel looking to be left in the churn. Majority of the field come in the following few laps.
Lap 20, it's relayed that Golding is yet again having a communication issue with the radio, while Wood tries and succeeds down the outside of Fraser.
Lap 22, Feeney comes into the pit lane, taking tyres and fuel - jumping in front of his teammate, Payne coming into the lane directly after - strategies well into play today between the two top leading drivers in the Repco Sprint Cup standings. Payne takes four new tyres and fuel.
Payne pops out behind Allen - a team game sure to play out in the future.
Lap 25, Kostecki comes into the pit lane - not taking a full gulp of fuel, and four new tyres; Shell V Power a notable threat this weekend. At pit lane entry, Chaz Mostert came to a very slow stop, the No.1 Toyota GR Supra needing a bit of push into the garage.
Mostert received a brand new B-Spec engine, a stability update, that provided great hope earlier in the weekend; replays show a potential engine failure - commentary in pit lane suggesting the pungent smell of oil in the garage as the team head under the bonnet to investigate. The failure does not look good for the Toyota camp at Walkinshaw TWG Racing.
More drama unfolded, Kostecki facing potential radio communication errors as the halfway mark approaches.
Lap 31, Kostecki gets the move done and clears young Allen, taking third position as cameras pan to the Walkinshaw TWG Racing garage, Mostert unfortunately out of the car and debriefing.
Lap 33, the current championship leader, Payne comes onto the radio suggesting he is running on five cylinders and no power for Payne. For the Repco Sprint Cup, Payne must finish seventeenth or better to maintain his contention for the automatic entry to Finals - alleged engine issues to be the root of the issue; similar to Mostert's failure.
Feeney only has to finish third or better to win the Repco Sprint Cup and the golden ticket to Finals, if Payne DNFs... a high pressure scenario for Feeney, Payne, their respective teams and fans.
Lap 37, Jayden Ojeda had a small spin at Turn 4, making his way back on track without any errors, narrowly missing passing by traffic.
Lap 39, Payne exits his No.19 Penrite Racing Mustang - a disappointing end to the Repco Sprint Cup series for the New Zealand driver, his car now placed as DNF.
Lap 43, most of the field other than six cars have now taken their second compulsory stop - Feeney and Kostecki still out in front.
Lap 46, Kostecki takes his second stop, four tyres and fuel again - Feeney stuck in traffic with back markers fighting the leader of the race, coming into the lane lap 47.
Feeney comes onto the radio questioning the team; a four second gap estimated to be between Feeney and Kostecki. A major battle looks to be on the horizon.
Lap 50, Kostecki sets the fastest lap of the race, the Western Australian can practically taste a race win in twelve laps time; the aggression fans admire coming out to play as the No.17 Shell V Power Mustang headlights come alive.
Kostecki looks to allegedly have 2-3 seconds less of fuel compared to Feeney, according to Mark Larkham in pit lane.
Jackson Walls on Lap 52 complains of oil covering his windscreen, the car ahead Cameron Hill looking to be the suspect - oil on the track now looking likely which will add to the ever growing chaos.
With ten laps to go, Feeney approaches back markers, the team reassuring the Queenslander that those teams should be notified of a blue flag shortly.
Hill and Walls come together in a heated rivalry, the two continuing to battle for fifteenth position as ahead, Kostecki clearing back marker Bayley Hall.
With six laps to go, Kostecki has been told to pit this lap; Kostecki's response that he's on qualifying mode - while car No.11 has been given 5-second time penalty due to a driving infringement, Walls held accountable for an aggressive manoeuvre.
Kostecki looks to be fuel saving as Ben Gomersall slides off right in front of Feeney - adding pressure to the leader with just three laps to go.
Feeney crosses the line in first, his parents and grandma watching as he wins his 150th career race, effectively winning the Repco Sprint Cup and a Golden Ticket to the finals, including the fastest lap of the race; Feeney now the first driver to be locked in for the Finals series later this year.
Enduro Testing takes place next week on Tuesday at Queensland Raceway with two track sessions, the Enduro Cup kicks off next round on the 11th of September at The Bend, South Australia.
The Full Results
Broc Feeney
Brodie Kostecki
Will Brown
Kai Allen
James Golding
Anton De Pasquale
Cameron Waters
Rylan Gray
David Reynolds
Aaron Cameron
Thomas Randle
Cooper Murray
Ryan Wood
Andre Heimgartner
Cameron Hill
Zach Bates
Jackson Walls
Jayden Ojeda
Declan Fraser
Jack Le Brocq
Jobe Stewart
Aaron Seton
Ben Gomersall
Macauley Jones
Bayley Hall
Matthew Payne DNF
Chaz Mostert DNF
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