Photo: Supercars

Will Brown extends lead with Taupō success

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Will Brown has extended his lead at the head of the Supercars standings after beating Triple Eight team-mate Broc Feeney to victory in the second race of the weekend in Taupō.

The duo went head-to-head in the closing stages of the race with Feeney holding top spot and Brown looking to find a way through, with the positions swapping nine laps from the end when the former Erebus racer managed to find a way through.

Feeney had started the race on the front row alongside pole sitter Matt Payne, and it was Payne who held the lead going into turn one ahead of Feeney and Anton De Pasquale and then remained out front in the early stages.

Brown meanwhile was working his way forwards and having cleared champion Brodie Kostecki to get into the top four, closed in the on trio ahead as the Payne started to struggle with his tyres and the top three came together in a train.

Feeney managed to get ahead of Payne into the lead, with De Pasquale and Brown also quickly clearing the youngster as he slipped back down to fourth.

The top three remained static after the first round of stops before Brown battled his way into second spot and the lead duo held station through the second round of stops before Brown launched his bid for the lead – find a way ahead after the two team-mates had run side-by-side multiple times.

The win for Brown means he now leads Feeney by 71 points ahead of the next event in Perth.

De Pasquale dropped away from the leaders but still took a second podium finish of the weekend in third spot, which was enough to secure the Richards Trophy as top scorer of the weekend in his DJR-run Ford.

Payne just missed out on silverware in fourth spot, with James Golding and race one winner Andre Heimgartner rounding out the top six.

Having been a front-runner for most of race one before losing a wheel, Chaz Mostert had to settle for seventh place having been boxed in at the start, dropping him down well outside the top ten and forcing him into a recovery drive back through the field.

Jack Le Brocq, Cam Waters and Ryan Wood rounded out the top ten.