Matt Payne wins second Townsville race in style

Matt Payne won the second Supercars Championship race of the weekend in Townsville in style while pole sitter Brodie Kostecki suffered from a slow pit stop.

Dick Johnson Racing’s Kostecki headed the field as the lights went out while disaster struck James Golding as he was hit by Blanchard Racing team-mate Aaron Cameron, forcing Golding to pit with a puncture.

Kostecki pitted from the lead on lap 20 but lost a lot of time due to an issue with his left-rear wheel.

This handed the lead to points leader Payne of Grove Racing who made the most of the situation to control the race from then on.

Kostecki emerged in second place after his second and final pit stop ahead of Thomas Randle and a charging Chevrolet driver Anton De Pasquale.

The Team 18 driver started eleventh but had already made his way up to sixth by the end of the first lap.

De Pasquale attacked Randle for third place on lap 53 and then set his sights on pole sitter Kostecki in the fight for second place.

The Chevrolet Camaro driver made his move on Kostecki on lap 55 to snatch second place.

Payne won the race by more than 15 seconds over De Pasquale, as Kostecki completed the podium.

The Tickford Racing duo of Cameron Waters and Randle finished fourth and fifth while Triple Eight driver Will Brown in sixth.

Leading Toyota driver Chaz Mostert finished seventh ahead of former points leader Broc Feeney who made his way up from 18th on the grid after another tough qualifying session.

The third and final race of the weekend starts at 15:05 local time/07:05 CEST on Sunday.