Will Brown has secured another race victory, claiming an impressive win on the streets of Townsville, along with the Championship lead.
 
Securing victory in the first of two 250km races for the weekend, Brown started on pole and drove a near trouble-free race seeing off fellow young-gun Broc Feeney in second and a fast-charging Chaz Mostert who powered through the field in the dying stages to finish third.
 
The race began in exciting fashion, with reigning champion Shane van Gisbergen making some ambitious moves to start the race to get past Brown, before on that same lap he was involved in a battle with Jack Le Brocq, costing the 2022 Champion some valuable positions.
 
Further down the field, Cameron Waters was looking like claiming a podium finish himself, sitting in third for the majority of the closing stages of the race before he was chased down by Mostert and van Gisbergen – Waters ending the race in fifth behind van Gisbergen.

Brown would eventually show his pace throughout the race to power to the lead and then control the field, while the rest of the race saw its share of rough and tumble, with a number of minor issues throughout the field including a late race safety car after Todd Hazelwood stopped on track.
 
“Eighty-eight laps around here is a long time. The car was mega quick on old tyres and it’s awesome for Coca-Cola racing to get another win,” Brown said post-race.
 
“It’s pretty amazing to be halfway through the season and have those (Championship leading) orange numbers on the car, it’s going to be fantastic tomorrow.”


Brown now leads the Championship with 1255 points in the bank.
 
Feeney sits in third in the Repco Supercars Championship standings – just one point behind Brown’s teammate Brodie Kostecki who had a tough afternoon of his own, finishing the Townsville race in 19th after mechanical troubles.
 
Meanwhile, Mostert’s third-place finish gave the Mustang pilot a much-needed podium – his first since the opening race weekend in Newcastle. Mostert remains in the hunt for the title, fifth in the Championship standings, 60 points behind van Gisbergen in fourth.

The NTI Townsville 500 resumes tomorrow with Race 17 Qualifying at 10am AEST, the Top 10 Shootout at 12:00pm and the Race 17 at 2:40pm AEST.