Will Brown has launched himself back to the top of the Supercars standings at the expense of teammate Broc Feeney as the second race of the Australian Grand Prix was cut short.
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Brown was in front when Friday's 19-lap contest at Albert Park was reduced to 17 to make way for the Formula One practice.
The event was shortened after the Formula Three qualifying session ate into the Supercars' time after Trident Motorsport rookie Sami Meguetounif hit the barrier with four minutes left on the clock.
Pole-sitter Cam Waters (Tickford Racing) got the jump on Brown in their starting-grid battle but it mattered little for the Toowoomba man.
After Waters had forced him to take an inside line, Brown used it to hit the lead before the first turn and held the front running to the chequered flag.
"I knew I had to get past Cam pretty quickly," Brown said.
"I got a really good start and then managed to do that the whole time while all these guys had a lot of fun scrapping behind me."
The 25-year-old finds himself back on top of the championship standings, 18 points ahead of Feeney.
Desperate to complete the Triple Eight one-two finish, Feeney passed Waters on the seventh lap to gain the ascendancy.
Team 18's Mark Winterbottom then took advantage of the Feeney-Waters battle to snatch second, but ran loose at the corner to allow the Triple Eight racer back ahead, while Waters was condemned to finish sixth.
In the end, Winterbottom finished second - his first podium in a year - after Feeney mistimed a turn at the 15th corner.
Feeney had to settle for fourth, while Grove Racing's Matt Payne replicated Thursday's podium finish with another third.
"It was pretty hard in the end there, then Broc went wide - I didn't actually realise it was Broc," Payne said.
"I thought it was Will. I thought I was racing him the whole time.
"There's just battles everywhere. The track is so wide that you just have so many people looking for opportunity.
"It does make for some really hard racing. It's bad if you're on the wrong end of it but I enjoyed it."
Forced off the city circuit with steering damage, Anton De Pasquale failed to finish the race after his Ford Mustang was hit by Payne at turn four.
Waters' teammate Thomas Randle was unable to recover after driving into the sandpit twice, eventually finishing last.
Drivers return to the circuit for back-to-back sudden-death qualifying sessions at 9am (AEDT) and 9.25am on Saturday, before race five starts at 5.40pm.
RACE FOUR RESULTS:
1. Will Brown (Triple Eight)
2. Mark Winterbottom (Team 18)
3. Matt Payne (Grove Racing)
4. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight)
5. Will Davison (Dick Johnson Racing)
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1. Will Brown (Triple Eight) 437pts
2. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight) 419pts
3. Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw Andretti United) 354pts
4. Matt Payne (Grove Racing) 302pts
5. Nick Percat (Matt Stone Racing) 288pts
Australian Associated Press
