Darwin Supercars: Feeney leads Triple Eight one-two

Feeney made light work of the start from pole, holding the lead into turn 1 before charging into a handy early lead.

His cause was helped by Shane van Gisbergen piling pressure on Andre Heimgartner across the first few laps as they fought over second place.

Heimgartner was resolute in his defence, weathering the initial van Gisbergen storm before the Triple Eight driver backed off and settled into a rhythm right in front of Will Brown, James Golding and Brodie Kostecki.

The gap between Feeney and Heimgartner hung around the one second mark across the first stint, the latter taking his mandatory stop on lap 18.

Feeney responded on the very next lap, retaining the lead but immediately coming under pressure from Heimgartner.

For a couple of laps the Brad Jones Racing driver desperately looked for a way into the effective lead, Feeney defending well as he got his new rubber up to temperature.

He was then able to re-establish a small margin before his teammate came to the rescue for a second time.

Van Gisbergen waited until lap 25 to take is stop, re-emerging right on Heimgartner's tail. That forced Heimgartner to revert to defence and allow Feeney to skip away at the front.

Two laps later van Gisbergen made it a Triple Eight one-two with a smart move on Heimgartner into turn 5.

The Red Bull Camaros then ran in formation to the finish, Feeney crossing the line 1.4s ahead of the reigning series champion.

The result marked the first proper Triple Eight one-two of the season, a similar result in Newcastle having been stripped over the dry ice saga.

"It's fantastic," said Feeney. "To get pole position, get a good start, and lead the race start to finish was awesome.

"Shane had great pace at the end of the race, I just had to hold him off. I'm stoked for the team. It's our second one-two, but our first on paper. I'm stoked to be here."

Heimgartner completed the podium, while series leader Kostecki ended up fourth after getting past both Golding and Brown.

The first pass came on lap 11, Kostecki hassling Golding for two laps before easing into what was effectively fifth place into turn 1.

He then got past teammate Brown in lap 27 in a move identical to what van Gisbergen pulled on Heimgartner.

BJR pair Macauley Jones and Bryce Fullwood were next, while Scott Pye capped off a top nine locked out by Camaros.

Nick Percat was the best-placed Ford across the line in 10th, but copped a 15-second penalty for contact with David Reynolds. That left Thomas Randle as the best Mustang in 10th, with Will Davison's promising early pace ruined by a steering failure.

Kostecki continues to lead the series with a 109-point gap over Brown, while Feeney is now just 159 points in arrears.

The Darwin Triple Crown concludes with a final sprint race at 3:25pm local time.