Stone, Le Brocq pumped after MSR's flying start

It was a weekend of boxes ticked for Matt Stone Racing, with team owner Stone saying the team “left a bit on the table” in Newcastle.

Jack Le Brocq heads to the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400 eighth in the points, marking his best start to a season to date.

Le Brocq’s previous best start to a season was in 2021, when he left Round 1 ninth overall and 150 points behind.

Come weekend’s end in Newcastle, and Le Brocq was eighth in the standings and 102 points adrift of leader Chaz Mostert.

It all came on a weekend MSR rolled out its two new Chevrolet Supercars, complete with Truck Assist backing and rookie Cameron Hill.

It was veteran Le Brocq, however, who helped the team to its best start to a Supercars season with two top 10 results.

Le Brocq was one of six drivers — along with Mostert, Brodie Kostecki, David Reynolds, Andre Heimgartner and Mark Winterbottom — to have top 10 results in both races.

That doesn’t include Red Bull Ampol duo Shane van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney, who were disqualified from Race 1, yet finished no lower than fifth on either day.

For Stone, Le Brocq’s pace was vindication of hard off-season work — but suggested it could have been even better.

Hill lost a swag of time after an off Turn 1 late in the race, while Le Brocq was hampered by a wheel nut issue at his first stop.

“It was great to roll out or new Camaros and be as competitive as we were off the gate,” Stone told the Schick Cool Down Lap Podcast.

"We came home eighth and we’re disappointed, because we feel we left a bit on the table.

“Strong start to the year. Cam showed some brilliant pace, a little incident unfortunately cost him a result.

“We’re really excited with where we’re at.”

Le Brocq’s 2022 was undone by poor luck — he suffered a season-high six DNFs — as he clambered to 21st overall.

The 30-year-old finished Saturday’s race in 11th, but was promoted to ninth due to the double Red Bull Ampol disqualification.

Come Sunday, and Le Brocq was delighted to bring home a top 10 finish on merit.

“We’re off to a great start — what we wanted to do was be in the 10,” Le Brocq told the Schick Cool Down Lap Podcast.

“It’s awesome to do that on our own merit today. Started off getting into the Shootout, had a really good run.

“Just happy we’ve got a straight car… happy vibes all round.”

Hill, meanwhile, has already cast his gaze to the next round in Melbourne after finishes of 20th and 21st.

It came after the Canberran crashed on his own during Sunday ARMOR ALL Qualifying.

“I’ve learnt that 250km as a solo driver is a long time, but I can do it,” Hill said.

"I really enjoyed the whole weekend, I had some fun battles in both races.

"In that last race I made a couple of passes and was trucking along really well but a little mistake by me obviously cost us a potential top 15.

"All in all, there’s a lot of positives to take away from the weekend and I’m looking forward to getting to the Grand Prix.”

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint on March 30-April 2.