Stone: We said maiden win was coming
It took 172 attempts, but Matt Stone Racing are finally Supercars race winners — but for Stone himself, he knew his team could do it.
Jack Le Brocq controlled Race 15 at the betr Darwin Triple Crown on Sunday from pole position, scoring his second career victory.
Le Brocq became the seventh different winner in 2023, and helped MSR to its first ever victory.
MSR joined Team 18 as first-time winners on the weekend, with Mark Winterbottom taking a long overdue win on Saturday.
Stone’s team debuted in the main game as a wildcard with Todd Hazelwood in 2017, with team and driver combining to win that year’s Super2 title.
MSR and Hazelwood jumped to the main game full-time in 2018, with Hazelwood joining Brad Jones Racing in 2020.
For 2020, MSR expanded to two cars with Garry Jacobson and the ‘SuperLite’ share car of Zane Goddard and Jake Kostecki.
Goddard and Kostecki led MSR’s charge in 2021, before Le Brocq joined in 2022 with Hazelwood returning.
Try as they might, MSR was unable to crack a podium, let alone a win. In fact, fifth was the team’s previous best result, a result matched by Le Brocq in 2023.
The planets aligned on Sunday, although it was no surprise to Stone, who centred 2022 on the team’s assault on Gen3.
“It’s just fantastic,” Stone said.
"I can’t thank the team and JLB enough for bringing it home. Pole position and led every lap that we could and brought it home. Couldn’t be happier.
"This is what we wanted to do; we said it was coming, we knew we could do it — we said we were going to get on the front row, we did it, and now we won the race.
"Can’t celebrate soon enough.”
Le Brocq has nine top 10 finishes in 15 starts this season, and is eighth in the championship heading to Townsville.
The win came just hours after the #34 Truck Assist Camaro was forced into repairs after a hit from Jack Smith in Race 14.
Complete with dints and cable ties in the rear bumper, the #34 made it out, started from pole and was unchallenged — leaving Le Brocq speechless.
"I'm lost for words,” Le Brocq said.
"It's pretty unreal, the guys have done an awesome job, especially the last few hours, it was pretty beaten up in that second race today.
"I feel like it's been a long time coming. We've had good speed this year, and it's great to convert to solid race pace as well."
The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the NTI Townsville 500 on July 7-9. Tickets are on sale now.
