Feeney perfect in Darwin Supercars

Broc Feeney has proven that he is the king of Hidden Valley with two wins and an extended Supercars points lead at the Darwin circuit.

The Triple Eight driver put his Chevrolet Camaro on pole for both 42-lap races and dominated, doubling the 72-point championship lead he brought to the Northern Territory. 

“That was an awesome race, obviously a bit anticlimactic at the end,” after taking his second all-the-way win of the day, as the race finished under a safety car.

“We ran super-long and I was just waiting and waiting. I knew I could just manage the race as I wanted to. Two wins done, one to go!”

The second race started as a procession, as drivers conserved their Dunlop Super Soft control rubber in the 30 degree-plus temperatures.

Most of the field took four tyres at their compulsory pitstop, but a slow stop cost Team 18’s Anton De Pasquale second place, with Brodie Kostecki taking advantage of an earlier box to sweep the Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang past him. 

But with more grip after his later stop ‘ADP’ reclaimed second place, his best result of the season.

“I struggled this morning on the other tyres,” he said. “I had to get a good start. Broc just got me, but he was too fast anyway.

“We have struggled in the conditions earlier in the year, we have been up and down a bit. The race was fast and we just have to repeat it.”

Third was a strong result for Grove Racing’s Kai Allen. A week before his 20th birthday and having never raced at the track before, the teenager drove brilliantly, though a pitlane infringement that saw one of his wheels cross the pitlane demarcation line was being dealt with post-race.

“It’s pretty surreal, to be honest,” he said. “It’s a brutal sport and when you have bad days, you have to knuckle down and keep going.

“I got real scared [when he saw the safety car], I didn’t want the race to restart! The guys did a great job on the strategy, I am pumped for the team.”

Broc Feeney, Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Photo by: Edge Photographics

Feeney’s victory in the opening race came after an early crash-fest, which saw two safety car periods and not a single lap completed (and four cars eliminated) in the first 10 laps. 

When the restart came Feeney led away and took two tyres at this pitstop, to lead home Cam Waters, who grabbed four tyres in the Tickford Ford. Waters did not manage to catch Feeney but second place, plus five points for the fastest lap, meant he scored a single point less than the race winner.

Matt Payne was third for Grove Racing ahead of Bryce Fullwood, who had a lonely run in the Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet.

James Courtney backed up his Perth podium finish with a strong fifth place for the Blanchard Racing Team, just holding out Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert. 

Both races were recovery missions for Will Brown, after the defending Supercars Champion qualified only 14th and 17th for the two races.

In the opening race he stayed clear of the carnage to come home eighth, while in Race 2 he made his way up to seventh after the late-race incident.

The Supercars drivers will return to the track on Sunday at 9:05am for their qualifying session, a Top 10 Shoot Out at 11:35am and the 19th race in the championship, over 70 laps, which is due to start at 2:40pm local time.