TRIPLE Eight Race Engineering is investigating means of reversing a problematic start to its 2023 Darwin Triple Crown campaign.
Things started well for Broc Feeney when a last-ditch flyer put him on top in Practice 1.
But there’s been nothing but trouble for the sister #97 entry of Shane van Gisbergen, starting with a time-consuming ECU issue relating to a trial on behalf of Supercars of a Safety Car speed limiter.
The Kiwi then experienced steering and throttle response woes in Practice 2, which he finished in 25th.
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Guru race engineer Andrew Edwards was left puzzled and frustrated.
“Both sessions were pretty much a write-off,” he told the Fox Sports broadcast following Practice 2.
“You just can’t lose that running time, (it’s) straight into quali tomorrow.
“We’ve got no confidence. We’ll re-group and have another go, but it’s concerning.
“The throttle (response) is not as good as it’s been, but that’s a separate thing. We can probably manage that.
“This (steering problem) is difficult. We can’t drive around this. We’ll see what we get.”
It’s understood the bulk of Triple Eight’s passenger laps later in the afternoon had to be completed in Feeney’s #88 Camaro.
Van Gisbergen’s end-of-day remarks were concise: “It would’ve been great if we performed a little better today, but the team is working hard to make changes to hopefully give us a more competitive car for the rest of the weekend.”
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As for Feeney?
“We started today well being fastest in the first practice, it felt like we were really competitive overall,” said the 20-year-old.
“To be honest we probably detuned it a little bit in the second practice run.
“We know what we need to do to be better, we’ll revert back to what we were in the first session and make a faster car for tomorrow.”
Supercars’ next on-track session is qualifying tomorrow, starting at 11:30am local time (midday AEST).
