BROC Feeney has heaped praise on his Triple Eight crew for rescuing his Race 1 in Townsville after admitting to driving a poor first stint.
Starting sixth on the grid, Feeney capitalised on a wild first lap to be running second behind Cam Waters, including pulling off a stunning around-the-outside pass on teammate Shane van Gisbergen.
But by the time the first round of pitstops arrived, the #88 driver had been overtaken by eventual winner Will Brown and was losing touch at a rate of knots.
“In that first stint I did a horrible job and I don’t know how the team saved me there but great strategy as always in these long races,” said Feeney.
“I think the track came to us a little bit so a bit stronger in the second and third (stints) and to walk away with second, I’m pretty stoked with that.”
He elaborated of the early struggles: “I burnt the tyres up so bad.
“I thought I was cruising, I mean we’re driving around like three-and-a-half seconds off the pace and I still burnt them up quite a lot.
“I was nearly asking for a change in that first stop but as the race went on I think it got better and better.
“I probably adjusted too much in the second stint, these guys (Brown and Chaz Mostert) gapped me a lot, but towards the end I caught Dave (Reynolds) and was probably matching Will, so overall stoked.
“Sixth to second, pretty happy with that and good points.”
Second place in the end saw Feeney close to within 44 points of the championship lead now held by Brown, after Brodie Kostecki battled to 19th with a transaxle issue for much of the 88-lapper.
Reflecting on his Lap 1 move on SVG to gain crucial pit priority – a bigger factor this weekend given how costly double-stacking in a refuelling stop could be – Feeney revealed he’d taken inspiration from Kostecki.
“Out of Turn 2 everyone was pretty wide so I sort of got overlap on him and into three I suppose he tried to stay around the outside,” he explained.
“I suppose trying to get pit priority is pretty important.
“Then into five, I saw some videos when I was watching last year’s races of I think Brodie going around the outside so I thought I would just throw it in and see if I would come out.
“Came out in front which I suppose was good for us, but yeah, it’s very important at the moment with fuel. I mean we’re not trying to bump into each other to make sure we get pit priority but it is very important.”
Sunday action at the NTI Townsville 500 starts with qualifying from 10am.
