IT’S one down, one to go for Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup in the 2023 Supercars endurance season.
With the Sandown 500 run and won, Whincup having done the early hard yards before Feeney withstood immense pressure from Brodie Kostecki to seal victory, it’s eyes forward to the Repco Bathurst 1000.
Mount Panorama has mixed memories for both #88 pilots.
For Feeney, it’s where he made his Supercars Championship debut on his 18th birthday, took his first Super2 race win, crashed out late while spearheading a top 10 wildcard effort, and struggled last year to the extent where he lost the qualifying duties.
Whincup’s relationship with the Mountain is even more infamous; he has won the ‘1000’ on four occasions but his bid for a fifth Peter Brock Trophy has been brought undone in all sorts of weird and wacky ways in the past decade.
“It has been a while, for sure,” Whincup said after the Sandown 500.
“It has been a while between drinks, over 10 years now.
“That doesn’t sit well with me so we’ll do what we can in three weeks’ time.”
If Sandown is anything to go by, the signs are good that this could be the year.
“Jamie did a fantastic job to get us in a position where we were out at front and had clean air… but that Safety Car got rid of all that and it was game on at the end!” said Feeney.
Whincup returned the favour with praise for Feeney and their crew.
“I don’t think you should underestimate the job he did in the last stint there,” the 40-year-old said of Feeney.
“That was as tough as it gets with all three cars sort of breathing down, so it was a four-way battle there at the end and to keep your nerve in such a huge event like the Sandown 500 is very, very difficult. He did a fantastic job.
“We obviously both can’t thank the team enough, we had fast cars here this weekend and that’s the biggest thing you can do, is make sure you have got a fast car – it makes the strategy a little bit easier.”
In the overall championship picture, Feeney is now 204 points behind leader Kostecki.
The 2023 Bathurst 1000 will be held across October 5-8.
