Feeney powers to crucial comeback Darwin pole

Broc Feeney has powered from eighth in Qualifying to pole in the Shootout at Hidden Valley Raceway, setting up a shot at a betr Darwin Triple Crown clean sweep.

Feeney, the third driver out in the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout, set a time that proved too great a hurdle for seven drivers to overcome, including teammate Will Brown.

The Saturday race winner will share the front row with Brodie Kostecki, who rebounded from a DNS and overnight engine change to claim his best Qualifying result of the season.

Kostecki enacted gamesmanship on former teammate Brown, who was third and will share the second row with Saturday pole-sitter James Golding.

As Brown readied for his Shootout lap, Kostecki closed on the #87 Red Bull Ampol Camaro and flashed his lights, before the points leader went on to set the third quickest lap.

Jack Le Brocq and Cameron Hill completed an all-Chevrolet top six, ahead of Will Davison, Tim Slade, Anton De Pasquale and wildcard rookie Cooper Murray.

"Eighth to first, I'm happy with with that," said Feeney, who is 115 points behind Brown. 

"I probably thought it was going to be pretty hard to beat. It was a pretty solid lap, but Brodie and Will did some great laps there at the end. I'm just stoked.

"We struggled a bit in Qualifying, but sort of reverted back to yesterday, and the thing was a rocket ship."

De Pasquale set the first time to chase, a 1:06.5490s, which was immediately unseated by Hill’s 1:06.3222s.

Feeney went next, and his 1:05.9205s put the rest of the Shootout runners on notice. It was proven true, with Le Brocq, Golding and Murray all unable to make an impression.

Le Brocq slotted into second with a 1:06.2156s before Golding, Saturday’s pole-sitter, edged just ahead with a 1:06.1736s.

Murray fought to a 1:06.8490s on used tyres, leaving Davison, Slade, Kostecki and Brown between Feeney and a crucial third pole position of the season.

Davison was on course to slot into second, but fell away and ended up fifth with a 1:06.3412s. Slade recorded a 1:06.3648s and was only sixth, leaving Kostecki and Brown standing in Feeney's way.

Kostecki put 0.0025s on Feeney in the first sector, but lost time in the second sector and ended up clocking a 1:06.0579s to secure third at worst.

Brown was unable to dislodge Feeney or Kostecki, with the final 48-lap race of the weekend, Race 12, to get underway at 3:10pm ACST/3:40pm AEST.