Erebus Bathurst pace 'no surprise' to Feeney

Broc Feeney not surprised by early Erebus pace
Todd Hazelwood second in Friday afternoon practice
Hazelwood is standing in for Brodie Kostecki

Erebus Motorsport hit the front early doors at the Thrifty Bathurst 500, which was no surprise to Chevrolet rival Broc Feeney.

Red Bull Ampol Racing topped both Friday sessions at Mount Panorama, but Erebus — last year’s champions — were towards the front with Todd Hazelwood.

While Will Brown dominated Practice 2, Hazelwood — who is standing in for Brodie Kostecki — led the times late on and ended up second.

Erebus’ day got off to a rotten start, with Jack Le Brocq’s #9 TFH Hire Services Camaro requiring an engine change after it stopped on track in Practice 1.

However, it was a relatively smooth day for former Blanchard Racing Team driver Hazelwood, which offered a bright spark for the team following a dramatic off-season.

Le Brocq stops on track after pit lane opens

While changeable conditions made Friday a tricky day, Feeney wasn’t surprised by the pace by Erebus, which, like Triple Eight, built two new cars for 2024.

“I suppose none of us know yet. And that's the question that will be answered tomorrow and over the next few rounds,” Feeney said.

“But yeah, it's the same teams' champions [from] last year back up here today. So that's no surprise.

“I mean, those [Erebus] boys can certainly drive the car and they've got fast race cars. So we're looking forward to it.

“Today, it's probably a little bit hard to tell. But we'll find out over the weekend and then into the next couple of rounds what really happens.”

Hazelwood was buoyed by the pace, saying: “Any day you've got your bum in the back of a race car's a good day.

“Obviously really fortunate to be strapped into a car that's more than capable, the team's more than capable, and really fortunate to have some fantastic engineers and mechanics and staff behind the scenes that have provided me a fantastic chassis.

“The TFH Hire 99 was pretty hooked up out there [in] both conditions, both in the wet and the dry.

“We'll keep building, we'll keep learning. I'm still very early in the piece of it all, I'm still learning at a million miles an hour of understanding the set-up philosophy, understanding how the whole team works and how we make these cars go fast.

“So, it's been a big day, two very different conditions, obviously the start of the day being pretty hot and breezy... information overload at the moment and just trying to process it.”

Race 1 will commence at 4:10pm. The 40-lapper will be broadcast live on Foxtel, Kayo and the Seven Network. Tickets for the event are on sale now.