Expert Analysis: Mostert's magic, Feeney's day to forget, Finals debate
This is an exclusive post-event Supercars.com column by championship-winning Race Engineer Scott Sinclair. Sinclair will preview and debrief each round of the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship from his own perspective.
Congratulations to Chaz Mostert and his Walkinshaw Andretti United team on winning this year's drivers' championship and ending a 23-year title drought for the Walkinshaw-owned team.
Commiserations to Broc Feeney and his Red Bull Ampol Team, who had a day to forget when they could least afford it.
Like any good sporting contest, the bp Adelaide Grand Final left us with so much to debate. Did the right driver win? Are the Finals a good thing? Should teammates be able to influence the outcome?
None of these questions have simple answers and will likely never be fully resolved. While the debate continues, here are the things that caught my attention…
Mostert locking in
Chaz Mostert finished the regular season at Bathurst as the most inconsistent driver in the field; no one's race results were as erratic as his.
In the 27 races prior to the Finals, his average finish position was 9.5. Then, in what would ultimately lead him to his first championship, he completed the seven Finals races with an average finishing position of 1.9.
It was a staggering seven-race run that only Shane van Gisbergen, Scott McLaughlin, and Feeney have bettered in the last 10 years. Mostert’s ability to get it done when it mattered most has defined his maiden championship win.
Feeney’s day to forget
Reliability ultimately sealing Broc Feeney’s championship fate was unfathomable leading into the final race of the year. Prior to Race 34 commencing, Feeney was the only driver who’d completed every lap of the season and was on a streak of 60 straight lead-lap race finishes.
It had been over two years (Bathurst 2023) since Feeney hadn't finished a race on the lead lap. For perspective, the current next best is Kai Allen with 20 consecutive lead lap race finishes.
To my knowledge, Feeney’s electrical issues were the only reliability issue that impacted either of the Red Bull Ampol cars across the entire season. Unfortunately, the timing couldn’t have been worse.
How Feeney handled his intermittent engine failure was a credit to him as he kept fighting, showing all the characteristics of a future champion by making the best of a horrible situation. Sunday, of all days, wasn’t his day. All his numbers this year, however, were exceptional, and with another year's experience, he’ll no doubt be tough to beat next year.
Brown and Allen
Both Will Brown and Kai Allen were gallant but ultimately lacked the speed to threaten Mostert or Feeney. Allen finished all seven Finals races inside the top seven: prior to that, he’d only recorded five top seven 7 finishes from 27 races. His improvement in the last third of the year was impressive, and he also didn’t put a foot wrong while under the Finals spotlight.
Brown somewhat overcame his year-long qualifying challenges and started each race in Adelaide within striking distance. He didn’t, however, have the speed we’d seen at Sandown and the Gold Coast, meaning he wasn't ever a major threat.
I’ve often referenced Brown’s superior ability to move forward in the races through the year. He finished the year with a qualifying average less than 10 and a position gained average greater than three. Only Brown and van Gisbergen have done that in the last 10 years.
The easy knockdown of Brown is that it's easy to pass cars when you start so far back, but there are plenty of drivers who start mid-pack and can’t move forward. It's rare to see someone consistently race through the field like Brown does.
If he can improve his qualifying average by even two spots next year, expect to see him within striking distance on the final day in Adelaide.
The Finals debate
There’s been plenty of debate about whether the Finals, and more specifically, the Finals points allocation, adequately rewards those that have achieved the most throughout the season. Parking the outcome and emotion of the final race to focus on how we got to that point is an interesting exercise.
Before the final race commenced, Feeney and Mostert were realistically the only two drivers with a chance to win the championship. At that point, Feeney held a 23-point lead on Mostert (the points equivalent of three positions on track).
It was a Grand Final showdown featuring Feeney (the driver who’d dominated the Sprint Cup but stumbled in the Enduro Cup) and Mostert (the driver who’d dominated the Finals with an average race finish position of 1.8). Both drivers also had more wins and podiums than anyone else at that point.
33 races, three elimination stages, and three points resets, led to a final race battle between Feeney, the ‘minor premier,’ and Mostert, the outstanding Finals performer.
Most people would agree that having the minor premier play a team that's dominated the finals series in the AFL or NRL Grand Final would be a fair outcome. Just how that final race ultimately played out clouds the bigger picture. Injuries, a bad bounce of the ball, or in Feeney’s case, reliability, impacts most Grand Finals, and always will.
But Feeney versus Mostert in the decider, Feeney, still with a slight bonus point advantage, felt pretty right to me.
Scott Sinclair is one of the most respected voices in pit lane, famously engineering James Courtney to the 2010 championship with Dick Johnson Racing. Sinclair also spent stints at the Holden Racing Team and Kelly Racing, spent time on the Supercars Commission, and recently joined Supercars as a data analyst.
The 2026 Repco Supercars Championship will commence at the Sydney 500 on February 20-22. Tickets are on sale now.
