Feeney conceded Safety Car had killed victory hopes
Broc Feeney conceded Safety Car had killed victory hopes
Feeney hung onto victory in Perth after late-race Safety Car
Ford rival Matt Payne fell short by 0.5s in grandstand finish
Broc Feeney had done everything right up until the closing laps in Sunday’s Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440 finale — then, the Safety Car came out.
The championship leader won Sunday’s Race 16 from pole position, but that doesn’t tell the half of it after a wild finish in the West.
Feeney led the entire race through both pit cycles, before an engine failure for Erebus Motorsport rookie turned the race on its head.
Matt Payne and James Courtney benefited from the caution to move to second and fourth, with Feeney and Ryan Wood first and third.
Courtney picked off Wood on the restart, as Payne set off after Feeney. Wood dropped down the order, and crashed out fighting James Golding.
At the front, Payne heaved pressure on Feeney, with the Triple Eight star hanging on to take his fourth victory in six starts.
Speaking after the race, Feeney admitted he thought his win bid had been dashed, either by the Safety Car sequence or Payne’s late pace.
“Got a cracker start and pretty much just managed the race as best as I could for three quarters of it,” Feeney said.
"I built the gap up to about three seconds before our last pit stop and then after that the Safety Car called, and to be honest, at that point, I thought our race was over.
"I thought we were going to be third or something like that once everything tightened up at the restart. But lucky to get away clean and stay in front, sprint finish to the end and super, super stoked to hang on for another win this weekend.”
Feeney now has a handsome 72-point lead in the championship with three rounds left in the Repco Sprint Cup portion of the season.
The 22-year-old heads to Darwin, where he won both races last June. Having dominated Tasmania and Perth, Feeney was pleased to finally be showing his best.
"Going away from Perth still leading the championship and Sprint Cup, I mean, now it's just about winning races,” Feeney said.
"I mean, it's been pretty good. We've had it really awesome, I suppose, the last couple of rounds and the season so far, but it just feels like Tassie to here we're just really limiting our mistakes.
"The team's just doing such a good job in all areas and making it easy for us. So, yeah, just excited for the back half of the year."
