Skaife, Tander expect 'frustrated' Feeney to respond

Broc Feeney must put a rollercoaster Sydney behind him and “execute” at the upcoming Grand Prix, says Supercars champions Mark Skaife and Garth Tander.

Feeney shared all three front rows at the Thrifty Sydney 500 - Opening Round with Cam Waters, who walked away with three wins from three starts, and 315 points.

Triple Eight driver Feeney suffered a puncture in Race 1, missed out in the stunning Race 2 drag finish, and collided with rookie Cooper Murray in Race 3.

All told, Feeney finished 14th, second and fourth, and left Sydney 99 points behind Waters.

Speaking after Sunday’s race, five-time Supercars champion Skaife said Feeney was the closest to Waters on pace, but admitted "just a few things... didn’t go his way."

“If there was a car all weekend that was genuinely able to take it to Cam Waters, it was Broc Feeney,” Skaife said.

"So when you look at the way he’s qualified, he was on the front row of the grid each time, there were a couple of times during the races where he absolutely had the same pace as Cam, he was right up there and in contention.

“There were just a few things that didn’t go his way. If you actually had to do an appraisal and say — in terms of form, who from this weekend had the right car speed or a car speed factor that was good enough to be there, it was Broc Feeney.”

Five-time Bathurst winner Tander claimed Feeney would be “frustrated” and “angry,” but implored the 22-year-old to put it to bed and perform at the Grand Prix, where he has won three of the last five races.

“Yes, there’ll be massive amounts of frustration right now because Mark is 100 percent right — he had a car that was fast enough,” Tander said.

“He had a car that was fast enough to win [on Saturday] night. It didn’t roll his way.

“So when you have a race like he did [on Sunday] where nothing went your way again, you’re like, ‘Man, what’s going on? What have I got to do? I know I’ve got the car, I know I’ve got the team, it’s just not rolling my way’.

“But you can’t carry that with you. As soon as you do that, it affects your next performance.

“Broc is going to be disappointed, he’s going to be frustrated, he’s going to be angry, he’s going to feel like he should be in the top two of the championship, but it’s round one of 13 weekends of racing.

“Be happy that you got some points, be happy that you know you’ve got a fast car, and go execute at the Grand Prix.”