Feeney 'still not there' in Taupō qualifying rollercoaster
Contrasting fortunes for Broc Feeney in Boost Mobile Qualifying
Feeney to start 11th in Race 8 as Triple Eight's Soft tyre struggles continue
#88 to start third in Race 9 despite making error on first run
It was a morning of contrasting fortunes for Broc Feeney in the back-to-back Boost Mobile Qualifying sessions for Races 8 and 9 at the ITM Taupō Super 440.
It has been a tricky weekend for the Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaros, with both Feeney and teammate Will Brown struggling in both half-hour practice sessions held on Friday.
Those struggles on the Soft tyre continued into the first qualifying session for Race 8, with both Feeney and Brown missing the top 10 to progress into the second portion of qualifying.
Feeney will start 11th for Race 8, having claimed all four pole positions last time out in Melbourne, whilst Brown will start even further back in 13th.
Speaking after climbing out of the #88 Camaro during Race 8 Qualifying, the 22-year-old from the Gold Coast cut a dejected figure.
"It's very hard to drive I suppose is the easy way to put it. The track has so many surfaces, and if you don't quite get it right it's super challenging, so you make the smallest mistake and it's tenfold," Feeney explained.
"I'm struggling a lot at Turn 2, I keep losing the rear a lot there, so I think if we can fix that we'll be ok.
"To miss out by a hundredth, I'm surprised we're not further down to be honest, so hopefully we can make a tune-up."
"We were very strong in the race here last year, but at the moment we don't seem to have too many of those strengths."
Things turned around in Race 9 Qualifying, with both Feeney and Brown progressing through to Q2, showing much improved pace on the Super Soft tyre.
However, Feeney made a critical mistake at the end of his first flying lap in Q2, running through the grass at the final complex of corners through Turns 12, 13, and 14.
Having to reuse his original set of softs, Feeney recovered to set a time strong enough for third on the grid for the second race of the day.
"It's been pretty hard, I mean thanks to the crew who have been throwing everything it in this qualifying session," said a much more positive Feeney after Race 9 qualifying.
"We're top three for that last one, which is pretty good on a reuse. I think we actually got there towards the end, but unfortunately we had to shoot all our tyres just to get to that point.
"It's been hard work, I feel like I'm getting the most out of it, but we're still just not there. We've only got half an hour now to try and sort it out for the race, but I think what we did towards the end was in the right direction."
Penrite Racing's Matt Payne will start from pole position for Race 8 at 12:50pm NZST/10:50am AEST, whilst Brodie Kostecki claimed his maiden pole position for Dick Johnson Racing for Race 9, which begins at 4:05pm NZST/2:05pm AEST.
