'Didn't go to plan': Brown, Feeney behind on fast Friday

Just two Finals Drivers ended Friday out of the top 10. In something of a head-scratcher for Triple Eight, they were Broc Feeney and Will Brown.

Reigning Supercars champion Brown led the way in Practice 1, as Feeney survived a brush with the barriers to end up third. In the afternoon session, Feeney was 0.27s down in 11th, with Brown 0.42s back in 13th.

Last year, Feeney and Brown ended Friday fourth and sixth. Feeney claimed a brace of podiums, while Brown rebounded from a Saturday qualifying crash to finish second on Sunday.

Brown "watched a lot of footage" pre-event to prepare for the weekend. It seemed to pay early dividends, before he fell away in the afternoon, even making a late mistake at Turn 12.

Brown only came out of the pits with 74 seconds remaining, and after going down the escape road on his out-lap, Feeney, Cam Waters and David Reynolds all lost time while on personal best laps.

Practice 2 featured two stoppages for crashes, with Finals rival Brodie Kostecki and Brad Jones Racing’s Bryce Fullwood striking trouble. If there was ever a time for a fruitful debrief for Brown, it’s now, given he has qualified 11th or worse 11 times in 27 attempts.

"Really happy with P1 in Practice 1. Obviously the second session didn't go to plan,” Brown said.

"It's hard to know exactly where we are compared to everyone else, especially with the red flag coming out in the middle of it all, but I still don't think we're as fast as a Cam [Waters] so we've got a bit of work to do heading in to tomorrow.

"That's the business end, get going in qualifying and do well there to have a good race later in the day."

The championship leader and a hot favourite for the title, Feeney was left wanting more answers on a day the Soft and Super Soft tyres hit the track.

Saturday’s action will be held on the Super Soft, before drivers run the Softs on Sunday.

Drivers were pushing hard to find the limits, with Kostecki and Fullwood bitten harder than most. With resurfacing work undertaken at Turn 4 to Turn 6, and at Turn 11, there’s plenty of time to be found.

For Feeney, finding more speed is the overnight goal, given all Finals rivals bar Brown are in the top 10.

"Practice 1 was pretty good. We were sort of up the front, but today's been very hard to understand just due to the mixed compounds,” Feeney said.

"It's very difficult to know where everyone is at throughout Practice 1 and 2 because of that variable, then everything else going on around the circuit with flags and stops.

"Grazed a few walls in the first session, just pushing the limits, getting up to speed. Practice 2 was alright but did drop down the order a little bit at the end. We sort of know where we need to focus on overnight and have another crack tomorrow.

"This joint is crazy, you forget how hard it is to control at times and how much airtime you get and everything like that. It's a pretty crazy place."

Track action commences Saturday with Boost Mobile Qualifying at 11:00am AEST/12:00pm AEDT, followed by the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout at 12:35pm AEST/1:35pm AEDT.

The first 250km race of the weekend, which will be held on the Super Soft tyre, will start at 3:15pm AEST/4:15pm AEDT.