Scene set for Sandown Sunday thriller as Broc Feeney nails 16th pole
Feeney equals Scott McLaughlin in rain-hit Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout
Anton De Pasquale second, Chaz Mostert third, Ryan Wood fourth
Broc Feeney has emerged on top of a rain-hit Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout, setting the scene for a thrilling conclusion to the Penrite Oil Sandown 500.
Triple Eight Race Engineering star Feeney kept his cool in a wet and wild run-off to claim his 16th Boost Mobile Pole of the 2025 season, equalling the efforts of Scott McLaughlin in 2017.
Just hours after Triple Eight ran up a new engine on the #88 Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet, Feeney pieced together the cleanest lap of all on Sunday afternoon to secure the best possible starting position for Race 31.
Feeney will start alongside Anton De Pasquale, with Saturday winner and new points leader Chaz Mostert third. Teammate Will Brown, meanwhile, will start 17th another another qualifying shocker.
"It was all skill out there, no I had a bit of luck then," said Feeney, who claimed his 24th career pole.
"It was challenging, it's been a challenging morning with all the weather. Obviously Bryce was on a really good lap, the track looked good at the start, got wet, and then dried up again at the end.
"Stoked to get 16 of these, this is incredible. We didn't have the best of days yesterday, it was a very hard lap to know what I was doing, I had no idea what I was doing, just trying to stay on the track. Stoked to walk away with another pole."
Bryce Fullwood sat in pit lane on slick tyres, but as rain closed in and the clock wound down, the Brad Jones Racing driver simply needed to survive. He did, albeit with a slide through the esses and an off at Turn 10.
With Fullwood's lap invalidated, Cam Waters went next, and put together a clean 1:18.1412s. Mostert then rolled out on roaded wet tyres, and put nearly four seconds on his former teammate's time.
Feeney returned serve with a 1:13.7141s to jump ahead of his closest rival by 0.476s, before Cameron Hill threw his lap away immediately after running long at Turn 1.
Standing water became an issue as the Shootout wore on, increasing Feeney's chances. Thomas Randle, who started 22nd on Saturday and entered Sunday 104 points off the pace, also missed out at Turn 1 and ran off at Turn 2. However, his lap was also invalidated after shortcutting Turn 2.
After a slow warm-up lap, Matt Payne recorded a 1:17.0444s, leaving Kai Allen, Ryan Wood and Anton De Pasquale standing between Feeney and a record-equalling 16th pole.
Allen laid down a 1:15.8227s to slot in behind Feeney and Mostert. Saturday pole-sitter Wood went next, clocking a 1:14.4116s, before Feeney's 16th pole was locked in as De Pasquale fell 0.210s short.
The bp Adelaide Grand Final field will be set in Race 31, which commences at 3:20pm local time.