Brown, Feeney at a loss over tyre troubles
Red Bull Ampol Racing struggle for tyre life on Super Soft tyre in Race 9
Lack of late stint performance costs Broc Feeney potential podium
Will Brown regains championship lead despite early pit stop
A difficult Saturday for Red Bull Ampol Racing at the ITM Taupō Super 440 was compounded in Race 9 as both Will Brown and Broc Feeney struggled for rear tyre life on the Dunlop Super Soft tyre.
It has been far from an easy weekend for the reigning Supercars teams champions, who have struggled for speed and grip since cars rolled out on track yesterday.
Friday's lack of pace became even more apparent in Race 8 Qualifying this morning, as both Brown and Feeney failed to reach Q2, with Feeney 11th and Brown 13th.
Brown was able to recover to a strong fifth, but lost the championship lead in the process, whilst Feeney got caught in a double stack during the race's sole Safety Car intervention and finished 15th.
The Super Soft tyres brought better speed to the Red Bulls, with both drivers starting in the top five for Race 9, however tyre life cruelled their chances.
Feeney lost a potential podium when his tyres hit the cliff in the dying laps, whilst Brown was the first car to pit during the race, the reigning champion struggling to seventh, but regaining the championship lead in the process.
The reigning champion was scratching his head at the end of the day, unsure as to why his and engineer Andrew Edwards' strong tyre life disappeared on the Super Soft this afternoon.
"Yeah, we struggled in qualifying today, 13th in the first session, then we were lucky to get through to the top 10 and get to fifth in the next session," said Brown.
"That first race we were able to drive through the field and get back a couple to fifth which I was pretty stoked about, and I thought we might be able to do similar in the afternoon's race, but just didn't have the pace we wanted.
"The tyre life, I don't know what happened in the first stint but it was like we just, had blistered tires, but they weren't. It just went backwards at a rate of knots and then we pitted real early, put another set on, were able to hang on until the end and bank some points in seventh place.
"Just a bit of a struggle today. We've got a fair bit of work to do tonight so have a look at it, re-evaluate and go from there. Tomorrow is a longer race so it'll be interesting to see how the longer stints go. We've been doing a bit shorter stints today and it'll be interesting to see how we go tomorrow."
"The tyre life, I don't know what happened in the first stint but it was like we just, had blistered tires, but they weren't. It just went backwards at a rate of knots and then we pitted real early, put another set on, were able to hang on until the end and bank some points in seventh place.
"Just a bit of a struggle today. We've got a fair bit of work to do tonight so have a look at it, re-evaluate and go from there. Tomorrow is a longer race so it'll be interesting to see how the longer stints go. We've been doing a bit shorter stints today and it'll be interesting to see how we go tomorrow."
On the other side of the garage, Feeney was happy to recover from his poor qualifying and race in Race 8, however he admits that he was disappointed to miss out on a podium in Race 9 after a trying day.
"Qualifying was a bit of a mystery this morning. We struggled a lot in that first qualifying session and missed out on the shootout," said Feeney.
"We've probably never changed the car so much in a qualifying session but then to salvage third in Q2 was really good. We were on a used tire as well, so I think that was really positive and we made a good step forward.
"Then race one starting in the pack, we got caught up with the double stack, and then you're just back in the pack again and we really struggled pace-wise towards the end of the stint.
"We just kept hitting the cliff at the end of our stint, we didn't have the pace the other guys had, but then we'd hit a wall and the last five laps felt like it was raining.
"That second race it would have been awesome to salvage something there. I was running second for the last few laps which was great, but once again that wall came to us and whenever I'd get in a battle with the other guys, I speared off the track, just trying to hang on.
"So, it's just been a really tough day but we'll try and work on it tonight. I mean, we're strong here last year but just trying to incorporate what we can do to make it better tomorrow."
On-track action at the ITM Taupō Super 440 begins at 10:35 NZST/8:35AEST tomorrow morning with Boost Mobile Qualifying for Race 10 of the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship.
