Broc Feeney livid after losing out in Perth finale
Matt Payne made decisive move after Feeney's final stop
Feeney claimed first Supercars win since My on Saturday
There's no question that Perth represented a welcome and frankly much needed return to form for Broc Feeney and his side of the Red Bull Ampol Racing team.
But, you wouldn't have guessed that after Sunday, after Feeney lost out in a dramatic battle with Matt Payne, which featured wheel and tyre damage to both Mustangs.
On one hand, Feeney had claimed a record-breaking pole earlier in the day, and led the first two stints to back up his first Supercars win in 69 days the day prior. Later, Payne held on over a tense final 30 laps to place one hand on the Repco Sprint Cup.
As Feeney himself put it in PIRTEK Victory Lane: "The racer in me wants to win."
Team Principal Jamie Whincup was furious at being both outpaced and outfoxed by Penrite Racing, with Feeney also showing his frustrations after he climbed out of the #88 Red Bull Ampol Ford.
"Congrats to those guys, they're obviously the benchmark at the moment, we've got a long way to go still," said Feeney post-race.
"It'd obviously be very easy to be stoked with the amount that we've closed this weekend, but I'm gutted. You come that close to winning a race, and I'm pretty disappointed with that one.
"Proud of the effort. We've been nowhere the past couple of rounds, being in the fight today is awesome but I'm reeling [after] that one, that's for sure."
The numbers back up that the gap had closed right up, with Feeney's race pace just 0.03s per lap slower than Payne in the Sunday finale.
The pair matched each other as the fastest cars in Saturday's race on the Super Soft tyre, which Feeney won, after the #19 Penrite Mustang was 0.14s per lap quicker than the field in the weekend's first race, and 0.33s up on Feeney.
But no matter how closely matched their pace became, that will become a major factor across the long-distance Ryco Enduro Cup races at The Bend and Bathurst.
"We're still not as fast as these guys. The car is obviously so much better than what it has been, and I think the Super Soft was probably a little bit better for us," Feeney continued post-race.
"Obviously had a fair bit of speed in that last stint, but really struggled at the back end of those first two stints.
"I just want to thank the team, they've done a great job to put us in the position. But when you feel like you have a win not too far away, to not get it is a bit disappointing.
"Super proud of the gap we've closed, but the racer in me wants to win, but we'll back. We've made a big jump in one round, so no doubt we can keep getting closer to these boys next to us."
Feeney will enter the Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440 from August 21-23 needing to turn around a 118-point deficit to overhaul Payne for the 2026 Repco Sprint Cup crown.
