Broc Feeney still stung by 2025 Gold Coast defeat
Triple Eight out-strategised by WAU after controlling opening 57 laps
Chaz Mostert won first three Finals races, en route to 2025 title
Missing a golden opportunity to halt what turned out to be a pivotal run of form for Chaz Mostert on the Gold Coast 12 months ago is still a sore point for Broc Feeney.
After Mostert dominated the opening leg of the 2025 Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, Feeney looked set to re-assert his position as the pre-Finals favourite, controlling the opening 57 laps of the finale.
However, clever fuel strategy and lighter consumption rates saw Mostert vault ahead for the final stint, and despite Feeney throwing everything he could at the #25 Ford in the dash to the line, the two-time Bathurst winner stood tall, ensuring a statement clean sweep.
That has been the closest Feeney has come to winning at his home event, with the narrow defeat his fourth consecutive podium at Surfers Paradise. Feeney is desperate to take a golden surfboard home in 2026, on a weekend that promises to be wet and wild.
“Last year stung, the second race. We were leading for two thirds of the race and got done on fuel economy. It was a tough one, it always burns not winning at home," Feeney reflected to media on Tuesday.
“I just get another shot at it this weekend.
“We’ve swapped manufacturers, so I think last year it seemed like from my point of view there was a little difference, but they also did such a good strategy. Chaz was so fast here last year.
“Me and him probably felt like we were in a bit of a league of our own, in that last race especially. This year’s probably just going to be about learning the chicane again, that’s probably the biggest time you can make up throughout the track, and whatever the weather does, that changes everything anyway.”
Surfers Paradise is something of a final frontier for the Gold Coast native, who is yet to win a Supercars race around the unforgiving seaside streets.
Feeney is also yet to record victories at The Bend Motorsport Park, as well as New Zealand Double Header venues Taupō and Christchurch, the latter of which only joined the calendar for 2026.
Feeney has swept both of the minor podium places over the last two seasons, securing two thirds in 2024, before his two runner-up finishes to Mostert in 2025.
To win at home wouldn't be the only reason a Gold Coast surfboard would be special, Feeney adding he will feel as though he has tamed the 'most daunting' circuit on the Supercars calendar with a win.
“This is probably the one track that I haven’t ticked off I think, I think I’ve got one or two that I haven’t won at yet," added Feeney.
“This is obviously the highest on my list of those I haven’t won at, to get a surfboard. I got third, third in ’24, second, second last year, so hopefully that means first, first this year.
"I think it’s a pretty big experience track, this track, it’s the most daunting track of the season. It’s the hardest one to conquer I think.
“If anyone watched last year, flying through the air is nothing easy, or to get up to speed as a rookie. I certainly struggled with that here, so it took me a couple of years to get on top of the track.
“In ’24 when I got a few podiums, it was obviously great, and then last year led most of the race. We were close last year, hopefully this year is a good way to tick off a few wins.”
By virtue of winning the Repco Sprint Cup for the second consecutive season, Feeney has closed to five points behind top seed and rival Matt Payne following the Finals points reset.
The opening round of the 2026 Repco Supercars Finals Series begins at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, with Practice 1 commencing at 11:45am AEST on Friday.
