Broc Feeney surprised to shift winless narrative so soon
Triple Eight star proud to beat ‘league of his own’ Matt Payne
Feeney picked off points leader Payne in Race 24
Ending Triple Eight’s lean run has come earlier than expected for Broc Feeney, who said Matt Payne has been “in a league of his own.”
Earlier, Feeney struggled to just 13th in Race 23 Qualifying, but charged back to seventh, aided by a late safety car restart inside the final 10 laps.
“I didn't expect to be sitting here. Matt was in a league of his own, especially in that first stint, Feeney said post-race.
“I felt like I was really struggling there, came in for the pit stop, put a different set of tyres on and the thing came alive. So had heaps more speed, felt super comfortable again in the car.
“Obviously got a move done on Matty and was able to kind of just drive away.”
Heading into Saturday’s second race, Triple Eight’s run of seven races without a podium was its worst since the end of 2006.
Feeney made no secret of his team’s development war with Triple Eight’s Ford rivals, and while there’s still plenty of improvement left, the Queenslander insisted the hard work has had an early payoff.
“Racing these guys all year, they've been doing such a good job. There's been some races where we've kind of been in touching distance and been able to battle them,” Feeney continued.
“At Darwin and Townsville, it just felt like we were missing a fair bit. It felt like it wasn't a tiny little bit away, like it wasn't a little change away.
“I've obviously been vocal about trying to get back to the front and it's been hard though, because you're trying to give the team a direction, one race it's this, the other race it's that.
“A lot of the time they have been fixing what I've been saying, but then it causes more problems. They've done a really good job this weekend.
“Marty [Short, engineer] has done great. I'm sure he's happy that I'm winning again, so I'm not getting angry at him or being too vocal. It’s a great job from the team. I think the pit stops echo that.
“Today is due to the hard work of the team.”
Payne leads Feeney by 107 points, with Penrite Racing extending its teams’ lead to 179 points.
