Triple Eight chasing answers after "tough" run in wet race
Broc Feeney dropped from pole to ninth in Gold Coast opener
Will Brown recovered to sixth, after running as low as 15th
The championship-winning brains trust of Red Bull Ampol Racing is deep-diving into the data to uncover what tripped up both cars in Saturday’s Gold Coast 500 opener.
The points standings still show Broc Feeney and Will Brown in second and third, but weather literally rained on their parade in what proved a taxing 250km race.
Starting from pole, Feeney appeared defenceless against his rivals, being picked off by Chaz Mostert and Anton De Pasquale exiting Turn 13. From there, Feeney defended from a train of cars as those ahead skipped away, and a feisty Matt Payne later clattered into the #88 Red Bull Ampol Ford at Turn 4 in a bid to get past.
Feeney would take the chequered flag a staggering 55 seconds behind eventual winner Mostert, and 10 seconds behind teammate Brown, who bounced back after a rotten opening stanza.
Such were Brown’s struggles, that he thought his Finals campaign was in strife as he languished as low as 15th in the first stint, before surging back into sixth.
“We were just slow as in that first stint. Felt like we just couldn't get the grip there, and just dropping back,” Brown told Supercars.com.
“To be honest, I thought I was in a world of hurt and was going to be struggling in the Finals.
“But I had a mega middle stint, was able to move our way back up and finish P6, obviously ahead of some of the Finals there, and still third in the championship right now.
"Bit of a tough one. But Chaz did a mega job. They deserve to be there.”
Triple Eight Team Manager Mark Dutton indicated to Supercars.com that the team was still searching for answers on what happened to the #88, with the debrief ongoing. However, he didn’t hide behind the lack of pace.
That lack of pace nearly caught out leader Payne, who recognised Feeney was in trouble when De Pasquale was held up behind the Red Bull Ampol Ford, helping Mostert skip away.
"I could see he was holding up Anton and then Anton got past him,” Payne said post-race.
"There were probably seven or eight of us that were behind him, 10 laps in.
"I got the opportunity to get up the inside of him at Turn 4. He had a pretty bad run off of [Turn] 3, then he sort of moved across on me quite a bit on the brakes.
"I was locked up, and then I just stopped it and gave him the little nudge. But he seemed to be struggling quite a bit from the start, so I'm not too sure what was happening there.
"But it definitely made my race, getting past him and then being able to carry on.”
Speaking to Supercars.com post-race, Walkinshaw TWG Racing CEO Bruce Stewart claimed a different batch of wet tyres could have been behind Ryan Wood’s torrid run to 14th.
When asked if that could have played a role for Triple Eight, Brown replied: "I don't know. These new tyres, to be honest, you're just out there winning a lottery really.
"Obviously Chaz was consistent over stints, but you look at other cars and some were really good in some stints, terrible in the others. It’s a hard one to work out right now, but we'll try and dig deep overnight and try and work it out.
"I don't know what happened on Broc's car. They were a little bit slower than us, dropped back to ninth. I have no idea, to be honest."
The final day of the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 begins with Boost Mobile Qualifying at 11:20am local time/12:20pm AEDT.
