Triple Eight delivers early verdict on damaged Feeney Ford
Broc Feeney's Mustang was one of three cars heavily damaged on Sunday
Triple Eight confident Feeney won't be shifted into spare chassis for NZ
Feeney spun in front of field, hit by Cooper Murray and Zach Bates
Triple Eight Race Engineering is confident Broc Feeney won't be shifted into a spare chassis for the upcoming ITM NZ Doubleheader, following a big crash in Melbourne.
The #88 Red Bull Ampol Ford was wiped out in a major incident at the start of Race 7, with the Camaros of Erebus Motorsport's Cooper Murray and Matt Stone Racing's Zach Bates also out on the spot.
Seconds after lights went out, a clash between Macauley Jones and Kai Allen saw the latter overcorrect and hit Feeney, who spun in front of the field.
Unsighted through Feeney's tyre smoke, Murray and Bates careened into the Red Bull Ampol Mustang, which lost its right rear wheel among other damage.
The Murray and Bates cars sustained significant front end damage, and joined Feeney's car in the paddock on flatbed trucks as Brodie Kostecki raced away to victory.
Initial inspections by Triple Eight revealed to Team Manager Mark Dutton that the #88 may only require clip replacements and repairs.
"Clearly not the Sunday we wanted for car 88 with Broc," Dutton told Supercars.com.
"We've had a quick look at the car and it looks like it's fairly superficial. These cars are made modular, so there's three sections: there's a centre section, the safety cell, then there's a front and a rear clip.
"So, most of the damage looks to be in the rear clip, which should be a bolt-on, bolt-off change. But we won't truly know that until we get back to the shop and tear it apart."
However, Dutton conceded the team does have the option to revert Feeney to a spare chassis before cars are freighted to New Zealand late next week.
It was a bitter blow for the team, which built four new Mustangs ahead of the new season. It also consigned Feeney to a first DNF since the 2022 Gold Coast 500 finale.
"We've only got about five days to prep for New Zealand," Dutton added.
"Fortunately the guys and girls have worked super hard. We do have a spare car, so we prefer not to go the spare car option, but if we need to, it's there."
The 2026 Repco Supercars Championship resumes across the Tasman, with the ITM NZ Doubleheader kicking off in Taupō on April 10-12. Tickets are on sale now.
