Both Triple Eight Fords caught out by lack of grip
Broc Feeney and Will Brown were classified 11th and 20th
Feeney one point clear, Brown needs a miracle on Sunday
Triple Eight arrives on Sunday facing a stunning double elimination, following a Sandown Saturday punctuated by incidents and a lack of rear grip.
Broc Feeney and Will Brown were classified 11th and 20th on a chastening day for Red Bull Ampol Racing, with both cars under serious pressure on Sunday.
Feeney is a solitary points ahead of fifth-placed Cam Waters, while Brown is staring down the barrel of elimination, sitting seventh and 88 points from the cut line.
Brown held the lead after the first round of stops, and while he appeared to be struggling, managed to hold off eventual winner Brodie Kostecki. Kostecki pounced, with Brown spinning to the rear at Turn 4 on lap 36.
Feeney, who dropped to eighth after stacking under the first Safety Car, surged back to third. Had the race stopped at lap 57, Feeney was a comfortable 62 points clear. Problem was, there were 22 laps left, and the #88 Ford was about to drop off a cliff. In 17 laps, Feeney had plummeted to 12th.
It continued a worrying trend for the team, which encountered two days of problems on the Gold Coast, headlined by Feeney's pole-to-ninth slump on the Saturday, before he won on Sunday.
"We didn't quite have the pace at the end of the last stint there,” Brown's engineer Cauchi told Supercars.com.
“We need to make the car better so that we can drive away from everyone and not get into battles."
Brown lashed his own performance, but quipped both cars were "terrible," citing Feeney's own problems. In 17 laps, a podium fight quickly turned into a fight to stay in the top 10.
It was a particularly jarring performance, given it came at a track where Triple Eight had 12 of the last 14 wins dating back to 2018.
When asked about Brown’s “terrible” remarks, Cauchi replied: “We were running out of rear tyres, which is pretty uncharacteristic of a Triple Eight car, at Sandown particularly.
“We've got a lot to understand. Broc had the same problem today. We had the problem at Gold Coast, so there’s a lot we need to work through, but that’s part of it.
“Simply, we just don’t have enough rear grip and we’re running out of tyres."
A circumspect Feeney watched on as mechanics worked on his Mustang in the hours after the race.
Finishing ahead of Waters will do the job for Feeney. Brown, though, needs a miracle, and Cauchi already has one eye on the bp Adelaide Grand Final — provided Feeney makes it, at least.
“It’s not quite win it or bin it, but we need to win tomorrow," Cauchi said.
"So we'll be going out to win the race and if we can do that, we’ll be in the Grand Final. If not we'll hopefully be supporting Broc."
Triple Eight's deficit to Penrite Racing in the teams' championship also blew out to 170 points, with points leader Matt Payne recovering to second on Saturday.
