Feeney snags double Darwin pole as teammate struggles
Championship leader Broc Feeney's dominance of Hidden Valley Raceway has continued, claiming pole position for the first two Supercars races of the weekend.
The 22-year-old will lead the grid for both 120km races in Darwin on Saturday.
But the biggest implication for the make-up of the leaderboard is the absence of Feeney's Triple Eight teammate Will Brown from the top 10 in both races.
The reigning champion finished with the 14th fastest time in opening qualifying after botching the turn-six hairpin, but Brown couldn't identify what was causing his lack of pace on super soft tyres in the second session.
"That lap I didn't really make any mistakes anywhere. I just sort of lost time throughout the lap," he told Fox Sports after securing 17th position.
"It's just a bit of a difficult one when it's like that, it's better when you can really put your finger on exactly what it is and then there's not too much debriefing. But a session like that is a little bit hard."
If anyone can recover from deep in the field to win it's Brown, but Feeney will be hard to catch at Hidden Valley as he looks to extend his 72-point championship lead over his teammate.
Feeney has dominated at the venue in recent years, winning both races there in 2024 and another the year before.
His one minute 5.984 second lap in the first session was the fastest of the weekend so far and nine-hundredths of a second faster than Cam Waters in second.
Grove Racing's Matt Payne will start race 17 in third, ahead of Ryan Wood and Brodie Kostecki.
Hometown hero Bryce Fullwood was the only other Camaro, other than Feeney, in the top 10 in opening qualifying.
After Wood expressed concerns Ford engines were underspeed in the Darwin heat, there were no parity issues for the Blue Oval in the cooler conditions on Saturday morning.
Mustangs will make up eight out of the top 10 to start Saturday's first race.
But as the temperature rose throughout the morning, the resurgent Chevrolets reasserted their dominance, claiming seven of the top 10 spots in the second race.
Times were slower with the super soft compounds underfoot in the second qualifying session, with Feeney securing the best time of one minute and 6.411.
"I'm stoked. Double pole here was awesome," he said.
"That session was probably a little bit more challenging. I feel like all year in the last part on the re-used tyre we're more competitive than the green (new) tyre on the super soft."
Anton de Pasquale was five-hundredths behind in second, with Waters coming in third.
Grove Racing rookie Kai Allen will start in the second row after snaring his best-ever qualifying result in fourth
Chaz Mostert scraped into the top 10 for the first race but his championship hopes took a blow after hobbling to 23rd place in the second session.
His struggles so far this weekend have contrasted with the fortunes of Walkinshaw Andretti United teammate Wood, who excelled in practice on Friday.
"I'll have to put my hand up on this one. Probably steered the car down the wrong path this weekend so far," Mostert said.
"Woody's been doing a fantastic job. There's a bit of data there for us. Probably both cars weren't quick enough on the supersoft."
The first 120km race in Darwin gets underway at 12.15pm (AEST) before race 18 kicks off at 3.40pm (AEST).
RACE 17 QUALIFYING RESULTS:
1. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Race Engineering)
2. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing)
3. Matt Payne (Grove Racing)
4. Ryan Wood (Walkinshaw Andretti United)
5. Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing)
RACE 18 QUALIFYING RESULTS:
1. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Race Engineering)
2. Anton De Pasquale (Team 18)
3. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing)
4. Kai Allen (Grove Racing)
5. Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing)
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