Supercars
Down but not out: Feeney on his two big chances for the championship fight!
Broc Feeney talks about his last six races, the points race underway, GT racing in Japan, and endurance racing with Australian racing legend Jamie Whincup.
G’day, everyone.
Since last time I sat down for the diary I’ve done six races in seven weeks, which has been pretty crazy! When you compare it to some other sports maybe it’s not so much, but for me there was a lot going on.
We went from Townsville to Sydney to the Bend for the Supercars, and between all that I had two back-to-back races in Japan and then another at Queensland Raceway for some GT racing.
I didn't know what to expect, but after doing it, now when I have a day off I’m like, ‘What am I doing?’. It’s really weird. Obviously I’m itching to go again!
It was an eye-opener for me, and I think I’ve realised that I can probably do more in the future. But at the same time my results haven’t been the best, so I need to re-evaluate and obviously see what's best for my biggest focus, which is Supercars.
Broc Feeney (Red Bull Ampol Racing) pits during stop 8
© Mark Horsburgh / Red Bull Content Pool
Townsville was probably our best one from the last few for us, where we won the round again with a second and a fourth, but then in the last two rounds we’ve struggled a little bit more, which is a little bit frustrating.
We're lacking a little bit at the moment. The car’s got such a small window, and it's so easy to make a mistake. And then qualifying is so close — sometimes there's been 0.1 seconds between seven spots or something ridiculous, so if you make even a little mistake, it's so easy to be right at the back.
But Brodie (Kostecki)’s doing a great job, and we’ve been very up and down. Everyone's evolving so much, and I need to evolve, and I think as a team we need to continue to evolve to just be better.
Broc Feeney (Red Bull Ampol Racing) is seen during stop 8
© Mark Horsburgh / Red Bull Content Pool
So things haven't been going all our way, and we're back to 200 points behind. We've been in this position before — at Perth we were we were over 200 behind and we got down to 20. Obviously it sucks to go back to 200 behind, but we've got the best opportunity in front of us with the season’s two biggest races.
There’s still so much opportunity for the championship, and a lot’s going on to make sure we're quick for Sandown.
It’ll be my first 500, so obviously I’m pretty excited, but it’s a weird one for me — I've only done sprint races at Sandown in the past.
It’ll be the first endurance race of the season but the first one in these Gen3 cars too. It’s going to be very interesting, I think, seeing the co-drivers getting up to speed with these new cars and understanding how they work, how they don't work and all that sort of stuff.
I’m pretty thankful to have the co-driver that I've got in Jamie (Whincup). He’s won Sandown and Bathurst many times (ed: nine times at Sandown and four at Bathurst, so just a few), and we’re working really hard together at the moment.
Broc Feeney (Red Bull Ampol Racing) races during stop 8
© Mark Horsburgh / Red Bull Content Pool
I'm obviously a lot more familiar with the car than he is and maybe I understand it a bit more, so for sure I may be able to give him a couple of things that I’ve found or that I’ve been working on when he jumps in.
But he jumps in the thing and he's still fast. I’m definitely still learning off him. His best quality for me is he can just jump in a car and point out 10 things and ask heaps of questions straightaway.
Obviously as the main driver you want to keep everything as good as you can for yourself, but you need your co-driver to be comfortable, and it's been pretty cool to work with him through that.
It’ll be two months now that we'll be working together, so there's a lot to go through in this amount of time. We’ve got a training camp this week down on the Gold Coast, which has been pretty cool, just to do some training and hang out together for a bit of extra team bonding to make sure that we're ready.
Broc Feeney (Red Bull Ampol Racing) performs during stop 8
© Mark Horsburgh / Red Bull Content Pool
The team’s had good success in Sandown in the past, but that doesn't mean it's going to be the same in the Gen3 car. But we always seem to go well in endurance races, and I know I've got the best co-driver.
Obviously I want to be in the championship hunt, and I know the next two rounds are going to be super-crucial for that.
We’ve got to be smart. It's not do or die yet; we're not in that position. But at the same time my mentality is going to Sandown to try and win the race — the easiest way to get back those points is to win these races — and we'll take some calculated risks on how we’re going to do that. If we can stay out of trouble at Sandown and Bathurst and get two good results, we’ll be in a really good spot.
It's going to be fun. Catch you on the other side of Bathurst.
Cheers,
Broc