Unstoppable Feeney seals ‘special’ Darwin clean sweep
Jacob Shteyman |
Broc Feeney’s Supercars dominance reached new heights as he sealed a historic Darwin Triple Crown clean sweep and a fifth straight race win at a canter.
The championship leader could not have hoped for a better weekend.
Feeney pulled off a commanding drive from pole position to the chequered flag in the final race of the round on Sunday, after claiming both poles and races on Saturday.
Sunday’s 200km sprint was his easiest win of the treble, crossing the finish line a full eight seconds ahead of runner-up Kai Allen to extend his lead on the standings to a yawning 183 points.
In doing so, Feeney became the first driver to win all three races to claim the Triple Crown.
The prize was previously only awarded to a driver who managed the rare feat of winning all the races in the round, but a format change meant it would have gone to the driver who claimed the most points, even if they didn’t manage a clean sweep.
“I’m so proud. Obviously Bathurst and the championship are the main ones, but I think just how difficult this one is to win – it was right at the top of my list,” Feeney said.
With nine wins from 19 races, the 22-year-old is unstoppable at the moment. Even Craig Lowndes’ record eight-race winning streak could be under threat if his form holds.
Changing his car’s set-up closer to the previous year’s worked wonders after a slow start to the weekend in Friday practice, Feeney said.
“And it’s just been a rocket ever since,” he said.
“Not all the time when you have a super-fast car does everything go to plan, and we’ve able to do that this weekend. It’s super special.”
His Triple Eight teammate Will Brown had a disappointing weekend, failing to qualify in the top 10 for all three races.
Triple Eight co-owner Steve Blackmore said the team would examine what was causing his No.1 Camaro to struggle through qualifying.
“But he had a super fast race car. I’d be surprised if there was anyone on the track who actually made more overtakes over the weekend than Will,” Blackmore said.
Brown recovered from 11th to finish fifth on Sunday.
The reigning champion remains second in the standings, 14 points ahead of Grove Racing’s Matt Payne, who finished third.
After holding off Erebus driver Jack Le Brocq at the starting line, Feeney went about opening up a gap on the rest of the grid.
He emerged behind Payne after pitting last on lap 30, but with fresher tyres immediately sped past the Grove Racing man back to the effective lead.
Payne and his teenage teammate Allen battled it out for second spot, with the rookie making the most of his fresher tyres to overtake Payne in the closing laps.
Allen enjoyed the best weekend of his young Supercars career, securing his second podium to improve on a maiden third-place finish on Saturday.
Le Brocq’s fourth-place finish was his equal best of the season.
Erebus has struggled since the departure of Brodie Kostecki to Dick Johnson Racing, but jumped off the bottom of the team standings with the result.
Despite qualifying ninth, championship contender Chaz Mostert was forced to start from pit lane in 24th position after stalling on the starting grid with clutch issues. He eventually recovered to finish 12th.
Another big name to suffer calamity on Sunday was Cam Waters, who lost a tyre with three laps to go and limped home on three legs in last place.
Jaxon Evans was ruled out of Sunday’s action after his Brad Jones Racing Camaro suffered heavy damage in a crash on the first lap of Saturday’s opening race.
RACE 19 RESULTS:
1. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Race Engineering)
2. Kai Allen (Grove Racing)
3. Matt Payne (Grove Racing)
4. Jack Le Brocq (Erebus Motorsport)
5. Will Brown (Triple Eight)
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight)
2. Will Brown (Triple Eight)
3. Matt Payne (Grove)
4. Cam Waters (Tickford)
5. Chaz Mostert (WAU)
AAP
