Broc Feeney has powered to a sensational pole position in the Top 10 Shootout for Race 19 of the Supercars Darwin Triple Crown, setting a blistering 1:06.068s to claim his third pole of the weekend in emphatic fashion.
The Triple Eight Race Engineering star was the ninth of ten drivers to take to the hot Hidden Valley circuit, and he left nothing on the table, going purple in both sectors 1 and 2 before crossing the line a staggering 0.245s clear of his closest challenger, Jack Le Brocq.
Le Brocq, who had earlier topped standard qualifying, looked on track to repeat the feat with a tidy lap of 1:06.313s but couldn’t match Feeney’s scorching pace in the rising heat. He’ll start second on the grid, locking out the front row with the championship leader.
Earlier in the session, Anton De Pasquale, still struggling with clutch issues, set the early benchmark with a strong 1:06.410s lap, showing class through the first two sectors before surrendering the top spot to Le Brocq and then Feeney.
He’ll start third alongside Kiwi rookie Ryan Wood, who impressed with a sharp and committed lap to go fourth fastest at 1:06.437s, just 0.027s shy of De Pasquale.
Grove Racing duo Kai Allen and Matt Payne will fill the third row. Allen looked threatening with purple sectors early in his lap but lost time at the final corner and ended up fifth.
Payne, who briefly held the top spot mid-session, ended up sixth after a tight run that saw him brush the kerbs at Turns 10 and 11.
Cameron Hill, Macauley Jones, Chaz Mostert, and Andre Heimgartner rounded out the top ten. Heimgartner, running on used tyres, was hampered from the start, while Mostert, who was first out, watched as lap after lap pushed him down the order to ninth before settling in tenth.
Less than eight-tenths separated the entire top 10 in a scorching shootout, but there was no touching Feeney, who stamped his authority on the field and continues to look unstoppable heading into Race 19, scheduled to go green at 5:10pm NZT.
“I was pretty chuffed with that one, I felt like I was actually struggling a little bit this morning, literally just got into the 10 at the end there on the last lap,” the 22-year-old said.
“We went back to yesterday’s car and it was awesome. I got through Turn 1 good and I knew the rest of the lap would be all good.
“To do a big lap like that, that’s probably one of my best so far this year, so chuffed to get it. My ninth this year, bloody awesome. Can’t thank all of these guys enough, the car looks fantastic and it’s a rocket ship, so going for the big one this arvo.”
Header Image: Red Bull Ampol Racing
