Feeney takes tight Tassie pole

Broc Feeney flew to the top in a tight, intense and dramatic qualifying for the Tasmania SuperSprint opener, but it was not all smiles in the Triple Eight garage.

The three-part qualifying session was close all the way in the dry, but Feeney ended up being the only driver in the 50s window to take a fourth pole of 2024 and first ever at Symmons Plains.

His 50.9884 was just 0.0820s clear of Cameron Waters as Brodie Kostecki was also within a tenth, whilst Nick Percat showed pace in fourth.

But the big news was in Q2 where championship leader Will Brown was just one of a host of big names knocked out.

Brown will start 15th after the second segment was red flagged with just 38s left due to a spinning Thomas Randle.

With a mixed up grid and the potential of more wet weather, a fascinating Race 17 is in prospect.

Qualifying 1

After a soaked practice, most of the water was gone by the time qualifying had begun with the sun out.

Only five of the 24 cars rolled out straight away with Stanaway the first to turn a lap in anger with a 54.5585. In the early laps he was well ahead before Golding was the first in the 51s window.

PremiAir teammate Slade had a scary moment at Turn 1, catching a puddle of water and skating off.

The fight to get into the top 20 might have gotten off to a slow start, but it burst to life in the final five minutes as the rest of the field had a crack on the ever-drying track with timing paramount.

Golding’s 51.9222s benchmark lasted until the final two minutes when Hill and then Fullwood led a host of improvers as the #31 was suddenly out of the top 10 and sliding down.

The times kept tumbling with Feeney, Percat and then Slade going to the top, leaving the likes of Davison and Payne in the drop zone.

An honest Davison could not improve as he “just made a mess of it” and locked up regularly, while the Kiwi did but only went from 24th to 21st.

The two Ford stars were also joined by Le Brocq, who found himself in 22nd. One driver who was able to survive was Reynolds as he went from 20th to seventh.

Qualifying 2

The tension was much higher in Q2 as only half of the 20 competitors would survive for the final fight for pole.

Unlike Q1, every car rolled out as soon as the 10 minute segment went green albeit on used tyres.

On the first cracks Reynolds resumed his time at the top with a 51.3991, just a tenth clear of the Triple Eight Camaros, while Mostert’s first lap was not good enough to be in the 10.

Fullwood showed pace in the first sector and slotted his #14 BJR Camaro up to second, just 0.0198s away.

Love was running out of sync, so when he tried to leave the lane he found himself getting in the way of Golding.

On fresh tyres Reynolds’ benchmark was beaten instantly with Feeney being the fastest with a 50.9449 with Slade joining him in the 50s window.

But critically not everyone could complete their lap before the reds were waved for Thomas Randle.

The Tickford driver carried too much speed coming out of the final corner and found himself in the wet grass and out of control.

As a result the #55 Mustang spun across the track and through the gravel before clipping the inside wall.

Although Randle was able to eventually recover, the red flag was waved and with just 38s left, the session was cut short.

It meant a lot of frustrated drivers missed out on progressing to Q3 with no chance to do a final lap.

Two of those drivers were Heimgartner and Winterbottom, who were seen exchanging words in the Team 18 garage.

The others knocked out were Reynolds, Fullwood, Love (who got a PB qualifying) Brown, Randle, Stanaway, Courtney, Evans and Heimgartner.

Qualifying 3

The fight for pole was on instantly with Percat just eclipsing Mostert and Waters with just 0.07s the difference between the trio.

The MSR driver then found a further tenth to lower the benchmark to 51.1426s.

However, his lead was actually trimmed as Feeney also improved to come within 0.0385s.

Once again in the final runs it was Percat leading the way with a purple first sector and repeated the feat in the final two splits to record a 51.1239.

However, it did not last long as both Feeney and Kostecki went even faster.

Just 0.08s covered the Camaro stars with the Triple Eight driver emerging on top by 0.0873s.

Percat looked fast on his final lap with a purple second sector but could not complete the job and was only fourth.

Waters was also session best in his last attempt and snuck between Feeney and Kostecki.

Mostert completed the top five ahead of Hill, Wood and De Pasquale as the PremiAir used used tyres.

The results are provisional with Golding off to the stewards.

Image: DMAC Photography

Tasmania SuperSprint Supercars Race 17 qualifying results

Tasmania SuperSprint schedule

Practice 1: 1: D. Reynolds 51.1376 2: J. Golding +0.1061 3: J. Le Brocq +0.1628

Practice 2: Sat 11.05-11.25

Qualifying: Sat 13.00-13.40

Race 17: Sat 16.10 (55 laps)

Practice 3: Sun 10.20-10.40

Qualifying: Sun 12.40-13.30

Race 18: Sun 15.05 (55 laps)

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