Feeney sends Bathurst statement
Broc Feeney saved his best for last and became the first driver to fly into the “fours” setting at hot pace in Practice 3 for the Bathurst 1000.
Although just 0.0919s covered the top four, Feeney was well clear of the rest, being the only driver all weekend to record a 2m04s time.
Having started the lap with just a second to spare and determined to rebound from an earlier scare at McPhillamy, Feeney was on it, stopping the clock at 2:04.9763.
It pushed Ryan Wood down to second by a meagre 0.0341s, while Will Brown and Cameron Waters were all less than a tenth away.
The likes of Team 18 and Erebus also displayed some timely speed in a clean session.
With sunny skies on hand, many teams elected to start the session with their co-drivers, but some main-game stars still put on a show.
In a massive boost for Team 18, De Pasquale in his first lap in the rebuilt #18 Camaro went straight to the top of the timesheets.
But this sparked an arm wrestle with Whincup, who reclaimed the lead with teammate Pye just 0.0006s behind.
De Pasquale responded by finding a further half a second to be the first into the “fives” before a new player made the defining impact.
Hill went a further 0.3587s faster as his 2:05.3972 proved to be the defining lap of the opening runs.
Fresh from his exciting Shootout lap, Jobe Stewart impressed again by getting the #99 into the top three before the likes of Waters and Golding displaced him.
It was a clean start to the session with only Tim Slade bowling a wide at Murray’s in the #10 MSR Camaro.
Bates was one of the first on fresh green tyres around the 20 minute mark, and the rookie shot straight into the top four, which also featured rookie Aaron Cameron.
The Tickford cars did the same and both Waters and Randle set purple sectors to be the first to knock off Hill.
Randle won the battle by a meagre 0.0898s, posting a 2:05.1736 despite a moment at The Chase.
Stewart slotted in behind the teammates, pushing the #99 back into the top three with a purple first sector.
Another 20 minutes later, the Tickford teammates were back fighting for the lead with a new contender.
This time, Reynolds split the teammates, but Waters found the most speed of the weekend.
The Monster Mustang star lowered the benchmark to a 2:05.0682, edging Reynolds by 0.036s.
Murray soon consolidated Erebus’ speed, ensuring just 0.0915s covered the top four heading into the final 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, Brown speared off at Chase and Triple Eight teammate Lowndes followed his wheel tracks.
The biggest scare of the session occurred in the Brad Jones Racing garage after Macauley Jones went slightly wide at Griffin’s Bend and found the concrete.
Determined to reclaim honours of the fastest driver of the weekend, Wood snuck 0.0578s clear of Waters as the field threatened to fly into the “fours.”
He was the first of a lot of drivers to run fresh tyres at the death.
Leading the charge was Feeney, who was showing strong speed, but could only manage 11th after a wild slide at Skyline.
Brown was able to complete his late and went up 19 spots to second, falling just 0.0443s short of Wood’s benchmark.
However, it was a case of second time lucky for Feeney as he nailed his final lap to bring the weekend into a new threshold.
Supercars return for the final practice session before qualifying at 13.05 AEDT.
Bathurst 1000 Practice 3 results
1: B.Feeney/J.Whincup 2:04.9763
2: R.Wood/J.Ojeda +0.0341
3: W.Brown/S.Pye +0.0784
4: C.Waters/M.Winterbottom +0.0919
5: D.Reynolds/L.Holdsworth +0.1279
6: C.Murray/J.Stewart +0.1447
7: T.Randle/J.Moffat +0.1834
8: A.De Pasquale/H.Jones +0.2277
9: K.Allen/D.Wood +0.3242
10: A.Heimgartner/D.Fraser +0.3606
11: W.Davison/T.D’Alberto +0.3755
12: C.Hill/C.McLeod +0.4209
13: A.Cameron/Z.Best +0.4307
14: J.Le Brocq/J.Hughes +0.5692
15: James Golding +0.6322
16: J.Courtney/J.Perkins +0.6478
17: C.Lowndes/Z.Bates +0.6738
18: M.Jones/J.Boys +0.7023
19: C.Mostert/F.Coulthard +0.7831
20: R.Gray/L.Dalton +0.9335
21: Richie Stanaway +0.9478
22: B.Fullwood/B.Vaughan +1.0612
23: J.Evans/J.Smith +1.2442
24: B.Kostecki/T.Hazelwood +1.3470
25: M.Payne/G.Tander +1.4211
26: C.Crick/A.Seton +1.4443
27: N.Percat/T.Slade +1.6698
2025 Bathurst 1000 schedule
Thursday, October 9
PRACTICE 1 1: R. Wood/J. Ojeda 2:05.1029 2: A. De Pasquale/H. Jones +0.4236 3: K. Allen/D. Wood +0.8132
PRACTICE 2 1: Scott Pye/W. Brown 2:06.8395 2: David Russell/J. Golding +0.1461 3: Tony D’Alberto/W. Davison +0.6345
Friday, October 10
PRACTICE 3 10:05 AM – 11:05 AM
PRACTICE 4 1:05 PM – 2:05 PM
QUALIFYING 4:10 PM – 4:50 PM
Saturday, October 11
PRACTICE 5 (co-drivers only) 10:05 AM – 11:05 AM
PRACTICE 6 1:10 PM – 2:10 PM
TOP TEN SHOOTOUT 5:05 PM – 5:50 PM
Bathurst Day, October 12
WARM UP 8:30 AM – 8:50 AM
THE GREAT RACE 11:45 AM (161 laps)
Read the new issue of Auto Action Digital HERE
Buy the new issue of Auto Action Premium HERE
Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here or you can purchase a copy of the latest issue from one of our outlets here.
