Renewing Taupo rivalry
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 9 April 2025
One of the first Taupo Supercars highlights was the Triple Eight teammate tussle for Sunday victory between Broc Feeney and Will Brown and they are looking forward to reigniting that battle again.
In what became one of the key moments on the timeline of last year’s title fight, Brown hunted down Feeney in a tense arm wrestle for the win.
With their nearest rival 14s back, all eyes were on the Triple Eight Camaros as the #88 chequered flag approached.
Brown was as far as 4s adrift of Feeney, but flew in the final stint and took just five laps to set up a thrilling bumper to bumper battle.
Neither Red Bull took a backward step and Brown was not able to get the job done until his fourth attempt.
Brown ended up emerging victorious by 3s in a statement win that put him on track for the title.
Feeney has had plenty of time to reflect on that battle and vows to comeback hard, having shown strong speed at Albert Park.
“We have debriefed and looked at it at the time and probably just needed to be a bit better at looking after the tyres,” Feeney reflected on last year’s Taupo defeat.
“At the end of the day Will was really strong at the long runs.
“It was the same thing as the Grand Prix, we qualified really well on the front row and got a good start to pull a big gap, but Will was just faster over a long run and passed us.
“We have already been talking about set ups for New Zealand and have learnt a lot since then, especially about what works for me a bit more.
“The hard times last year probably taught us a bit about how I can be better at working with that type of car versus others.
“I really think we have found something that works for me at the end of last year and that has been working really well so far.”
Meanwhile, Brown heads across the ditch on a high having regained the championship lead for the first time with the #1 on the door after winning the Larry Perkins Trophy.
Just like last year consistency has been the key having never finished outside the top five so far, but with just one win he wants more and would love to carry on his Taupo success.
“We spoke about it after Sydney wanting to bounce back and we were worried how about how fast Cam was in the first round,” Brown said.
“The team worked really hard and did a fantastic job to give us two great cars and even our customer cars were fast.
“I cannot wait to get to New Zealand, it is always an amazing place because the fans make it so great.
“We had good success last year and hopefully we can replicate that and keep up the momentum.
“I have been good at getting seconds and thirds, but want to get more wins and poles, but at the end of the day you still want to win this Sprint Cup so you have a few extra points going into finals.”
New Zealand will be the first sighting of the new Super440 format that will dominate the remainder of the Sprint Cup.
Five of the remaining six Sprint Cup rounds will utilise the three-race format structure where back to back 120km sprints will be staged on Saturday before a longer 200km affair on Sunday.
It will also be the first time both Soft and Super Soft tyres will be on show in the same weekend.
So far only the Soft has been used, so the addition of the Super Soft in Saturday evening’s Race 9 will be a further variable on a busy track with countless surface changes.
And of course all drivers will be chasing the prestigious Jason Richards Memorial Trophy currently held by Anton De Pasquale, who was the first to do so without winning a race.
Image: Peter Norton Epic Sports Photography
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