Triple Eight determined to bounce back from ‘tough day’
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 13 April 2025
As Mustangs battled for victory, Triple Eight was forced to scrap in the minors having “struggled” at times during the Taupo Super440.
After contending for victories at both the Sydney 500 and Melbourne SuperSprint, the annual trip to New Zealand has not been as fruitful for Triple Eight teammates Broc Feeney and Will Brown having dominated the Sunday race last year.
One lap pace was not there on the Softs with neither of the Red Bulls making the top 10, but things improved on the Super Soft as they crept into the top five.
Feeney struggled in the willing opening race, being forced to settle for 15th, his worst result in 15 races after being impacted by the double stack.
But he was delighted to at least bounce back in the Super Soft race and salvage a solid haul of points with fifth.
Feeney revealed he struggled with tyre life, especially on the Soft.
“Qualifying was a bit of a mystery,” the #88 Triple Eight admitted.
We struggled a lot in that first qualifying session and missed out on the shootout. We’ve probably never changed the car so much in a qualifying session but then to salvage third in Q2 was really good. We were on a used tire as well!
“Then race one starting in the pack, we got caught up with the double stack.
We just kept hitting the cliff at the end of our stint, we didn’t have the pace the other guys had, but then we’d hit a wall and the last five laps felt like it was raining.
“That second race it would have been awesome to salvage something there. I was running second for the last few laps which was great, but once again that wall came to us and whenever
“I’d get in a battle with the other guys, I speared off the track, just trying to hang on.”
Brown had a more consistent day finishing seventh and third, which was critical as he still emerged at the end of the day in the championship lead after a back and forth with Cameron Waters.
But he is also a bit concerned about how quickly the “wall” arrived.
“We struggled in qualifying and we were lucky to get through to the top ten on the SuperSoft,” he said.
“That first race we we’re able to drive through the field and get back a couple to fifth which I was pretty stoked about and yeah, I thought we might be able to do similar in the afternoon’s race, but just didn’t have the pace we wanted.
“The tire life I don’t know what happened in the first stint but it was like we just, you know, had blistered tires, but you know, they weren’t. But yeah, it just went backwards at a rate of knots and then we pitted real early, put another set on, were able to hang on until the end and bank some points in seventh place.
“Just a bit of a struggle.”
Sunday was where Triple Eight came to the fore at Taupo last year, but a repeat result is not looking as likely, but you can never discount them.
Taupo Super440
Practice 1 – 1: A. Heimgartner 1:26.8830 2: Anton De Pasquale +0.0258 3: Matt Payne +0.0830
Practice 2 – 1: Ryan Wood 1:25.9778; 2: Brodie Kostecki +0.0435; 3: Thomas Randle +0.0838
Race 8 Qualifying – 1 Matt Payne 1:25.7006; 2 Brodie Kostecki +0.0705; 3 Cameron Waters +0.1646
Race 9 Qualifying: 1 Brodie Kostecki 1:26.3482; 2 Chaz Mostert +0.0712; 3 Broc Feeney +0.1939
Race 8 (37 laps) 1 Matt Payne 2 Cameron Waters 3 Ryan Wood
Race 9 (37 laps) 1 Chaz Mostert WAU 37 56.14; 2 Will Davison DJR 37 +6.4763; 3 Brodie Kostecki DJR 37 +9.1911
Sun 8.35-9.05: Supercars Race 10 Qualifying
Sun 10.50-11.35: Supercars Race 10 Top 10 Shootout
Sun 13.05: Supercars Race 10 (61 laps)
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