The Triple Eight Ford star finished second, just three seconds from winner Ryan Wood, despite losing time with a pit lane delay and a mistake on an outlap.
Although “gutted” with his error that briefly allowed teammate Will Brown through, the slip-ups didn’t take away from Feeney’s pleasure at being back on the pace.
“We just had a couple of things not go our way, which probably took us out of the fight for the win there,” he reflected.
“That first pit stop, one of the Penrite cars came in, and we lost a few seconds waiting for them and then I ran off coming out of the pits after that last stop.
“But to be honest, I’m just stoked to have a fast race car.”
Feeney made a flying start to Triple Eight’s new Ford era with two wins from three starts at the Sydney season opener.
He took another win at Albert Park but largely struggled in Melbourne with an unstable Mustang and ended the weekend embroiled in a major collision.
Friday’s two practice sessions at Taupo indicated to Feeney that he’d be in for another challenging weekend.
“We were really scratching our heads, me and [engineer] Marty [Short] and the whole team, we really struggled a lot, especially compared to Will,” he said of practice.
“So to come out and get a second and third in qualifying was awesome.
“But then really struggled in that first race with tyre life and all that, so to be hunting everyone down a bit [in the second race], and especially the last stint was awesome.
“We just need to try and execute a little bit more, just a couple little slip-ups and all that, which we’ll try and fix and try and get a few more trophies in Ruapuna.”
Feeney finished fourth in the Taupo sprint race despite struggling for tyre life and losing places with an early engine hiccup.
An apparent electrical issue momentarily cut the power to the Coyote V8, giving Feeney flashbacks to last year’s heartbreaking Grand Final disaster.
“I just came out of [Turn] 11 and nothing happened. I got on the gas and the thing died,” he recounted.
“It feels like 30 seconds. It’s probably like two seconds that it cuts out for, but it’s amazing how many things go through your head in such a short period of time.
“That was a shame. It cost us three spots at that point, but I think in the in the long run, obviously, Ryan was so fast in at the back end of that first race.
“Maybe it cost us a podium, but I doubt it. We were pretty weak in that first race.
“Obviously, had some similar issues at the back end of last year, and it came back to bite me, so I was glad to get through that race unscathed.”
Feeney ended the weekend second in the Jason Richards Trophy standings to Wood and second in the championship race behind sprint race winner Brodie Kostecki.
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