Feeney, 22, formed part of a last-minute Audi Bathurst 12 Hour entry alongside Swiss Ricardo Feller and fast Bronze driver Liam Talbot.

The ageing R8 LMS proved one of the quickest cars throughout the weekend, with Feller’s qualifying performance giving Feeney a front-row 12 Hour start for the third successive year.

Feller was at the wheel and running in eighth place during the seventh hour, just a dozen seconds from the lead, when a failure put the car into the gravel at The Chase.

The Safety Car was called to recover the stricken Audi as Feeney and the Melbourne Performance Centre team watched on.

It’s the latest in a series of Bathurst disappointments for Feeney, most notably including a gear lever tower failure that dashed his hopes in the 2023 Great Race.

“This place keeps disappointing me, so I hope it’s not too far until we have a good one,” said the Triple Eight Supercars driver.

“I’m not really sure what happened yet, so hopefully we can get the car back and have a look.

“We were really fast earlier in the day. We were one of the only cars that could actually pass the Ferraris and Mercedes and all that.

“I thought if we were up there at the end we could fight for it today, but as always, Bathurst seems to have something up its sleeve for me.”

Feeney will next weekend contest the New Zealand Grand Prix at Highlands Motorsport Park before returning to Australia to focus on his Supercars Championship campaign.