The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver is still second in the Supercars Championship standings but his deficit to team-mate Will Brown blew out from 17 points to 136 over the course of the past two events.

Feeney admitted he could not afford another bad weekend at the Betr Darwin Triple Crown if he is to protect his title hopes, and the Gold Coaster has made a promising start in the Top End.

After managing only 11th in Practice 1, he beat Brown to fourth position in Qualifying for Race 11, by a margin of 0.0052s, and will thus be fourth-last onto the race track in tomorrow’s Top 10 Shootout.

“I felt like we made a heap of changes to the car in practice which helped us get a pretty good read on both cars,” said Feeney.

“The track changed a lot more than what we thought – it was probably five-or-so-tenths quicker in qualifying than what it was in practice – but our first lap was good so I knew we were in a good position and we did a decent second lap.

“I’m pretty happy with P4 and I feel comfortable with the car again and I feel like I know what I got in that qualifying session.

“I think we’re in a pretty good position for the shootout tomorrow.”

Brown, who had topped opening practice, said, “It was great to get through to the Top 10 Shootout, which was our main goal, but I don’t think I executed my laps as good as I could have and I feel like I made a few small mistakes on that last lap.

“P5 certainly isn’t a bad rollout position so we definitely have a good shot for tomorrow’s shootout and race.

“Overall, I’m feeling pretty good, it was obviously a short qualifying session and we weren’t in the car very long, but it’s definitely going to be hot this weekend – I’ll have to make sure we’re hydrated well with plenty of Red Bull.”

Meanwhile, debutant Cooper Murray earned 23rd on the starting grid in Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Supercheap Auto wildcard entry.

“The first session was really good to get out there and familiarise myself with everything,” said the #888 Camaro pilot.

“The session didn’t run as smooth as we would have liked because we had some brake and radio dramas that were unexpected and hindered our plans a little bit, but it was great to get that session over and done with before qualifying.

“It was quite a big hit-out, that qualifying session – I think only having one practice session under my belt was a bit difficult for me being the first time here in Darwin in these cars, but we managed to come away with an okay position.

“It wasn’t where we’d like to be because I made a mistake on my lap which cost us a fair few grid positions so at least we know we can be further up the grid.

“I’m loving the experience so far, every second of it.”

Practice 2 starts at 09:35 local time/10:05 AEST.