With Triple Eight Race Engineering’s other result this season being a one-three, indications are that the Banyo squad’s drivers will be racing each other on a regular basis in 2024.
Brown was heard during Race 3 at the MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint discussing with engineer Andrew Edwards how he might engage Feeney in battle suggesting they may not be entirely free to race, or are at least wary slowing each other down if they do race.
Asked by Speedcafe what the actual policy is, he turned to Feeney and joked, “Have we got a policy? Are there written-down dot points or something? I’m not sure.
“But, nah, I’m new to the team [and] they’ve done a fantastic job over the last – would have been – 15 years of having two fast drivers, two fast cars, so they’ve got to manage this and sometimes you’re the winner, sometimes you’re the loser.
“I think Broc was really fast then and, at the end of the day, he wants to conserve to make sure that he’s fast at the end.
“He did a fantastic job of that – I would have done the exact same in his position – so that was great.
“But, the race car driver in me wants to have a crack, obviously and have a race, but no, it was good.
“It’s awesome that Triple Eight got the one-two; I’m not disappointed in any way at all, I’m quite happy with the outcome, but it’s one of those things.”
It comes after Feeney asked if he could pass Brown during Race 2 at Bathurst, having dropped behind Car #87 after the incident with James Golding which resulted in a five-second penalty.
He was told “no team orders,” but continued to tail Brown until the pit stop cycle began.
“Obviously Bathurst was a little different because, once I found out I had the penalty, there was no reason for me to hold up Will in that scenario,” Feeney explained.
“But, it’s a great thing to have this as a talking point; obviously me and Shane [van Gisbergen] went through it last year, with racing a lot.
“Look, the big thing is being clear and open about it.
“We were talking quite a lot on the radio throughout the race just to see what was happening but I could see Will was pretty fast.
“Every time he’d try and get to my rear bar, I’d try and do a good lap time and try and break that, and just show that I did have some good speed there.
“Look, the team’s doing a great job, I’m sure we’re going to have plenty of times where Will’s on the other side of the fence, I’m on the other side of the fence.
“But, at the end of the day, we are racing, but we’ve got to make sure we’re ahead of everyone else before we go into a full battle.”
Triple Eight has, over the years, demonstrated a willingness to let its drivers race, although there was a flare-up at Townsville last year when van Gisbergen was told to step aside and let Feeney back through in the closing stages.
On that occasion, Team Manager Mark Dutton admitted to a “breakdown in communication” over how the two pursued Andre Heimgartner for a podium finish.
Brown and Feeney will start second and third respectively this afternoon in Race 4 at Albert Park.
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