Feeney clinches Super2 title as Boys wins bruising Bathurst race

Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Broc Feeney has won the Dunlop Super2 Series by finishing second to Image Racing’s Jordan Boys in Race 2 at Mount Panorama.

Feeney started the final race of the season needing just to finish to ensure the title was his, but that was before his only remaining rival for the big trophy, namely Jayden Ojeda, dropped out of the contest on Lap 1.

Ojeda clashed with MW Motorsport team-mate Tyler Everingham on the run to the first corner and would park his #31 Nissan Altima at the top of the mountain.

While no further action would be taken by officials, the incident left the Sydneysider with no chance of overhauling Feeney.

It also led to the first of three Safety Car periods, the last of which coincided with the chequered flag after just 12 laps of a scheduled 16.

As such, Boys took victory in the #49 VF Commodore, from Feeney in the VF Commodore wearing the iconic #888.

Matt Stone Racing’s Aaron Seton (#30 VF Commodore) was third, from Tickford Racing’s Zak Best (#78 FGX Falcon), and Grove Racing’s Matt Payne (#10 Nissan Altima).

After a heavily disrupted qualifying session, the starting grid reverted to combined practice times, putting Boys on pole, Ojeda to his outside on the front row, and Feeney in fifth.

Boys led the field away while, just behind, Ojeda was unloaded off to drivers’ right when he crept across and was tagged by Everingham.

The latter stopped in the Hell Corner gravel trap with broken steering while Ojeda pressed on, but only as far as McPhillamy Park, where he relented with a destroyed right-rear tyre.

Everingham’s stranded #27 Nissan Altima triggered a Safety Car, at which time the order was Boys, Seton, Feeney, Best, and Matt McLean (#54 Eggleston Motorsport VF Commodore).

The race restarted on Lap 3, and Boys put 1.2s between himself and Seton over the next 6.213km.

His advantage was almost two seconds when Feeney went up the inside of Seton and into second position at Griffins Bend on Lap 4, before the series leader started to chip away at Boys’ margin.

Around 0.7s separated first and second positions when a Safety Car was called on Lap 8, due to Boys’ Image team-mate Jaylyn Robotham (#999 VF Commodore) becoming beached at Murray’s Corner.

The neutralisation was a reprieve for Seton, who remained third but under pressure from Best, while Payne had not long slithered down the inside of McLean at Murray’s Corner to take up fifth position.

When another restart came on Lap 10, Boys got loose on stray gravel left by the Everingham recovery at the exit of Hell Corner and Feeney got a run on him up Mountain Straight.

However, the Image driver managed to stave off #888 when they arrived at Griffins Bend, before the race came under Safety Car conditions yet again due to a crash for Steven Page.

The Super3 driver had hit the wall through Sulman Park, causing the #2 Eggleston Motorsport VE Commodore to lose its brakes, and he only came to rest after running into the tyre barriers in the McPhillamy Park gravel trap.

The field followed the Safety Car around all the way until the chequered flag was flown in a time-certain finish.

McLean ended up sixth, from Matt Chahda (#18 Matt Chahda Motorsport FGX Falcon), Tim Blanchard (#88 Eggleston Motorsport VF Commodore), Zane Morse (#11 Brema Group Racing VF Commodore), and Josh Fife (#38 Eggleston Motorsport VF Commodore).

Reef McCarthy bounced back from an engine-related DNF in Race 1 to take the #61 Image FG Falcon to the Super3 class win in 12th outright, while Nash Morris (#67 Flash Bush Motorsport FG Falcon), who sealed that title a day earlier, was two positions back.

Results: Race 2

Series points: Super2

Series points: Super3