Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Broc Feeney is undaunted by the prospect of tackling the streets of Surfers Paradise in a Supercar for the first time this weekend.
The Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 is, by some way of argument, the 20-year-old’s first conventional street circuit event at Repco Supercars Championship level, although he has raced already this year at Albert Park, Townsville, and Mount Panorama.
He is also not new to racing on the glitter strip, having done so in an Aussie Racing Car in 2018 and a MARC Car as part of the Australian GT Championship field in 2019, but his temporary circuit experience beyond the aforementioned venues in Super2 and Super3 extends only to a round at Adelaide in 2020 which he admits was “not that good” a performance.
However, now in the hotseat of Car #88 and Supercars’ top flight, Feeney is treating the Gold Coast event like most of the others this year.
“We haven’t raced here since 2019, so I did drive here the last time we raced, but certainly not in a Supercar and don’t have years of experience,” he noted.
“But, I’m just I’m looking forward to it.
Secure your spot today.
“I mean, the track looks pretty crazy, and that’s what I remember about it.
“But in a Supercar, 250km races is going to be hard work, but you just go through your normal procedure.
“Every weekend, I treat it like it’s a new track and still do all my notes and everything.
“[I am] just looking forward to getting out on track on Friday, and I suppose a three-day meeting gives you a bit more time to think about it as well.”
Feeney will start the weekend sixth in the drivers’ championship, 106 points behind the Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Will Davison and 332 up on Penrite Racing’s David Reynolds.
“I think Bathurst was a good example of where we’re at,” said the rookie, who combined with Jamie Whincup to finish fifth, last time out in the Great Race.
“Shane [van Gisbergen, team-mate], Cam[eron Waters], and Chaz [Mostert] are up front and we’re just that little bit behind, around that top five, so we’re getting there.
“I’m happy; P6 in the championship, not far from P5.
“This weekend, you just tick through the boxes, just keep doing what we’re doing.
“It’s no ‘come here and try and be the hero and clean-sweep the weekend’ sort of thing.
“It’s just about doing what we’ve been doing, because we’ve been doing a good job of that.”
Practice 1 starts on Friday at 12:35 local time/13:35 AEDT.
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