Triple Eight Race Engineering will make the most of a rare opportunity to test at Winton Motor Raceway in preparation for Round 5 of the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship.
Queensland Raceway is the designated test track for teams based in the Sunshine State, including Triple Eight, Dick Johnson Racing, Matt Stone Racing, and PremiAir Racing.
However, provisions were made in recent years to allow for additional rookie test days to be run at alternative tracks, as was used by the likes of Walkinshaw Andretti United and Erebus Motorsport last year at The Bend Motorsport Park.
Triple Eight will make the most of the situation for the first time next week, on Tuesday May 10, by giving Feeney time in enemy territory. It will be a one-car effort, with the sister #97 of championship leader Shane van Gisbergen not permitted to join.
Winton is the home track of the championship’s seven southern squads, who have tested at the rural Victorian circuit on multiple occasions since Supercars last raced there in 2019.
Thus, it’s more than simply a chance for Feeney to refamiliarise himself with a track he hasn’t raced since his title-winning 2019 Super3 campaign.
“It will be valuable for Broc to learn the track and also he is really good with set-up and feedback, so it will be great for the team ahead of the race weekend,” Triple Eight team manager Mark Dutton told Speedcafe.com.
“We have definitely had hot and cold spells at Winton.
“Some years we have been super strong and come away with wins and then other years we have been pretty bad, so we’re putting all our horsepower into making sure that this year is a solid one.”
Added the #88 Red Bull Ampol Racing driver: “It’s going to be exciting. I’m keen to get down there and to use one of my rookie days where it’s useful, at the track before we go racing.
“It’s going to be a good day, it’s going to be very big for us.
“Those guys [Victorian teams] should be pretty handy around there at the moment but there’s no reason why after a day of testing we shouldn’t be really competitive.
“It’s awesome, to get a day before the race. I would say that those other guys will be testing that day as well, so it’s going to be good.”
Feeney is sixth in the championship, despite the past two rounds unfolding at venues he’d never raced at before – ie Albert Park and Wanneroo Raceway.
