The Shootout was run after an Aussie Racing Cars encounter in which a melee at Turn 5 left oil on the circuit.

That caught out first runner Brodie Kostecki, who clipped the Turn 5 tyre wall with the right-rear of his Dick Johnson Racing Mustang amid a wild slide.

“There’s just oil throughout the whole circuit,” he lamented. “It’s pretty hard to do a lap when it’s covered in shit.”

The next six drivers – Cooper Murray, Thomas Randle, Matt Payne, Will Brown, Anton De Pasquale and Aaron Cameron – all went faster as the track conditions improved.

Then came Feeney, whose 1:19.9716s chopped a whopping 0.5175s off rookie Cameron’s short-lived benchmark.

Fellow Grand Final contender Kai Allen was next on track after Feeney but will start eighth after suffering an engine issue.

“As soon as I left the lane she sounded off, so the poor girl struggled,” he said.

Qualifying pacesetter Ryan Wood was last out on track and wound up third behind Feeney and surprise front-row starter Cameron.

“It’s probably the most important one of the year so far,” said Feeney, who nearest title rival Chaz Mostert starts 12th after failing to make the Shootout.

“It was tricky conditions out there. I think the track was just getting better and better and it was so hard to know what you were going to get.

“It was good to see Will’s run before I went out. To execute a lap like that, I think we were quickest in all three sectors, was awesome.”

The only smile to match Feeney’s was that of Cameron, who delivered a sweet result to the Blanchard Racing Team.

“It’s really good to get my first front-row and to see the emotions in here, my engineer had a few tears,” he said.

“It’s been a hard slog for a lot of us this year, but to get a bit of a result like this… now I’ve got to back it up in the race somehow.”

Wood is set to share the second row with De Pasquale ahead of Brown, Payne, Randle, Allen, Murray and Kostecki.