Broc Feeney flies to inaugural pole at The Bend 500

Feeney was the second-to-last runner in the Top 10 Shootout, clocking a 1:48.6548s around the 4.950km circuit.

It’s his 14th pole position this year and fifth in a row, continuing a streak of success.

“It’s fantastic,” said Feeney.

“Obviously stoked to do that and I knew yesterday with the times we did in the afternoon it would have to be a big lap in the shootout. I was super happy with the lap.

“There are a couple of little things where you go, ‘Man, I wonder if I could have got a little bit more’ because I knew Brodie was going to do a really good job.

“We’ve been super strong in that last sector and it saved us there. I’m absolutely stoked. As you said, it’s been an up-and-down day. I’m absolutely stoked to get my first pole in the enduros.”

Having earlier set the pace in qualifying, Dick Johnson Racing’s Brodie Kostecki could only muster the third-fastest time in the #38 Ford Mustang.

Kostecki was two tenths down relative to Feeney at the first sector but brought it back in the second sector to be p by nearly three hundredths. However, a slow third sector turn meant he wound up 0.1286s down by the end of his lap.

“Pretty close, but no cigar,” said Kostecki.

“We’ll try tune it up for tomorrow and it’s all about race mode now. I’m going to try dial the car down a bit. It’s pretty wild at the moment. I was hanging on.

“Credit to Broc, he did a great lap.”

The leading #88 Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro will be joined by Matt Stone Racing’s #4 of Cameron Hill and Cameron McLeod on the front row. Hill was the standout improver session-on-session, improving from fifth in the earlier qualifying.

Behind Kostecki, Tickford Racing duo Cameron Waters and Thomas Randle qualified fourth and fifth respectively in their Ford Mustangs.

Matt Payne was sixth in the #26 Grove Racing Mustang ahead of Anton De Pasquale in the #18 Team 18 Camaro in seventh.

Walkinshaw Andretti United were unable to improve. Chaz Mostert stayed in eighth while Ryan Wood dropped his car off the road at the triple-apex right-hander and qualified 10th.

Cooper Murray was ninth in the #99 Erebus Motorsport Camaro.

Pole position for Feeney marked a bounce back of sorts after the day’s earlier dramas when co-driver Jamie Whincup ran into the back of Triple Eight teammate Scott Pye. Whincup was sanctioned for the incident and ordered to pay a $1000 fine.

Results: Repco Supercars Championship AirTouch 500 at The Bend, Top 10 Shootout