While a lap one clash with Chaz Mostert’s teammate Ryan Wood stole the headlines, engine trouble ultimately put paid to any chance of Feeney taking the championship.
Feeney’s car was hampered by a misfire for much of the race, eventually limping home in 20th place with its Chevrolet V8 badly misfiring.
Bizarrely, the #88 Triple Eight entry had suffered the same problem during the Saturday race, albeit only during the first 10 laps.
The engine’s crank angle sensor was changed ahead of Sunday and the car ran cleanly during qualifying and the Shootout before disaster struck in the race.
“We saw about 20 laps in the crank sensor error came up again, and it wasn’t too bad, and then it got worse and worse,” McNamara told Speedcafe post-race.
“Initially it was only on the gearshift and then it became more pronounced as it went on, more of a constant misfire.
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“It looks like it’s still some sort of heat related… we’re not sure with the kerbs, if the exhaust is angling up and overheating it, so we’ll put it back on the dyno and test it.
“We weren’t going to stop obviously, because still was running half OK until three quarters of the way through the race.
“It’s a bit of an odd deal, but we put a new sensor in [on Sunday morning], and it ran fine, and then you get X-amount of kays on it and it starts playing up.
“It could be something else electrical in the loom. I don’t think so, but we’ll test it and find out.”
A number of issues with GM crank angle sensors are said to have been reported during recent months, including on Triple Eight’s wildcard entry during a ride day after Sandown.
However, the fact the problem reoccurred with Feeney’s engine after the sensor was changed led to suggestions it could indeed be a wiring loom issue.
“We saw at Sandown on the ride day, we thought we had something on the wildcard car, but we tested it last week and it was all good,” said McNamara.
“That’s why we put new sensors in [ahead of] the weekend. It’s something on that car for some reason, it went through Sandown no issue when they ran that engine.”
The Adelaide disaster marked a sad end to McNamara’s long relationship with the Ford-bound Triple Eight.
McNamara’s KRE has supplied Triple Eight since 2009 and took over the entire GM contingent when the category moved to a single supplier per marque model under Gen3.
Triple Eight had hoped to continue with KRE amid its Ford switch, but McNamara ultimately elected to stay loyal to GM when it became clear he could not service both marques.
“It won’t sink in until next year, when you walk down the garages and you won’t be walking in [to Triple Eight],” said McNamara of the split.
“It’s been 23 years and we’ve had a lot of success,” he added, having also worked for Triple Eight directly – and via supplier Stone Brothers Racing Engines – before starting KRE.
“In a way we don’t see this too often. We’ve run second a number of times but, particularly for Broc, he really deserved it this year.
“But that’s the nature of the rules now and the Finals Series definitely livens it up a bit for the TV and the fans.”
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