Feeney doubles up in rain-hit Race 2 Ipswich qualifying

Triple Eight star Feeney scored his 12th pole of the season and second for the day thanks to a 1:19.8014s recorded as the rain hit Queensland Raceway in the opening moments of Q2.

All 10 Q2 drivers had gone out on slicks and found themselves scrambling to set a time on an increasingly wet track.

Feeney made the best of it from Ryan Wood, Will Brown, noted wet weather maestro Richie Stanaway, and Cam Waters.

That’s the way they stayed for the remainder of the session as subsequent efforts on full wet tyres proved nowhere near competitive.

Anton De Pasquale, David Reynolds, James Golding, Chaz Mostert and Thomas Randle will start sixth through 10th.

“You could see it coming all session,” said Feeney, who had been eclipsed by De Pasquale for the fastest time in Q1.

“Will went out and backed up so he could get a tow and I’m like, ‘man, I hope that doesn’t bite us’.

“It sort of worked well because I could see everyone go off at [Turn] 1 and I sort of took it easy.

“Turn 3 was still pretty dry and I thought I made a bit of time there. I knew that was the lap that was going to count.

“We went back out on wets and literally I was like 30 percent throttle, spinning out on the straight. It was pretty dangerous.”

Randle and Mostert were among those to spear off the road on what proved that critical first lap, coming unstuck at Turn 1 and Turn 6 respectively.

“I thought I braked heaps early but there’s a lot of sealant on this track,” said Mostert.

“I think they do a lot of drag racing, a lot of roll racing, and it’s like that time we were in Pukekohe [following a resurface] and the car is trying to put you in the fence down the straight.

“I wouldn’t want to race in those conditions.”

There were plenty more incidents during the later running on wet tyres, including a spectacular spin from reigning champion Brown.

Matt Payne will start 11th having failed to progress from Q1 in both of the morning’s sessions.

Triple Eight wildcard Zach Bates was an impressive 13th, set to share the seventh row of the grid with 2023 champion Brodie Kostecki.

Result: Ipswich Super440 Race 2 qualifying