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Feeney’s unfortunate set of circumstances created the perfect storm for a late race tangle with the race leader.
During the final round of pit stops, Feeney was pinged for an unsafe release that he tried to redress.
Post-race, Feeney said he thought it was unlikely that he would have been able to get by Mostert and establish a 15-second advantage, but the Mobil1 Optus Racing driver was taking no chances.
Speaking after Race 24 of the Repco Supercars Championship, Mostert said he had no regrets for not ceding first on the road.
Mostert explained his reasoning was twofold. Firstly, to keep Feeney behind him as long as possible to overheat the #88 driver’s tyres, and secondly, to give Feeney as little time to bridge the 15-second penalty once he got by.
On Lap 53 of 78, Feeney took a shy at Mostert but locked up and nearly drilled the back of the leading Ford Mustang. Perhaps, with 25 laps to go, Feeney could have created a 15-second lead, notwithstanding diminishing returns from the Dunlop tyres.
However, with 16 laps to go when the key incident happened, it was hard to fathom Feeney going nearly a second a lap quicker to the chequered flag.
“Just let him go, let him go. Brown is the next car for position, he’s 19 seconds back,” said Mostert’s engineer Sam Scaffidi as he crossed the start-finish line to signal 17 laps to go.
Then the hit came.
“Why wouldn’t you just let him go? We were talking about it beforehand,” quizzed Mark Skaife on Fox Sport’s coverage.
Neil Crompton weighed in, “He [Mostert] wasn’t in the mood to yield and Broc wasn’t in the mood to take any notice of the 15-second penalty. They’re playing for keeps out there.”
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Feeney’s total penalty tally reached 30 seconds after the first infringement for an unsafe release and the second for contact with Mostert. The Triple Eight driver wound up seventh.
Asked whether he would have changed his approach if given another chance, Mostert said he would not have changed his approach.
“Nah, not really. I would race him as hard as I could,” said Mostert.
“I was saying to Jamie [Whincup, Triple Eight team principal] just before we started, I was pretty worried about his pace in clear air.
“I cooked him the best I could for most of the race. And obviously we kept ourselves in the race there and was able to just get enough to keep in front for that last stint with the pit stop debacle.
“I was worried if I let him go with just under 20 to go, he might have been able to achieve that gap.
“For me, I was going to race him as hard as I could.
“I probably would have let him go in a few laps closer to the end if he was still pressuring me, but at that point I thought it was risky that he might be able to get that gap.”
Should Mostert have just let Feeney by? Cast your vote below.
