Feeney scores pole in chaotic Ipswich Race 1 qualifying

Feeney was the class of the field in both segments of the session, which was run on the 2025 soft tyre, over Triple Eight teammate Will Brown.

The championship leader clocked 1:08.1886s to be 0.2823s clear in Q1, before a 1:08.1301s in Q2 left his pole margin at a scant 0.1119s.

Feeney can secure the $50,000 prize for scoring the most poles during the season if he sweeps the three sessions this weekend.

Walkinshaw Andretti United pair Ryan Wood and Chaz Mostert will start the Ipswich opener from the second row.

Brodie Kostecki, Anton De Pasquale, rookie trio Cooper Murray, Kai Allen and Aaron Cameron, and Cam Hill completed the top 10.

There were chaotic scenes towards the end of Q1 as the 26-car field headed out on track for their critical new tyre run.

A jostle for track position included cars running three-wide down the back straight and Cam Waters making minor contact with Kai Allen.

Waters, who just missed the Q2 cut in 11th, said: “It was a bit of a laugh on that outlap with everyone trying to get to the front of the pack, so you get two laps. That was pretty full on.”

Blanchard Racing Team driver James Courtney was 12th and elaborated on the cause of the congestion.

“The guys at the front have plenty of time to get their time in so they’re going slow, making it hard for everyone at the back,” he said.

“Everyone at the back is trying to get through. It’s a bit of a pain but that’s the drama with being at this end of pit lane, you have to hustle on to try and get through.

“But when you’re doing that, you’re not doing the correct procedure to warm the tyres. It’s a bit of a catch-22 there.”

Among those worse impacted were Will Davison and James Golding, who ended up 24th and 26th respectively.

“The chequered flag came out as I was about 50 metres away, so we didn’t even get a lap in,” said Davison of his final run.

Triple Eight wildcard Zach Bates fell short of his flying Friday form in 21st, while Matt Stone Racing wildcard Cam Crick clocked 25th.

Results: Ipswich Super440 Race 1 qualifying