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Triple Eight Race Engineering will head to the Betr Darwin Triple Crown with a better understanding of how to best tweak its Gen3 Camaros, according to Broc Feeney.
The Red Bull Ampol Racing entries of Feeney and Shane van Gisbergen have both been a regular presence near the front of the Repco Supercars Championship field, although Erebus Motorsport has the edge at present.
Erebus has not only proven itself capable of performing at a variety of circuits; it has, according to team boss Barry Ryan, figured out how to react if its Camaros are off the pace.
Similarly, Triple Eight is now armed with knowledge about what set-up changes it might need for a desired outcome, following its first in-season test day of the Gen3 era, at Queensland Raceway.
“Hopefully, we can take some things that we’ve learned from the test day to Darwin,” Feeney told Speedcafe.
“I’m hoping that I have a bit better [idea] and the team does of what we need when we’re looking for something, so I feel like we’ve got a good understanding of what some things do.”
While extra track time was on offer in Newcastle and Wanneroo featured a continuous 90-minute session, packed schedules at Albert Park and Symmons Plains have left little scope for straying too far on set-up at race events.
“We’ve been trialling some things with the practice sessions, the long ones, the short ones, four-day, three-day, two-day meetings…” explained Feeney.
“It’s been a mix-up so far this season, so just to get to a day where we can have swings on the car that we wouldn’t usually do was a positive.
“I got to try some stuff that we wouldn’t normally try. I think I walked away a little bit happier than when we arrived, and I got more of an understanding of what some things do.”
The 20-year-old has in fact won a race in each of the latter three of four events to date, although inconsistency in qualifying has been an issue for both him and van Gisbergen.
“I mean, our race pace has been pretty solid,” he remarked.
“It’s just been it’s been that qualifying pace, so I think if we can neaten up that a little bit, then we’ll be right in the mix.”
The three victories thus far in 2023 bring Feeney’s career tally in the Supercars Championship to four, after he finished off his rookie, 2022 season with a breakthrough on the streets of Adelaide.
“It was pretty special,” said Feeney of being back at the season of his first race win.
“It obviously looks very different at the moment to when I was there last time, and I suppose you can’t really visualise it when you just see a surface [without walls or grandstands].
“But, it was very cool to be back and see my trophy again. Obviously, we don’t get to keep that throughout the year, so cool to see that and to see the excitement starting to build.
“With tickets going on sale, it’s all starting to all starting to happen again, so, very exciting.”
The Darwin Triple Crown takes place at Hidden Valley on June 16-18, with Triple Eight fielding Zane Goddard in a wildcard, Supercheap Auto-backed Camaro alongside the full-time Red Bull Ampol cars.
