They finished second and third respectively in the final race of the MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint, meaning Brown won the Larry Perkins Trophy, Feeney was second on ‘round results’, and they continue to sit one-two in the Supercars Championship standings.

However, it would have been a different story if they did not escape unscathed on the warm up lap around Albert Park, when they nearly emulated the bizarre crash between Scott McLaughlin and Cam Waters in 2019.

“I was just not looking, to be honest; it was probably my fault,” admitted Brown.

“I was warming up my tyres and Broc went past me and it scared the shit out of me to be honest.

“I thought, ‘Frig, I nearly just took out both of our cars on the warm up’.

“Luckily, it didn’t happen or I would have been in trouble… I might have been fired already,” he laughed.

“It was very lucky.”

Feeney then revealed that the incident was a repeat of one which occurred a day earlier, when, again, he was starting just ahead of his team-mate on the grid.

“I did the same yesterday, actually, because I was starting, I think, a row ahead,” he recounted.

“So, I thought I would just try and pass him here, and as I went to go past, I saw him sort of jink to the left and I’m like, ‘I wonder what he’s doing.’

“It was nearly – I think it was – Cam and Scotty Mac here a few years ago, but it didn’t happen.

“We haven’t touched, so we’ll try not to.”

With a win, three second places, and fastest lap bonus points in one of the four races, Brown scooped 287 points out of a possible 320 this weekend to win the Larry Perkins Trophy for the first time.

It comes after he partnered Jack Perkins, the son of the six-time Bathurst 1000 winner and former Formula 1 driver, for the past three years at Erebus Motorsport.

“Going into today, I was pretty keen to get the Larry Perkins Trophy,” said Brown.

“It means a lot to me. As I’ve said before, I’ve driven with Jack for three years, and become a great mate with Jack and met Larry through that, and there’s been some great names win this trophy.

“I was just excited to get that so, overall, great weekend.

“I’d like to finish first and not second – I got three seconds – so it’d be good to get a win, but it was still awesome points, awesome results, and a really strong start to the year.”

Brown has in fact not finished any lower than second in any of the six races so far this year, two of which he has won.

Feeney, whose formline is 1-3-1-4-1-3, trails by 17 points after the first two events of 2024.

The third is the ITM Taupo Super400, at Taupo International Motorsport Park on April 19-21.