Feeney, Brown not buying into dominant Tassie form

Triple Eight may have 26 wins from its last 51 starts at Symmons Plains Raceway, but Broc Feeney and Will Brown aren't buying into it amid a topsy-turvy start to 2025.

Brown and Feeney are first and fourth in the championship heading to this weekend's Snowy River Caravans Tasmania Super 440.

Triple Eight has a brilliant record in Tasmania, headlined by its 26 wins, 11 of which were one-two results. However, the team has been under the microscope, having failed to replicated its winning 2024 Taupō form last time out.

Brown and Feeney came up short in New Zealand, Triple Eight missing the podium for the first time since its no-show at The Bend in August 2023.

If Triple Eight misses out in Tasmania, it would be the first time since Sandown/Bathurst 2017 that the team failed to reach the podium in consecutive rounds.

Feeney is adamant previous Tasmania form means little, saying: "You can’t rely on previous years.

"Looking at New Zealand, we went there with something that was similar to last year’s car, and we went away from that. We took a lot of learnings from that, just trying to understand why.

"I think with the new car, new tyres, you know, nothing’s a guarantee anymore."

Taupō was an uncharacteristic event for Triple Eight, which went without silverware for just the 30th time in 274 rounds since the start of 2005. It must be said, though, that Feeney ran in the podium position until the final laps in the second Taupō race.

Brown said post-event that rival teams are up to speed with their Gen3 cars, which has tightened the competitive order. Triple Eight wasn't without its self-inflicted hiccups in New Zealand, though, leaving Feeney vulnerable in qualifying.

Brown, who won two of three Tasmania races for Erebus Motorsport in 2023, said: "I am for sure looking forward to getting down to Tasmania.

"Obviously, it was a bit of a tougher round for us in New Zealand. So keen to get out on track on Friday. Hopefully, we can bounce back strong and get a win or two out there.

"Personally, I don’t really look into our history in Tassie. I think every year, race tracks evolve, people evolve, and I think we saw that in New Zealand.

"Last year, we had a really strong showing [in Taupō] and were fairly dominant, and this year we struggled. So, I just focus more on each meeting as it comes and prepare the best we can for that."

Feeney, who won in 2023 and finished third from pole last year, reiterated his desire to put the team's critics in their place, adding: "There’s always lots of talk when we don’t have the best of weekends, but I think we made really good progress on Sunday in New Zealand, and we learned a lot.

"Going to Tasmania, the mindset is the same as usual. It’s not to go there and try and improve a little bit, it’s to go there and win races, which we’ve been able to do in Tasmania for a long time.

"We were fast there last year, but it’s going to be about qualifying up the front and executing. For me, it’s about getting the ball rolling.

"I mean, we’ve had an okay start to the year, but our results probably don’t reflect what our pace has been. So, it’s looking to have a good weekend, get some wins on the board, and try and get back to the top of the standings."

Track action in Tasmania begins on Friday. Tickets on sale now.