Brown turns tables on Feeney in Bathurst 500 Shootout
Supercars
24 Feb
Will Brown beats Broc Feeney in Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout
Brown put 0.2s on Feeney, Chaz Mostert in one-lap dash
David Reynolds to start 10th after picking up puncture
Early bragging rights at Red Bull Ampol Racing have gone to Will Brown after a tightly-fought Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout.
Brown, in his first Supercars event as a Triple Eight driver, put an early marker down on new teammate Broc Feeney at Mount Panorama.
The Queenslander ended up 0.2065s quicker than Feeney, who claimed provisional pole in the earlier Boost Mobile Qualifying session.
Brown and Feeney will lead away an all-Red Bull Ampol Racing front-row for the first race of the Thrifty Bathurst 500 weekend, which will commence at 4:10pm AEDT.
It was Brown's first pole at Mount Panorama, the sixth of his career, Triple Eight's record-extending 161st Supercars pole, and the team's first in Bathurst since the 2021 season-opener.
"It was awesome out there, had a little bit of cloud cover, but put a really tidy lap together," said Brown, who departed Erebus Motorsport in the off-season.
"To get pole position for the first weekend with Red Bull is awesome, stoked with it. There were a few things that I had to work on over the top. I feel like I got it right that lap.
"It'll be a good drag race off the line, we'll see what the strategy falls from there."
Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Ford) rose from fourth in qualifying to third in the Shootout, and will share the second row with the impressive Cameron Hill (#4 Tyrepower Chevrolet).
It was a different story for David Reynolds, who didn't get to set a lap at all after he picked up a right-rear puncture on his #20 TRADIE Beer Chevrolet.
Reynolds, who qualified third, was managing a flat tyre before he arrived at Griffins Bend. The 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner will share the fifth row with Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Ford) and Reynolds.
De Pasquale had a major slide under the tree, and was over a second down on Brown's pole-winning time.
Richie Stanaway (#26 Penrite Ford) will start his first solo Supercars race since 2019 from fifth, alongside James Golding (#31 PremiAir Nulon Chevrolet).
Todd Hazelwood was seventh in the #99 TFH Hire Services Erebus Chevrolet, ahead of Nick Percat (#10 Bendix Chevrolet), De Pasquale, and Reynolds.
Percat opened proceedings with a 2:07.3518s, having scored a late Shootout berth after Ryan Wood (#2 Mobil 1 Truck Assist Ford) was penalised after Boost Mobile Qualifying.
Stanaway clocked a 2:06.9732s, before Hill set a 2:06.7241s, which was unable to be shifted by Golding, De Pasquale, and Hazelwood.
Mostert, a two-time Bathurst 1000 pole-sitter, recorded a 2:06.5874s, which loomed to be a front-row contender when Reynolds coasted back to pit lane with a flat tyre.
However, Brown went fastest in the first and third sectors to put 0.2134s on Mostert, before Feeney managed a time just 0.0069s quicker than the Mobil 1 Optus Mustang to secure a front row spot.
The 40-lap Race 1 will commence at 4:10pm local time.
