Feeney's fortune in Townsville return

After a string of venues where he has never raced before, Broc Feeney returns to a happy hunting ground at the upcoming NTI Townsville 500.

Although winless so far this season, the Red Bull Ampol Racing rookie has clocked up 12 top 10 results, including a podium in only his fourth ever Supercars race.

The 19-year-old nearly added another podium to his tally in the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown finale last month.

Feeney held third position with little over one lap remaining before being usurped by Cam Waters, Will Davison and Andre Heimgartner on fresher tyres.

The result meant Feeney would have to wait a little longer for some silverware, however, the return to a fruitful venue is on the horizon.

The Queenslander dominated the first Dunlop Super2 round at Townsville last year, en route to claiming his maiden Super2 crown.

He won both Super2 races at the Reid Park Street Circuit in 2021, and topped all six sessions across the weekend.

Now in a Supercar and with the Triple Eight’s dominant form at Reid Park, the stage is set for Feeney to shine.

“It's good for me to go into a place where I know I can hit the ground running from the opening practice session,” Feeney told Supercars.com.

“I felt like it's the first track since Sydney in round one that I've actually been to recently in a Supercar, and I'm not trying to catch up so much.

Feeney clean swept the opening Super2 weekend in Townsville in 2021

“It's been a lot of work in the couple of practice sessions that we have at each event so far to get up to speed at these new locations.

“Now to go somewhere where I'm comfortable, and I know the cars are strong gives me a lot of confidence.

“I'm looking forward to it and to do 88 laps around Townsville, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Triple Eight has won 13 of the last 19 races at Reid Park, including three of the last five.

Feeney’s predecessor Jamie Whincup holds the record number of wins at the North Queensland circuit with 12 victories.

Teammate Shane van Gisbergen is next best with eight, after winning both 250-kilometre events in 2021.

Van Gisbergen also holds the most podiums of any active driver with 15.

The NTI Townsville 500 is the first dual-250-kilometre race event since the Sydney opener in March, and only Feeney’s second completing a fuel drop during a pitstop.

Completing a mid-season test day a Queensland Raceway on Wednesday, Feeney admitted improving processes was a key focus for his team.

“It's a day where we haven't had a whole heap of things to try obviously when we come to Cuba we can tune the car a little bit, but we're pretty strong.

“This is like a process day for us and, and it's good actually to have a day in the middle of the year just to do laps, you can do some longer run some shorter runs and just work on myself.

“Our biggest weakness probably so far and over the last couple of rounds has been starts. We did quite a lot of that today.

“We also did pitstop practice, to practice take-offs.

“I wouldn't say we went out and found half a second on the track, but we probably found that in other ways, and in the stops.

“I understand what we have to do better for the next part of the season, and there are certainly positives to take away.

“The negatives are there, and I'm here to work on them.

“I'm looking forward to getting some tracks that I like, and I know well and hopefully we can have strong results.”

The 2022 season will resume at the NTI Townsville 500. CLICK HERE to purchase your tickets.