Feeney claws back vital points with home podium

Broc Feeney has clawed back crucial ground on Repco Supercars Championship-leading teammate Will Brown following a podium finish in the opening race of the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.

On a track that traditionally hasn't been the strongest for Feeney in his near-three year Supercars career, the local hero brushed that aside in what was an at times aggressive drive.

Feeney put an aggressive move on Matt Payne at the Turn 4 hairpin, and capitalised on an unfortunate gearbox gremlin for Chaz Mostert to climb onto the podium for the first time at Surfers Paradise.

However, it wasn't until after the chequered flag that Feeney realised he was on the podium, having been so focused on his performance and unaware of Mostert's misfortune.

"I thought I got fourth, I didn't even know," admitted Feeney.

"I've crossed the line and Marty [Short, race engineer] has come across and said 'well done you're third' and I'm like what are you talking about?

"It's obviously a shame for what happened to Chaz, all of a sudden we lost all of our pace in the second stint, but at the end it was an absolute rocket ship, so heaps of fun out there.

"I'm pumped to be on the podium and hopefully I know next time I'm on the podium. I thought I was fourth, I thought Chaz was still in the mix. I don't know how I missed that, I'm sure they told me, I was just really focused on trying to pass people."

Feeney also spoke about his move on Payne on lap 74 that promoted him up into third, as he set his targets on Thomas Randle in second, though he would fall just short of an extra nine points in the championship battle.

"Yeah it was pretty wild, I knew I just had to get going, I was trying to catch Tom. I couldn't see through turn one, so I just went through there as quickly as I could and sent it in," Feeney said.

"I made a few moves through there today, but as I said in the last stint the car was a rocket ship, so if we can replicate that for the whole race, I think we can take the fight to these guys."

Feeney's podium saw him claw back 33 points on teammate Brown at the head of the Repco Supercars Championship, with the gap between the two closing from 204 to 171 points.

Brown performed another strong recovery drive after his qualifying crash, finishing seventh after starting in 11th on the grid, however Feeney was happy to have made the most of his opportunity.

"For sure I've said this weekend for me it's just trying to capitalise and try and win races or be on the podium," he added.

"Unfortunate that we couldn't get on the top step today, but third is great, good points, and there's still three races to go so a long way to go in this thing."

On track action at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 continues on Sunday with Boost Mobile Qualifying at 10:10am local time/11:10am AEDT. Tickets for the event are on sale now.