Triple Eight to discuss 'on the limit' contact

Jamie Whincup says Triple Eight Race Engineering will "definitely chat about" the heart-in-mouth intra-team clash late in Sunday’s Penrite Oil Sandown 500.

Late in the race, before Triple Eight secured a one-two, Broc Feeney inadvertently bumped Will Brown after the former exited the pits on cold tyres.

The teammates rounded up the lapped car of Jaxon Evans, with Feeney running wide before rejoining behind Brown — but not without a hit.

So far, Brown and Feeney have raced hard but clean in 2024, headlined by their thrilling battles at the Grand Prix and New Zealand.

Feeney’s co-driver — and team boss — Whincup said the team will “definitely” discuss the Sandown contact in debrief, saying: “The touch down at Turn 1 was a little bit on the limit for me."

Brown feared he had sustained damage in the incident, while Feeney was also asked if his car was okay.

“Marty [Short, Feeney’s Race Engineer] got straight on the phone to Broc, saying, ‘Everything all good, steering etc'. Broc was straight back, 'Everything's good’,” Team Manager Mark Dutton said on the Schick Cool Down Lap podcast.

"The heart rate only spiked to 300 for a few seconds there, but clearly that's not the plan to happen. But obviously with the calibre of drivers we've got there you trust them, and they dealt with it exceptionally well.”

Brown and Feeney remained in combat for the balance of the day despite a number of Safety Car periods, with the new-for-2024 limiter enduring neither car was undone by a double-stack scenario.

On the new limiter procedure, Dutton said: "It was really good, because it meant that you got to run optimal strategies for both cars.

"Typically when you have to share a boom, it's dangerous because everyone's peeling in and it’s hectic. And thankfully, a massive step forward in safety happened today. That was great.

“But then also on the sporting front, meaning that you can run different strategies, different tactics, and not just go, ‘Oh, you're having a great day, but now a Safety Car has totally ruined your day’, for everyone up and down pit lane.

“That's awesome. That is so good.”

However, when asked if the new system helped the team secure a one-two, Dutton replied: "Yep, that's fair to say. It worked well. Now, we've managed to have a few one-twos in the past with the old rules, so of course you can't say that it wouldn't have happened.

“But that first stop, yeah, 88 would have been a lot further behind. So no, it definitely was a good thing."

Brown leads Feeney by 222 points, with Chaz Mostert 189 points down in second, heading to the Repco Bathurst 1000 on October 10-13.