Triple Eight have enjoyed one of their most memorable days in Supercars with young gun Broc Feeney combining with legend Jamie Whincup to win the first Sandown 500 since 2019.
Feeney, almost 20 years Whincup’s junior, guided the pair’s Chevrolet Camaro to the chequered flag in an impressive start to this year’s Supercars endurance series.
The Red Bull Ampol duo qualified fifth but were able to fly past pole-sitter Will Brown early in the 161-lap race when Whincup was in the hot seat.
Not even a safety-car with 20 laps remaining could rattle Feeney’s nerves as he finished ahead of championship leader Brodie Kostecki and Red Bull Ampol star Shane van Gisbergen.
As darkness descended on the suburban Melbourne track, the race was declared time-certain and was ended by officials with eight laps to go.
“It’s pretty bloody awesome, Sandown,” Feeney said. “This guy (Whincup) is so bloody good.
“I mean, watching him go at the start and he made it pretty comfortable for me.
“But that safety car really tightened things up.
“The pressure was on but we turned this (car) into a rocket.
“This guy (Whincup) has been so important to me the last few years.”
It was Feeney’s fifth win of the season, and sixth of his burgeoning career after taking out the 2022 season-finale in Adelaide last December.
Whincup called it quits from full-time racing at the end of the 2021 season to become Red Bull Ampol boss, taking over from the incomparable Roland Dane.
But the 40-year-old has continued as a co-driver for the team he leads, and will again partner with Feeney at next month’s Bathurst 1000.
This victory was seven-time champion Whincup’s first since saluting in Sydney in 2021 to take his career tally to 125.
In an added boost for Red Bull Ampol, van Gisbergen tore through the field to finish third after a disastrous qualifying session on Saturday when he was 19th.
The result keeps van Gisbergen’s hopes of a third-straight title well and truly alive before he makes the move to NASCAR next year.
Van Gisbergen looked set to finish fourth but Brown made a crucial mistake in the dying stages of the race to give up third.
The New Zealander only trails Kostecki in the championship standings with three rounds left in the season.
SANDOWN 500 RESULTS
1. Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup (Red Bull Ampol)
2. Brodie Kostecki/David Russell (Erebus)
3. Shane van Gisbergen/Richie Stanaway (Red Bull Ampol)
4. Will Brown/Jack Perkins (Erebus)
5. Andre Heimgartner/Dale Wood (Brad Jones Racing)
© AAP 2023
