Broc Feeney: "It's so hard to win because you know so many things can go wrong." Photo / Photosport
Eric Thompson at Bathurst
The road around Mount Panorama was built as a leisurely Sunday drive destination for tourists, but for more than 50 years it’s hosted one of motorsport’s toughest events.
One of the world’s truly iconic endurance races, the Bathurst 1000 is the jewel in the crown of the Australian Supercars series. More than 180,000 motorsport fans from around the world will be there this weekend to watch drivers hustle, wrench and fight a bunch of big, fast, noisy and ill-handling (by today’s standards) tin tops around a public road.
Supercars series leader Broc Feeney heads into the Great Race keen to get that elusive win after finishing second last year. Anyone who has a modicum of knowledge about the Bathurst 1000, and the track itself, knows how hard it is to win at this event.
The race is so long, so difficult, so hard, so draining and has so many moving parts, you do need a bit of luck to get to the end, let alone win the thing.
“We all say you need a bit of luck and if the Bathurst gods pick you, you can win it,” Feeney told the Herald.
“However, it can take just a $2 part to fail and it’s all over. It’s so hard to win because you know so many things can go wrong. But when you do get it right and you have that little bit of luck on your side, it’s the best feeling in the world [winning] and I hope to feel that one day.”
“It’s a challenge to win, and it’s funny just how hard it is to win and then how easy it is to lose. As drivers, there are 54 of us this weekend, we all feel like we have a chance of winning this race.”
There’s something about this place that makes all the drivers who have competed here, and are racing this weekend, elevate themselves a little bit to go faster, brake deeper or go for a lunge. And of all the circuits on the Supercars calendar, Mount Panorama is the one that will bite you the hardest for making the smallest of mistakes.
“It’s risk versus reward. It is the place you’re willing to take that little bit more of a risk, because the reward is just so much bigger than everywhere else.
“It’s such a challenging track, but it’s my favourite by a country mile. I’m very lucky. I feel like I go really well here and have always gone well and just really gel with the track.
“It’s such a thrill and it feels like your first time every time you head out for practice one and there’s honestly no other track like this that I’ve ever driven on.
“There’s a lot of history, it’s an amazing track, the fans are great. There are a lot of things that make it so special, but the challenge is to win, and if you win one, your life changes, you become an immortal in the sport,” he said.
There are probably more variables over the race afternoon on Sunday than there are in an entire season. One of the more obvious ones is having to hand the keys over to your co-driver.
This may not be weighing too heavily on Feeney’s mind as his fellow protagonist in this year’s drama is four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Jamie Whincup.
“He’s rock solid and does a great job. I’m always excited to pair up with him and he’s the best co-driver I could hope to have,” he said.
Feeney sits at the top of the championship leaderboard on 2130 points from Kiwi Matthew Payne (1972), Will Brown (1492), Cam Waters (1824) and Chaz Mostert (1578). New for this year is a type of playoff system where at the end of Bathurst weekend only the top 10 drivers in the Supercars standings will be eligible to win the series.
“I want to be in that position where I do have a target on my back and it’s high-stakes poker at the end of the year. You’ve got everything to play for, you’ve got everything to lose and, as I said, you have a day like we did in Adelaide [19th], you pack your bags and go home.
“We’ve done such a good job all year, we just need to focus on keeping doing what we’ve been doing because we’ve won lots of races.
“If we can keep doing that over the next three rounds [after this weekend], hopefully we have a big trophy at the end of the year,” said Feeney.