Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nHow to beat Bathurst’s hidden dangers! | 04:42<\/p>\n
That challenge is heightened given Feeney\u2019s status as championship leader. Points is part of the equation \u2014 he could still be beaten to the first seed for the finals by Matt Payne and Will Brown \u2014 but it\u2019s also about his momentum and confidence heading into the knockout rounds.<\/p>\n
With the Sprint Cup looks increasingly distant in the mirrors, Feeney\u2019s domination of the shorter races risks losing its relevance without a good overall return from the Enduro Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just see Broc and his crew just doing a seriously good job,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re making sure that they\u2019re minimising their weakness and that they keep working on their strengths as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re in a really good place, but as we know, the way the year\u2019s been changed with the points system, you have to perform at the end of the year, so we want to make sure we don\u2019t go too hard too early and make sure we\u2019ve got plenty left in the tank for the lats few rounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe season of endurance is always an important factor of the year. If you\u2019re strong at Tailem Bend and strong at the biggest race of the year, that always puts you in good shape and gives you good confidence going into the final few races. It\u2019s critical.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m a part of that. I play a big role being a co-driver, so the pressure\u2019s on me to make sure I perform and do a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a remarkable reversal from that tentative first partnership in 2022, but Feeney is quick to credit Whincup for the improvements that have led him to the top of the title table.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve learnt so much off him that I feel like we operate quite similarly,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve learnt so much off him in the last couple of years that now when he jumps in my car, it\u2019s not like, \u2018Oh, hey, why haven\u2019t you thought about all this stuff?\u2019 because I\u2019ve taken all those notes and put it into account to where we\u2019re at.<\/p>\n
Can defending champs repeat ‘dream’ win? | 04:37<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously we\u2019ve had such a good year; I don\u2019t really want to change the world going into the enduros, because of how strong we\u2019ve been, but he\u2019s still jumped in the car and had a couple of ideas on how to improve things, and I always take that on board and see what we can do to make it better.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not only Feeney\u2019s who\u2019s got better with time. His and Whincup\u2019s partnership has also flourished since their 2022 recovery from 14th to fifth in Bathurst.<\/p>\n
The following year they won the Sandown 500 together and would have scored at least a podium in Bathurst were it not for a gearshift problem.<\/p>\n
In 2023 they finished a close runner-up in both endurance events.<\/p>\n
Victory was on the cards in the endurance opener in Tailem Bend last month before the fuel problem cruelled their race.<\/p>\n
Now attention turns to the sport\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n
And with no championship implications as far as the points are concerned \u2014 Feeney is guaranteed a finals berth no matter what \u2014 together they can go all-out on taking the final step to the top of the podium.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always like to have a big swing at Bathurst,\u201d Feeney says. \u201cBut for me and more importantly Jamie there\u2019s not as much pressure on if you make a mistake.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going there to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Whincup it would be a fifth career triumph at Mount Panorama and his first in the dual driver-manager role.<\/p>\n
\u201cBroc\u2019s in really good form at the moment, I think the car\u2019s as good as anybody\u2019s, so we\u2019ve got a real opportunity and we\u2019ve got to make sure we make the most of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been lucky enough to win a few up there at the mountain, but I\u2019ve had a few get away. I haven\u2019t stood on the top step for a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019d be nice. I\u2019m not a greedy person, but it\u2019d certainly be nice. That\u2019s the goal, to try to get back on the top step.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The rain was hammering down on Mount Panorama, and the forecast was grim. Qualifying was fast approaching, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-196716","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-motor","11":"tag-motor-sports","12":"tag-motosport","13":"tag-motosports","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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