It’s one of those weekends the world tunes in to see the worlds greatest pieces of racing technology, determination, speed, and glamour all in one. And no, it is not some country town’s annual lawn-mower race in the middle of NSW!

It’s the Melbourne Grand Prix, the first round of the Formula 1 World Championship! Albert Park returns as the opening round of the year, where Aussies are dominating the headlines heading into the weekend – and not just in F1!

Our favorite fellas return after one of the more bruising but spectacular weekends in Supercars history. Unfortunately, the boys are stuck forever on the ugly end of one of the greater highlight reels you’ll see in a Supercars advertisement, but there really isn’t a more consistent, and rapid driver pairing out there.

Broc showed some extreme heart and determination cross the weekend at SMP, where a flat left rear tyre undid his Friday evening charge alongside wet weather and an a poorly placed Camaro undoing a potential podium to finish his weekend. What, do you really want us to explain the Saturday night, again? The young fella shows his heart on his sleeve, and you know exactly what it means to him. And unfortunately for everyone else, he loves Albert Park – BFeen is a gamer.

Will keeps showing up. His 13^th podium at an event in a row. You might also think that it’s easy – three races at SMP and should get at least one. In the three races at SMP, Will started 11^th, 5^th, and 4^th. In those races, Will finished 5^th, 3^rd, and 2^nd. He might not have the orange number 1 on his car, but if his last trip to Albert Park was anything to go by – the big wigs should keep an eye on the Toowoomba boy in Melbourne. 2-1-2-2 finishes on his way to the Larry Perkins Trophy.

The action might be fast and spectacular with the F1 boys, but there is never any racing quite like Supercars racing, and with a boxing ring like Albert Park there is sure to be some punches thrown. Head below to find out how the boys are feeling rolling into Melbourne after a big first outing, and how they plan on digging in this weekend

“I think it’ll be awesome to get to Grand Prix, hopefully the racing’s as fun and as tough as it was at Sydney Motorsport Park. There was some great racing and races put on for the fans. So, we’ll wait and see if we can do that again, but I am looking forward to getting into it. I didn’t feel the strongest at Sydney compared to what I wanted to and to came out there second in the championship. I’m quite stoked with, so we’ll see how we go.”

“It seems like the racing was more intense at Sydney. It seems like there is less focus on being consistent and you know, I know everyone wants to win every weekend and win every race, and people are willing to risk more right now to do it.”

Will Brown
Driver #1 Chevrolet Camaro
Red Bull Ampol Racing

“I think you’re always going to see super hard racing, probably similar to Sydney at Adelaide. But I think it’s just first round of the year, people are seeing what they can and can’t get away with. I think for us drivers, it’s about just understanding what you are, and aren’t allowed to do. So, I think the racing’s going to be hard going forward. The short, sprint formats is probably going to force everyone to be more aggressive. But to be honest, I think apart from the front battle, the rest of the racing was, was very similar to last year.”

“It always just depends on who you’re racing. I think with Cam (Waters) you probably have to expect the racing to be super tough and he will have to expect us to be fighting back. I think the Grand Prix always produces great racing. I’ve said it’s probably our best track to race on. I personally reckon there’s four or five actual opportunities over a lap to pass people, it’s around 15 meters wide in braking zones. It’s unreal. It’s honestly one of my favorite tracks to race on. it’s got great opportunities for awesome racing.”

“You’ve seen that the last few years with the short formats there, you can’t muck around. I think this year at the Grand Prix, there’s going to be a lot of chaos. Hopefully we don’t get too many safety cars to shorten it up, but the racing’s going to be really good.”

Broc Feeney
Driver #88 Chevrolet Camaro
Red Bull Ampol Racing

On track action begins Thursday with a 30-minute practice session at 10:05am – alongside Porsche Carrera Cup, Formula 3, Formula 2 and Formula 1. You just can’t miss it!

Sydney 500 – Practice 1 & 2, Qualifying (Race 4 & 5) & Race 4 Results

Will Brown – Car #1
Practice 1 – 6th (1:48.4949)
Practice 2 – 3rd (1:47.4852)
Qualifying (Race 4) – 2nd (1:47.7358)
Qualifying (Race 5) – 5th (1:47.4286)
Race 4 – 2nd

“Not really sure to be honest. The way we’re sort of playing it up there, it’s hard to know (if I could have made a pass on Broc). We’ve still got to protect the tyres so we’re making sure we do that out there. Broc was fast. I think at the end of the day he was going to win that race no matter what. I was just trying to get the start and I didn’t get that. So, from there I was going to finish second, it was a good race. I see there was a lot of carnage behind us, so it was good to be out in the lead and in a bit of fresh air.”

“It’s hard to know with the safety car how the tyres would’ve been at the end there because I think that we got to cool them back down and around here with the high speed it really heats the tyres up, and sometimes you can get blistering or even when the tyres get too hot it makes it really hard. So, it’ll be interesting for me tomorrow, I start off fifth so I’m going to be in the battle, and we’ll see how we go with that in trying to save tyres and everything, but it was great for the team. We got a one-two off the back of Sydney, like Broc said we, we had some good results there, but we weren’t the strongest cars, that’s for sure. So, for the team to get a one – two in qualifying and a one – two finish, it’s fantastic.”

Broc Feeney – Car #88
Practice 1 – 8th (1:48.5786)
Practice 2 – 2nd (1:47.2911)
Qualifying (Race 4) – 1st (1:47.7192)
Qualifying (Race 5) – 1st (1:47.1719)
Race 4 – 1st

Teams’ Championship Standings – 1st (615 points)

“Today was good. Obviously, it was pretty important to get the start, and from there, just tried to manage the race out front. The safety car was good in the middle. It gives everyone a bit of a reset and a chance to cool your tires down and go again. I had one really eventful thing happen mid-race. I’m not sure if they show it on TV. Unfortunately, there was some animals on the track, but apart from that it was a good and smooth sailing race.”

“I think we, we as a team, we were still trying to learn a lot in the race, and we probably did something similar last year where we try and manage the race from the front. We’re super lucky that we were both fast and to be one and two, allows us the chance to try and manage it a little bit. But yeah, we’re trying to have enough of a gap that Cam’s (Hill) not trying to lunge us and make it real awkward. So, we’re trying to gap him but save tires at the same time.”

“At the end of the race I had a crack at trying to go fast, (for Fastest Lap) I think I missed out by like a hundredth or something, which is really frustrating. But it’s hard work out there. 19 laps is actually pretty long around here on one set of tires and you know with the tire wear, you got some fast corners, so you’ve got to look after them.”

“If you look back at it, we got three front row starts in Sydney. The races didn’t go our way. We had one thing go wrong in every race. We’ve had three second place starts and two poles so far to start this year. So, from qualifying front it’s been awesome. It’s just been about converting, and I know how important it is here to get pole position.”

“The race was pretty hectic behind us. For us it’s just about executing in qualifying and then managing the races as best as we can. Obviously, things went a little bit better for me today than they did in Sydney, but we’ve just been focused on ourselves this weekend. My engineer Marty is doing a fantastic job and so is the whole team – they deserve this result. We got smoked in Sydney and we’ve rocked up here, and done really well.”

Australian Grand Prix – Race 5 Results

Will Brown – Car #1
Race 5 – 3rd

Drivers’ Championship Standings – 2nd (387 points)

“It was a great race to move up two spots again and get on the podium. We seem to be really consistent. I’m really good at getting seconds and thirds, I just need to start winning. But overall, consistency is a big thing. But I’m happy with where we’re at, but the safety cars were a bit annoying to be honest. The late race starts, then the safety cars meant that we didn’t get much racing. So, it’s very hard to get Nick or Cam or make a race of it, but that’s life.”

“I never really got a chance to have a dive at him, to be honest. I got close enough maybe on the second to last lap, then made a mistake when I was trying to bump him. It wasn’t too bad, but they were pretty in control of the race. Well, they’ve (Matt Stone Racing) have got our setups at the end of the day, they buy Triple Eight setups. I’m racing the exact same car as mine out there with the same setup. It’s hard to find a weakness in their car because generally we have the same weakness as them.”

Broc Feeney – Car #88
Race 5 – 4th

Drivers’ Championship Standings – 3rd (349 points)

Teams’ Championship Standings – 1st  (736 points)

“I just got wheel spin off the start. Then I tried to make a move on Cam (Hill), but Nick (Percat) got through. But congrats to those guys (Matt Stone Racing). Great job from them. Obviously, most of the race was under safety car, but also probably first time for me following a car this weekend. So, I think if we would’ve got out front, we would’ve been fine. But following, I certainly struggled.”

“I just wasn’t strong enough to get close enough to pass in certain areas, I was fast for half the track and slow for the other half, which really made it hard for me. They (Matt Stone Racing) won here last year. They know what they’re doing. The top five cars in that race are either Triple Eight cars or Triple Eight customers. So, it’s great for us. We’ve obviously rolled out really strong and all those guys are doing a fantastic job.”

“For us, disappointing that we couldn’t convert, but we’ll try again tomorrow. I think quality-wise we’ve been really strong all weekend. We’ve tried a few things over the last couple of days, but I think qualifying is just about limiting your mistakes. But everyone’s going to be faster in qualifying in the morning, so we’ve still got to be better.”

Australian Grand Prix – Qualifying (Race 6 & 7), & Race 6 Results

Will Brown – Car #1
Qualifying (Race 6) – 2nd (1:46.2408)
Qualifying (Race 7) – 18th (1:46.9896)
Race 6 – 1st

Drivers’ Championship Standings – 1st (462 points)

“Today was good. First couple laps were really good. I managed to get the jump off the start on Broc. It was a pretty tight one but able to get through and then managed to race from there. To be honest, Nick (Percat) was extremely fast. He was able to get past Broc at one stage and then I wasn’t sure if we were actually going to be under threat by him, by a fair bit. But luckily, I was able to keep him behind and Broc was able to get back into second. So it’s great another one- two again for the team but, I’ve got a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

“When you’re out front like that, the safety cars don’t hurt too much, but when you’re, when you’re back in the pack, they do. So, it wasn’t too bad of a thing for me, but tomorrow we won’t want them at all. Let’s hope it rains tomorrow, and we will see what we can do.”

Broc Feeney – Car #88
Qualifying (Race 6) – 1st (1:46.1369)
Qualifying (Race 7) – 1st (1:46.2383)
Race 6 – 2nd

Drivers’ Championship Standings – 3rd (418 points)

Teams’ Championship Standings – 1st (880 points)

“I think I overcompensated a little bit from yesterday on the start. I got a bit of wheelspin yesterday so I tried to adjust for that and just bogged, but I think Will got a cracking start. From there I knew it was going to be really hard to win the race. Obviously, we’re in a similar position the other day, but just got caught out on the restart.”

“We were probably all saving maybe a bit too much tyre life and Nick (Percat) was really fast in the last couple corners, so he got me. I was just lucky to be able to get him back there at the end. I had to make a pretty big move to get him down into turn one and then from there it was pretty much my race. I think the car was good, Will was fast, I was fast. Whoever’s going to be out, front’s going to win, but for me, tomorrow’s the day where I’ll make my points back.”

“It’s hard, obviously, you never know if you’re going to get a safety car, but it’s extremely likely around here. So, I think after the second safety car we picked up the pace a lot and really drove away from the field. At the start of the race, you can see we’re trying to manage it a little bit and then when we know we can get to the end we’ll push.”

“I’m stoked to be qualifying up front. I mean that’s the best thing about qualifying on the front row or on pole is that you’re normally out of the rubbish. It looks pretty chaotic this weekend. I just keep getting calls that there’s safety cars and ideally would rather not have safety cars and have good, hard, racing that doesn’t result in cars in the gravel. But it’s one of those track’s that normally produces crazy racing, and it has once again. So hopefully tomorrow we can have a good clean race.”

Australian Grand Prix – Race 7 (Abandoned)

Will Brown – Car #1

Drivers’ Championship Standings – 1st (462 points)

“Overall, I’m happy. A great weekend, getting a first, second and a third is extremely consistent. Disappointing way to end the weekend though. Obviously, we couldn’t go racing in those conditions, but I sort of got very lucky with the race getting suspended, and no points being awarded. Not the way I want to win the Larry Perkins Trophy, but it’s something that I always really aspire to try and win because I drove with Jack Perkins. I really enjoy spending time with Jack and Larry. What he did in his career was, was pretty amazing. So, it’s something that I’m very honored to win.”

I didn’t think the race would get cancelled. I thought “this is great, it’ll give me more of an opportunity to pass more cars.” And that’s what I was thinking, but then it turned out that it actually helped me in a different way.”

“I think we’ve really picked up where we left off last year. Consistency. We’re trying to win races. It’s not easy to win races, but we’re able to be consistent enough to get on the podium. We need to keep that going and get the wins when we can. But keeping the consistency and trying to win the Sprint Cup at the end of the day is our goal. That’s what Broc and I are both going for at the start of this season. Then that gets you hopefully gets you a lot further up the front with some extra points to try and make it through to the Finals.”

“Last year, I was a bit nervous going into Taupo. I thought that that racing wouldn’t be that good. It’s a tight track, but the racing proved to be excellent. So, I think they can expect some tough, hard racing. We’ve obviously seen how hard everyone’s been racing this season, so it’s going to happen there again and hopefully it puts on a show for everyone.”

Broc Feeney – Car #88

Drivers’ Championship Standings – 3rd (418 points)

Teams’ Championship Standings – 1st (880 points)

“At the time when they red-flagged it, the rain was at its worst – it was raining a lot. However, as soon as we pulled up in pit lane, the rain pretty much stopped. I felt like maybe if we kept going under safety car, we would’ve got racing. It felt like it dried up quite a bit on the track there. But look, they’ve made a decision. Obviously from my side, I’m gutted. I was on pole and pretty much all my rivals that I’m battling in the championship were right at the back. So, it was a very good chance for me to claw back points in the championship fight and also to try and win the Larry Perkins Trophy.”

“I’m gutted that we weren’t able to go racing. We were super consistent this weekend with four poles and unfortunately, we weren’t able to get out there today. At the end of the day, there was a lot of fans that turned up to watch us, and we didn’t get to go racing for those guys.” 

“For me, getting four pole positions and three second place starts to start the year is awesome. I’ve had a few things not go my way, especially at Sydney and then this weekend, just not being able to convert at the right time. But the qualifying pace is awesome. We probably need to not so much work on the race pace, but just on executing when it comes to race time.”