Ahhh, Tasmania, you little stunner. A seemingly quiet, relaxed holiday destination for Australians who want to experience the bitter cold in their own country. And while it might be a holiday destination for some, it is the great boxing ring in Australian motorsport. No, really.

Any of those glorious highlight clips you see on social media or YouTube – there is bound to be a clip from Symmons Plains, front and centre. Most likely courtesy of some high-speed touches, sending anyone in the wrong place, or some of the most grizzly and aggressive passes you’ll find anywhere.

It might be the freezing cold; it might also be the 50-second lap times. It might be the ever-classic Turn 4 hairpin left-hander, with its 300 different racing lines. It might also be the garages, and the best place to enter them (same as taking your boots off when you get home from work – you wouldn’t hear a helmet inside, would you?).
Jokes aside – there is some work to be done. The boys copped a fair old time of it over the ditch, and for only the second time in the Gen-3 era of Supercar racing, a Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaro was not on the podium at a race weekend. Bugger.

But we keep rolling with the punches, as they will be coming thick and fast at Symmons Plains. With a year of racing so far, being hugely physical, aggressive, and drawing mixed opinions, qualifying results will be the greatest focus across the weekend. We haven’t even mentioned how tight the Top Ten Shootout on Sunday will be – how good! But don’t take it from this scribe – head below to hear from the boys and how they are feeling for the big trip south:

Will Brown
Driver #1 Chevrolet Camaro
Red Bull Ampol Racing

“I am for sure looking forward to getting down to Tasmania. Obviously, it was a bit of a tougher round for us in New Zealand. So keen to get out on track on Friday. Hopefully, uh, we can bounce back strong and get a win or two out there.”

“Personally, I don’t really look into our history in Tassie. I think every year, racetracks evolve, people evolve, and I think we saw that in New Zealand. Last year, we had a really strong showing there and were fairly dominant, and this year we struggled. So, I just focus more on each meeting as it comes and prepare the best we can for that.”

“I think it’s showing this year how close the times are between everyone, and that’s without getting on a short circuit, like Symmons Plains. The times in qualifying are always close in Tasmania, but they’re going to be even closer this year. So you’re going to have to put your best foot forward, make no mistakes, and qualify right up the front to race up there.”

Broc Feeney
Driver #88 Chevrolet Camaro
Red Bull Ampol Racing

“I’m excited to bounce back with a good weekend. There’s always lots of talk when we don’t have the best of weekends, but I think we made really good progress on Sunday in New Zealand, and we learned a lot. Going to Tasmania, the mindset is the same as usual. It’s not to go there and try and improve a little bit, it’s to go there and win races, which we’ve been able to do in Tasmania for a long time.”

“We were fast there last year, but it’s going to be about qualifying up the front and executing. For me, it’s about getting the ball rolling. I mean, we’ve had an okay start to the year, but our results probably don’t reflect what our pace has been. So, it’s looking to have a good weekend, get some wins on the board, and try and get back to the top of the standings.”

“You can’t rely on previous years. Looking at New Zealand, we went there with something that was similar to last year’s car, and we went away from that. We took a lot of learnings from that, just trying to understand why. I think with the new car, new tires, you know, nothing’s a guarantee anymore. We know we’ve got the best guys in the pit lane, we’ve got the best engineers, so we’ve got to get to work. I felt like we learned a lot from what was a bad weekend last time out. I am just looking forward to getting back to work and getting back to where we should be.”There is no break from the action this weekend, with the Super 440 format at play – meaning 2x qualifying sessions and 2x sprint races on Saturday, followed by qualifying, the all-important return of the Top Ten Shootout and a strategy race in the afternoon.

Strap up, put your mouthguard in, and get your toes on line, because we are in for a treat this weekend!

Tasmania Super 440 – Practice 1 & 2 Results

Will Brown – Car #1

Practice 1 – 12th (51.6054)
Practice 2 – 3rd (51.2578)

“The car is feeling competitive. We had a really good session in that second practice this afternoon. Running P1 for most of the session, didn’t get the best green run at the end and got caught up with a few cars. I probably put myself in some bad positions on track, but ended up P3 which is a good result. I know we can push up to the front now and I think the car is feeling really good heading into tomorrow.”

“For me, the key for qualifying in the morning is not making a mistake. Get myself in a good position out there to qualify as well as I can, get a good tow if possible and we’ll be all right.”

“Then for the two races tomorrow, I think it’s about having a good race car after a strong qualifying run, working out what won’t work in the race and making sure that we have tire life through the whole race, it’s going to be a big thing all weekend.”

Broc Feeney – Car #88
Practice 1 – 1st (51.3113)
Practice 2 – 1st (51.0887)

“After NZ, it’s been good to just roll out and be right at the front from the first outing in that first practice session, then we pretty much stayed there all day. It’s been really good to bounce back and have a good first Friday after the last round!”

“For me, really good practice one, then practice two, we probably struggled a little bit. I was just overdriving a little bit and then put it together at the end, so happy with that.”

“For qualifying tomorrow, it’s just super tight around here. It’s about just not making any mistakes and making small tweaks if we need them. But obviously, the tow is going to be pretty important, so I’ve got to think of some magic tonight to get some people passing me on the out lap. But overall, we’ve got a fast car, and I think we’re in a good spot at the moment. I’m very happy with how today has gone.”

“We just want to have two great qualifying sessions and be where we want to be. We just want to be consistent this whole weekend and try and execute. So, the goal is to start on the front row and go for the win. Ideally, we start at the front and just lead out the rest of the day and try and make it easy for ourselves.”

Tasmania Super 440 – Qualifying (Race 11 & 12) & Race (11 & 12) Results

Will Brown – Car #1

Qualifying (Race 11) – 4th (50.7873)

Qualifying (Race 12) – 13th (50.9657)

Race 11 – 5th

Race 12 – 11th

“Car felt good this morning, fast and good to get it up the front in qualifying for that first race. We had a good first race,
got up to second and was ready to bring it home behind Broc (Feeney). I was feeling very confident and then unfortunately, just a little mishap in the pits, which set us back a few places and we came out behind Cam (Waters) and others. The boys did such a fantastic job, it’s very unheard of for us to make a mistake during a race in pit lane like that but we press on and kept going to get the best finish we can. A little bit disappointed we didn’t get a podium there.”

“I didn’t qualify the best and then had a very tough race after that. Got caught up in some mid-field racing, at one point there I wasn’t meaning to hit Chaz (Mostert), but everyone was running into each other at the hairpin while the pack was so tight. I think he got a bit unhappy and then sent me at turn one. Then all of a sudden, I’m back to 15th and eventually ended up 11th. So yeah, a tough one, overall just a bit of a disappointing day.”

“Hopefully, we come back stronger tomorrow. I think the key is qualifying up the top end tomorrow. Knowing how hard it is to pass here and how hard everyone is racing, you don’t want to be back in the middle of the field. Watching Broc – we know the car is fast, and if you’re up there at the front, you put yourself in a good position to compete. It’s all about qualifying, to be honest. It’s nearly impossible to pass here unless someone makes a mistake, and you can’t rely on things like that.”

Broc Feeney – Car #88

Qualifying (Race 11) – 2nd (50.7057)

Qualifying (Race 12) – 1st (50.8368)

Race 11 – 1st

Race 12 – 1st

“Those first two qualifying sessions were pretty hectic. I mean, they’re back-to-back and with different tires, and to be honest, I was pretty disappointed with the first one.
I felt like we had the speed for pole, but we just had a few things going on behind the scenes that made it a bit more difficult to get there. But to get two front row starts and one of them being pole, which was for my 100th, that was awesome, and I was super proud that we could do it out front without looking around for a tow, which can be so big here. We just had a really fast car, and that set us up for a good day overall.”

“Starting from the front row in that first race, I didn’t get the best start, so I just tried to slot in behind Tom (Randle). Then Will (Brown) went around the outside, Cam (Waters) hit me up the back, then Will was there and we were rubbing sides… I’m like, oh, no, but we got through that all without any issues, which was good. Then I sort of just waited, bit my tongue and waited for my time to get by Tom, once I made that move, I was able to drive away. That was a pretty solid race,
I mean to win by seven seconds at Tassie is pretty special in the fifty (lap) race.”

“The second race was probably a little more chaotic for me. We were able to gap everyone at the start, but then by doing four tires we put ourselves in not the best track position, and a lot of guys slotted out in front of us.
So then I had a great battle with Nick from where he came out. Once again, we’ve got a super-fast car. We probably didn’t need to take that risk with the tyres, but it worked out and we got the win in my 100th, which is super special.”

“Tomorrow it’s about turning up and doing the same things, no mistakes, it’s just about executing. We know we’re fast, we’ll probably have to still make some tweaks overnight, but it’s just about doing our job tomorrow and not relying on today’s results. Go out and do it all again.”

Tasmania Super 440 – Qualifying (Race 13), Top Ten Shootout & Race 13 Results

Will Brown – Car #1

Qualifying (Race 13) – 1st (50.7620)
Top Ten Shootout – 1st (51.4905)
Race 13 – 3rd

Drivers’ Championship Standings – 2nd (861 points)

“It was great to finally get that pole position today. Then from there to the race, I’m super disappointed in myself with the start. I stuffed up there, and then I was running second right off the bat. Then I feel like Cam just shuffled me up the road, and I wasn’t where I wanted to be, but that happens. Sometimes you give it, sometimes you get it. From there, I just got shuffled and ended up a fair way back. So we opted to go a different strategy because we were a bit behind, and thankfully it worked out for us.”

“We ended up third. Broc (Feeney) did a fantastic job. But good points for us today. We’re one-two in the Championship. I’ve dropped to second, which is a bit disappointing, but it’s good for both cars to be one and two in the Championship currently.”

“I definitely think the team is feeling good. I think that we’re a lot stronger this week than we were in Taupo. I don’t think I have a lot better results to show for it, but we’re definitely feeling a lot stronger. I think I can say I’ve bounced back and we’re ready to go again in Perth.”

Broc Feeney – Car #88

Qualifying (Race 13) – 2nd (50.8057)
Top Ten Shootout – 5th (51.6953)
Race 13 – 2nd

Drivers’ Championship Standings – 1st (894 points)

Teams’ Championship Standings – 1st (1755 points)

“We had a pretty good qualifying, like yesterday, we’re still super fast… Then in the shootout I just some mistakes in the first couple of corners and sort of lost a couple of tenths. So, ending up fifth there after all that was pretty disappointing. It was probably my worst lap of the weekend, and it came at the worst time for me. But after that the race was pretty cool, I made a few positions up the start and then just picked cars off one by one for the next few laps.”

“We got James (Golding) in the pits, and I suppose we chose to do the strategy to pit again sooner, while others did their second under the safety car. I think most in our position would have done the same thing, so I’m not disappointed really with the choice that we made there. But it was clear that the speed we had was incredible. We were gapping the cars behind by eight seconds in that second stint, and the last stint was heaps of fun. It was literally just qualifying laps, fifty-one-second laps for most of the stint.”

“I knew it was going to be close with Matty at the end. I knew I’d probably get him with a lap or two to go. But he did a good job. He positioned himself in the right spots and made it pretty hard for me. So, had there been a couple of extra laps it might’ve been a little bit different, but overall, it was a great weekend.”

“I’m stoked to lead the Championship. But it’s a shame not to get the sweep. At the same time, I am really proud of the whole team. We made a huge jump forward this weekend. I think that people had a lot of questions about us after the last round, and I think we put all that chatter to bed. The car this weekend was ridiculous! The pace that we had in that race was incredible! So we might not have the race win next to us for today, but I think when we all go back and look at it, we’ll be pretty proud of what we achieved there.”