Broc Feeney claims pole for Bathurst after 2023 heartbreak however it is more pain for Erebus on The Mountain

Broc Feeney has brushed aside the heartbreak of crashing out of Bathurst last season to claim pole position for the big race on The Mountain in the Supercars Championship opening round.

But it was more bad news for Erebus Motorsport with Jack Le Brocq’s Camaro bombing out with an oil pressure issue.

Feeney went into last year’s race with co-driver Jamie Whincup as favourite, but was left ‘absolutely gutted’ when their Camaro was taken out of contention with a broken gear shift tower.

‘This place can be the best but it also can be the worst,’ he said at the time,

Broc Feeney’s car failed him at last year’s Bathurst but he will go into this year’s big race in pole position after finishing fastest in practice

Feeney will get a shot at redemption as Triple Eight claimed first and second in Saturday’s dramatic first practice ahead of the Bathurst 500.

But he will be tested all the way by his Triple Eight teammate Will Brown, who turned the tables in the Top Ten Shootout after finishing second in practice.

‘It was awesome out there, had a little bit of cloud cover, but put a really tidy lap together,’ Brown said.

‘To get pole position for the first weekend with Red Bull is awesome, stoked with it. There were a few things that I had to work on over the top. I feel like I got it right that lap.

‘It’ll be a good drag race off the line, we’ll see what the strategy falls from there.’

It was another blow for Erebus Motorsport, with the team enduring plenty of criticism over summer after the highly publicised split with 2023 champion Brodie Kostecki.

Todd Hazlewood is hoping to give Erebus Motorsport something to smile about after a horror summer including the departure or reigning Supercars Championship winner Brodie Kostecki

Brown also left Erebus at the end of 2023 with a year left on his contract to replace NASCAR-bound Shane van Gisbergen, leaving the team to rebuild for the 2024 series.

It has been a horror off-season for Erebus with sponsors Coca-Cola, Shaw and Partners and Southern Cross Truck Rentals withdrawing their support and Triple Eight Race Engineering team owner Roland Dane calling it a ‘toxic workplace’.

The situation left team boss Barry Ryan in tears during an interview on Friday, admitting his family feared he might self-harm over the ‘hate’ he had been receiving.

While new recruit Le Brocq could not get off to a flying start for Erebus, it was better news for endurance specialist Todd Hazelwood.

He will lineup in fifth place on the grid in his Camaro after a day of tight racing on The Mountain, giving Erebus some hope after the dramatic summer the team has gone through.