Two more Trophies and a Bag of Points in Perth!
Will Brown has banked solid points to consolidate second place in the drivers championship after securing two podium finishes at the Perth Super 440.
Race 14 - P2
Brown started the weekend with sixth for the round’s first race, and though he could make no progress off the line or in the first stint, a gamble on a longer stop for four fresh tyres paid big dividends. Rejoining the race 10th, he monstered his way through the field until he was on the rear bumper of leader Ryan Wood, where he harassed the Kiwi in an attempt to elicit a mistake. With no error forthcoming, Brown banked big points for a head-earnt second place.
Race 15 - P2
Qualifying for the weekend’s second race was tight behind dominant pole-getter Wood, with Brown shuffled down to eighth at the end of the session. A gain of one place at the start and moving up to fifth by lap 14 got him within sight of the lead, and an early stop on lap 23 put him on the path to the podium by undercutting his way part the race’s erstwhile leaders. Teammate Broc Feeney covered the strategy to keep ahead, and the pair battled their way to the front, though car 88 held the lead. A fast-finishing Chaz Mostert on fresher tyres kept Brown’s eyes on his mirrors late to secure a second runner-up finish for the day.
Race 16 - P5
Back on the soft tyre for Sunday’s top-10 shootout, Brown put in his best qualifying performance of the weekend to start the long race third, but his day was undone largely in the first stint, when he lost a place off the line and two more places before lap 10 after picking up suspected damage in a tap shortly after the start. A badly timed safety car cemented his losses by allowing others to jump him, leaving him fifth at the chequered flag.
“Saturday was a great day. Two podiums — I can’t be unhappy with that. I probably didn’t qualify as good as we wanted to — eighth and sixth wasn’t fantastic — but we were able to race from there, and I was really happy with the results considering those qualifying positions, especially after a great day of racing, particularly with Broc and all the guys battling for the lead in race 2. Sunday was looking like a positive day — I got third in qualifying in the shootout, which I was pretty happy about — but I just didn’t have it in the race. it felt like we had such a strong car on Saturday. We copped a bit of a hit maybe lap 3 — I’m not sure if that bent something, but it felt like something wasn’t quite right in the car. It was a bit of a disappointing day, even though I had a few good races out there — a bit of argy-bargy, which is good. Overall I’m pretty happy with the weekend. Broc did a fantastic job, and I felt like with two podiums and a fifth, I’m not unhappy. We’re slowly clawing our way back up there, not dropping many points in the championship. I just need to put one good round together.”
Round 6 of the Supercars Championship takes place on 20–22 June with the Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway.