Race 18 podium for Brown in Tassie 🏆
Round 8 - Supercars Championship
LAUNCESTON, Tasmania - Round 8 of the 2024 Supercars Championship in Tasmania proved an up-and-down weekend for Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Will Brown, with a top-ten result on Saturday and a P2 finish on Sunday marking the end of the Sprint Race season.
Known as a racetrack that bunches the field due to its small lap time, Brown and the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team were focused on optimising the speed of the Chevrolet Camaro LZ1 to ensure they hit the ground running the moment they rolled out.
Pace was there early for Brown, who spent the majority of Friday’s sole practice session atop the timesheets, providing a promising feeling in the team as Saturday’s sessions and race loomed.
A wet and wild practice session greeted drivers on Saturday, before the highly intense knockout-style qualifying session commenced, with Brown again showing great car speed, however became the unfortunate victim of an untimely red flag whilst on his flying lap.
This saw Brown line up in P15 for the race, with the tight circuit not well-known for its passing opportunities. Despite the challenge, Brown charged his way through the field across the 55-lap encounter, managing to finish a commendable P7 by the race's end.
A new day on Sunday provided a fresh opportunity for the #87, who ran through some strong data runs in the third and final practice session of the event, before powering his way to fourth place in qualifying and earning a second-row start for Race 18.
Brown would rocket off the line for the final Tasmanian encounter, positioning himself in P3 by the time the green flag flew. From there, a chaotic 55 laps ensued, with the #87 racing with his elbows up towards the closing stages of the race.
A late race pass saw the championship leader claim even more valuable points towards his championship, with a second-place finish and a great bounce back from the previous day's finish.
With the Tassie result, Brown heads the championship by 89 points, as the season shifts gears to the Enduro campaigns, with Sandown scheduled for September 13-15.
“Massive day today, good to rebound after yesterday’s P7," commented Brown. We had a really good pace, but I flat-spotted a tyre in the early stages of the first lap and I was limping the car home. I was hoping we could do four tyres in the stop and change that front tyre, but unfortunately couldn’t due to a safety car. I managed to limp it home and have a great battle with Thomas (Randle). Unfortunately, and probably due to me being slow, Broc got spun around by Thomas (Randle). I felt it was a bit unfair, the move made on me, so we got into it. But overall it was a pretty good race. I wasn’t happy with my race pace during that race, so I need to look at that, but I think that was due to the flat spotted tyre. I think we’ll look at that over the next few weeks, but positive to get another podium. That’s a podium every round this year, so that’s pretty cool, but just need to keep it going, and overall relatively happy with my weekend in Tassie.”
Next Event (Round 8): September 13-15 – Sandown, Victoria
Supercars Championship Results Race 17 (Tasmania SuperSprint):
- Nick Percat, (Chevrolet)
- Chaz Mostert, (Ford)
- Broc Feeney, (Chevrolet)
…
- Will Brown, Red Bull Ampol Racing (Chevrolet)
Supercars Championship Results Race 18 (Tasmania SuperSprint):
- Cam Waters, (Ford)
- Will Brown, Red Bull Ampol Racing (Chevrolet)
- Bryce Fullwood, (Chevrolet)
Supercars Championship Results after 8 of 12 rounds
- Will Brown, 1980
- Chaz Mostert, 1899
- Broc Feeney, 1782