Brown cool on title talk despite winning run
Adjusting his expectations, rather than the lure of the championship, is at the forefront of the in-form Will Brown’s mind.
Brown jumped to second in the standings, 87 points behind teammate Brodie Kostecki, at the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint.
The #9 Coca-Cola Camaro has been first to the chequered flag in three of the last five races, with Brown second and third in the other two.
Brown is on a run of five straight podiums, and has seven podiums in his last 10 starts.
The Queenslander is firmly in the hunt for the championship, with Erebus enjoying a healthy 276-point lead in the teams’ championship.
Heading to Symmons Plains, Brown was 171 points behind his teammate, who now hasn't won since Race 5 at Albert Park.
Speaking on the Schick Cool Down Lap podcast, Brown admitted he expected to be fighting in the top five, but is still coming to terms with his impressive form.
"I like to be a realist — you’re never really sure what was going to happen,” Brown said.
"You’re going into a whole new car is going to perform, the team is, or whatever.
"I knew the team would do a really good job coming into Gen3, Tom [Moore, #9 engineer] and George [Commins, #99 engineer] have done a fantastic job.
"Driving a lot of cars, I should be able to adapt to these.
"I was hoping to be in the top five a lot, but to have this many wins and podiums is fantastic.”
Given Erebus has been the form team at all four rounds so far this season, both drivers have had to adjust their expectations on the run.
For Brown, knowing the speed is consistently there, the pressure is on to avoid drama and make mistakes.
All drivers in the top six have been caught out already this season — Chaz Mostert and Shane van Gisbergen suffered DNFs in Tasmania, and Kostecki also crashed.
Feeney was involved in the Mostert incident, while Brown crashed out battling Mostert at Albert Park last month.
Then, there’s Cam Waters, who crashed chasing Mostert in Newcastle, was turned around in Perth, and clashed with both Shell V-Power Fords in Tasmania qualifying.
Given all drivers’ struggles, and the breadth of winners — five different winners in 12 races — Kostecki’s points haul is the lowest by a championship leader after four rounds since 2018.
"It is pretty cool, but it's like yesterday, you win and you're driving home and you think you'd be super excited,” Brown said in the press conference.
"But you're thinking, oh, I hope I don't f**k it up tomorrow. Do you know what I mean? That's what it's like.
"For us that's the biggest thing. You can easily make a mistake and after winning yesterday, be 10th [today].
"Everyone is so competitive and doing such a good job that you've got to be so on it to be up there.
"It's just that... I wouldn't call it pressure, but each round you're trying to do the best job you can.
"So I wouldn't say I'm really thinking about the championship.”
Erebus is set to test at Winton between ahead of next month’s betr Darwin Triple Crown, and leads the teams' championship by 276 points.
