Brown leads dominant Erebus one-two

Will Brown has led a dominant Erebus Motorsport one-two in Race 8 at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint.

Coca-Cola Camaro driver Brown won the first Sunday sprint at CARCO-com.au Raceway in a canter, winning by 6.2563s.

Teammate Brodie Kostecki extended his points lead with second, with James Courtney sealing third in his Snowy Rivers Caravans Ford.

It was Brown’s first victory since since Sydney 2021, and the first one-two result for Erebus in the team’s history.

It was also the first win in Perth for Erebus since Will Davison won aboard a Mercedes-AMG in 2015.

Brown becomes the fifth different driver to win in 2023 in just eight races, joining Kostecki, Shane van Gisbergen, Broc Feeney and Cam Waters.

"I had a bloody fast car," Brown said.

"I just kept going. I was wondering if I was pushing too hard and not conserving, but it was really fast.

"The cars are very fast... it's pretty surreal for me and Brodie, for us to get a one-two is really cool.

"A lot of firsts for Erebus lately." 

Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) bounced back from a lowly Saturday to finish fourth ahead of van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro), who raced from ninth to fifth.

Brown led the field into Turn 1 from pole, with David Reynolds slotting into second aboard his #26 Penrite Mustang.

Kostecki pounced on Reynolds at Turn 7 at the end of the lap, with Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) attempting a similar move one lap later.

However, De Pasquale locked his right-right and careened into Reynolds, who dropped to 12th.

Stewards quickly hit De Pasquale with a 15-second time penalty, and the #11 Ford came home 22nd, some 40.3808s from the win.

By lap 12, Brown led Kostecki by 1.4s, with Courtney, Mostert, Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) and Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang) behind.

Van Gisbergen stalked De Pasquale for seventh, and made a pass stick at Turn 7 on lap 15.

Two laps later, Waters (#6 Monster Mustang) cleared De Pasquale at Turn 1.

Kostecki made his compulsory stop on lap 20, with Payne (lap 21), Mostert and Davison (lap 22) and Courtney (lap 23) following suit.

Erebus called Brown in on lap 26, with van Gisbergen following the #9 Coca-Cola Camaro into the lane.

Brown emerged well ahead of Kostecki and was untouchable from there, scoring his first win in 43 starts.

Davison came home sixth ahead of Todd Hazelwood (#3 CoolDrive Mustang), Waters, Payne and Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro).

Reynolds was classified 14th, some 33.1650s from Brown, with James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro) taking home fastest lap bonus points in 11th.

Golding’s teammate Tim Slade was one of two casualties, pulling over into the infield late on on lap 33.

Slade and Cameron Hill (#35 Truck Assist Camaro) were classified 24th and 25th.

Race 9 pole-sitter Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) was 12th

Kostecki will carry an extended 88-point lead over Mostert into Race 9, with van Gisbergen 96 points down.

Brown is 177 points down in fourth, with Erebus extending its teams’ championship lead to 153 points.

The Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint will conclude with Race 9 at 3:45pm local time/5:45pm AEST.