Brown ready for tight championship fight

Will Brown is enthused by the prospect of a tight championship fight, with the top four covered by just 72 points.

The championship picture narrowed further at the NTI Townsville 500, with Brown taking the lead from teammate Brodie Kostecki.

Brown capitalised on misfortune for Kostecki to turn a 109-point deficit into a 44-point lead in three races.

However, Kostecki hit back in the Townsville finale to narrow the margin to his teammate to just seven points heading to Sydney.

Critically, both Red Bull Ampol Racing drivers have closed the gap, with Broc Feeney just 26 points behind Brown.

In five races, Feeney has closed from 191 to 26 points, while Shane van Gisbergen — despite being winless in 10 starts — continues to score points.

Chaz Mostert and Andre Heimgartner, meanwhile, are still just 243 and 250 points down with 1815 points left to win.

Brown, who left a Supercars round as points leader for the first time, was excited to be part of one of the closest title fights in the sport's history.

"I keep going each round, ‘It’d be great to be top three this weekend’,” Brown told the Schick Cool Down Lap podcast.

"To be clawing back and now be leading the championship is awesome.

"It's cool to see how close it is up the front. Broc’s doing a fantastic job, Brodie is and Shane’s still up there.

"I think it’s going to be pretty exciting — it sounded like there was a good bit chatting going on between the Red Bulls.

"We’ll let them fight it out between them, and see how we go."

The 2023 title looks set to be won by drivers who manage to make the most of their bad days, like Brown did on Sunday.

Brown plummeted down the field before fighting back to finish sixth, with Kostecki (second), Feeney (fourth) and van Gisbergen (fifth) all ahead.

Both Erebus drivers missed the podium in Darwin, yet managed to record top five finishes to keep racking up points.

"We’re rolling out pretty good at most rounds,” Brown added.

"Darwin was our worst, and we still had a good weekend there. Just got to keep the ball rolling.

"Days like today where we got beaten around at the start — went back to 12th — to come back to sixth is what you need to do."

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight on July 28-30. Tickets are on sale now.