Brown upbeat despite pit stop disaster
Will Brown remains positive Erebus Motorsport will come back fighting in Sydney despite the disastrous pit stop that cost him his maiden Supercars win.
Brown's first main game front row start saw him challenging pole-sitter Anton De Pasquale throughout the opening stint of Race 20.
The Erebus rookie was able to keep pace with De Pasquale before he was overtaken by a charging Shane van Gisbergen on lap 14.
De Pasquale and Brown headed into pit lane on the following lap, leaving van Gisbergen in the lead but robbing Brown of any chance of an undercut.
His hopes were dashed further when the wheel nut on his right rear popped out, taking time to reattach, costing him over 10 seconds.
The woes continued when his front right tyre also had issues attaching correctly, costing him over 16 seconds.
With four new tyres, Brown rejoined well behind De Pasquale but climbed his way back up to finish fifth and claim the fastest lap of the race.
"That was a tough one, a little bit disappointed, but we win and we lose as a team," Brown said.
"The boys have tried so hard and have been putting in the practice with pitstops and just made a mistake.
"That's part of it, we'll press on.
"Luckily, we've got four weekends to go, so we'll get up on that podium, but I had really good pace at the start.
"I thought we could handle Anton a little bit if we could get close enough. It's disappointing and I wish we could have got up on that podium and battled for the win.
"I probably can't say what's going through my head, I’ll get a fine, but it's just one of those things.
"Like, I say, the boys are putting in the hard work and it's just a mistake."
Erebus was fined $250 by the stewards after the brake lock mechanism was not activated on Brown's during the stop due to insufficient brake pressure.
Conversely, Brodie Kostecki also continued to display the pace he had in qualifying and in the shootout, hunting down Nick Percat in the final moments to claim his second podium of the season.
Kostecki's third place finish sees him overtake Brown in the standings.
The #99 Boost Mobile Commodore driver acknowledged the team is compromised going into Sunday's races; both Kostecki and Brown used a full set of Dunlop Soft tyres in the race.
Despite the setbacks for the #9, Brown remained upbeat about his prospects moving into four consecutive weekends of racing at Sydney Motorsport Park.
"We have started off strong for four weekends in a row at the same track," he said.
"We’ve got a strong car, so we will press on and hopefully get on that podium and get a win."
Cars will return to the track on Sunday at 10:30am AEDT for Race 21 qualifying.
