Champion Brown to run #1 in title defence

Supercars champion Will Brown will run the coveted #1 in 2025, following the Queenslander's title-winning season in 2024.

Brown won the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship courtesy of a stunning 19-podium season, headlined by five wins in 24 starts, including the Sandown 500 and Adelaide 500.

Only the driver who has won the previous year’s championship is permitted to use the #1 on their car, but they are not obliged to do so and can also choose their own.

Brown raced with the #87 last season, and while the team had kept the decision under wraps until now, Brown said at the time that he was keen to use the #1.

Speaking in Adelaide, Brown said: "I haven’t actually spoken with the team yet to see what we’ll do there... I’d say I’d be disappointed if we didn’t run it, if we didn’t get the opportunity later in the career. I think while you’ve got the opportunity now, you’ll probably have to run it.”

On Tuesday, Red Bull Ampol Racing posted a video to its social media channels, revealing the #1 sticker being applied to a car, suggesting Brown will indeed race with the champion's number.

It marks the first time since 2018 that a Triple Eight Race Engineering driver will use the #1, with Jamie Whincup opting to race with the number after each of his record seven championships.

Brodie Kostecki used the #1 at Erebus Motorsport last season, and also became the first driver since Whincup in 2012 to carry the number to a Bathurst 1000 victory.

The #1 went unused between 2019 and 2023, with Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen keeping their respective #17 and #97.

Van Gisbergen did, however, use the #1 as a one-off in Adelaide 2022 in tribute to Holden's final round.

In the V8 Supercar era, Glenn Seton, Craig Lowndes, Mark Skaife, Marcos Ambrose, Russell Ingall, Rick Kelly, Garth Tander, James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom all carried the #1 after winning the championship.

Tickets for the season-opening round in Sydney, on February 21-23, are on sale now.