Brown explains reason of costly late error
Brown gifts third to van Gisbergen with late error
Brown/Perkins started on pole for Sandown 500, finished fourth
Brown nearly 300 points behind teammate Kostecki heading to Bathurst
A small yet costly mistake was all it took for Will Brown to lose a hard-fought Penrite Oil Sandown 500 podium, with a downshift error opening the door to Shane van Gisbergen.
The Brown/Jack Perkins #9 Coca-Cola Camaro started on pole, but came home fourth behind winners Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup, Brodie Kostecki/David Russell, and van Gisbergen/Richie Stanaway.
In the closing laps, Brown hit a gear too many on the downshift at the fast Turn 6 and lost the rear of his Camaro, which shot over the grass. It gifted third to van Gisbergen, who started 19th after dual qualifying errors.
Critically, Erebus will take a reduced 95-point teams’ championship lead over Triple Eight to Bathurst, having entered 107 points to the good.
Brown was disappointed to miss out, and wanted to deliver a podium to his #9 crew after his title hopes took a major dent with a DNF, 13th and 13th at the OTR SuperSprint.
“I was disappointed to lose a podium, but probably disappointed throughout the whole race,” Brown said.
“I just didn’t have the tyre life of the other guys, I tried going slow out of the pits, I tried going a bit faster and all that, but I just couldn’t hang onto the rear tyre.
“Made a mistake with about five laps to go at the top of the hill, I got a double down change. I thought it missed a gear and went down again, lost the rear.
“Completely my fault, really sorry to the boys, they worked really hard, I would’ve liked to get them a podium after Tailem Bend and after pole position.”
Brown is now almost a round behind Kostecki with 900 points remaining, but kept his head high despite missing out on silverware for a fifth straight race.
“Definitely disappointed, but P4 is still great,” Brown said.
“There’s a lot of people who would’ve loved to finish P4 today. Still stoked with that, but it’s just what could’ve been.
“We’ll bounce back, we’re looking forward to Bathurst."
Van Gisbergen added: “We were struggling a bit at the end, but the Safety Car came out and I was able to try and put the pressure on.
“Congrats to our team, and Jamie and Broc, what a pretty good day. To come from where we were, Richie did awesome, get back to third.”
The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship continues at the Repco Bathurst 1000 on October 5-8. Tickets on sale now.
