Strategy saves Brown in crucial 'recovery drive'

Will Brown has hailed his crew for a bold strategy move that helped the championship leader dig himself out of a hole after starting 15th.

Brown motored from 15th to seventh in Saturday’s Tasmania opener, which was taken out by Matt Stone Racing veteran Nick Percat.

The points leader was buried in the pack after being caught out by a red flag in qualifying, and like Townsville, was at the mercy of mid-pack chaos.

After a circumspect start, Brown slowly moved forward before taking four tyres at his stop, helping him cut through the field in the second stint. It wasn't without incident, though, with Brown hitting James Courtney on cold tyres at the hairpin.

“The boys did a great job on strategy as always, and I was able to move forward eight positions to P7 which was great,” Brown said.

"It was another recovery drive again today, I have to sort out qualifying and start from the front. I was disappointed in qualifying with the red flag, it just meant that we started 15th.

"We had really good pace and made some good passes. I think ultimately, our strategy is what got us to where we finished today. A lot of positives to take into tomorrow."

It was just the fourth time in 17 races that Brown missed out on the podium, but critically, he was behind closest rivals Chaz Mostert and teammate Broc Feeney, who finished second and third.

Mostert slashed his deficit from 105 to 63 points, while pole-sitter Feeney moved from 153 to 120 points in arrears.

Brown is confident he would have been in the fight for pole had he not been tripped up by the red flag, and was pleased with his race pace.

"I think when you look at Broc and all the customer cars, they're all up near the front and I'm confident I could have been up there with them in qualifying if it wasn't for the red flag,” Brown said.

"I have a lot of confidence in how good our car is and hopefully, we can get a good result tomorrow and be on that podium."