Brown, Waters on alert over retaliation in do-or-die races
Finals stars on alert over retaliation in do-or-die races
"Probably need a few friends on your side going into Adelaide," says Will Brown
2025 Finals field will be slashed from seven to four at Sandown
Gamesmanship could be at an all-time high at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 as Finals Drivers aim to secure spots at the bp Adelaide Grand Final.
This weekend’s Sandown round is the final chance for drivers to qualify for the championship-deciding round in Adelaide on November 27-30.
The Repco Supercars Finals Series exploded to life at a dramatic Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, where Brodie Kostecki crashed and Anton De Pasquale was penalised.
There were flashpoints throughout the field, from Chaz Mostert and Broc Feeney’s heart-stopping fight for the lead, clashes between Matt Payne and Will Davison, and Kai Allen turning Brown and Thomas Randle in both races.
Heading to Adelaide, drivers could have scores to settle from collisions from earlier in the season, or clashes at Sandown. All told, it could frame how the remaining Finals Drivers approach the Grand Final, should they make it.
“It’s really hard to know how to race in these Finals,” Brown said in a Triple Eight preview.
“How you race someone is how you’re going to get raced back, so you don’t want to be too crazy because you probably need a few friends on your side going into Adelaide if you make it through.
"So, we’ll try to keep it clean, pass people as normal, race as normal, and get through to Adelaide that way.”
Finals Drivers have the most to lose, with Waters and Brown at the centre of the battle. Waters holds the coveted fourth position, 12 points ahead of reigning champion Brown.
Waters and Brown have also clashed repeatedly this season, from the tense run-in in Sydney, to a first-corner collision in Tasmania.
“You have to be pretty strategic around who you're racing and if those people are in or out of The Finals,” Waters told Supercars.com.
“If you've run into them through the year, you’ve got to remember that. They're all different things you’ve got to be thinking about while you're out there racing.
"Sandown lends itself to some big dive bombs and some good racing. It's going to get pretty spicy out there."
When asked if any drivers would be lining him up at Sandown, Waters laughed: “Not off the top of my head, but I'm sure there's people that think they owe me one. But look, I think I usually race fairly aggressive, but fairly clean.
“Hopefully no one's out to get me. But yeah, like I'm not really worried about that. You just worry about your own job at hand, and that's what we're going to do.”
Brown admitted drivers are feeling the pressure, including himself. Twice in as many days, Brown crashed in qualifying, leading to lowly grid slots of 10th and 18th.
Teams also slipped up: Ryan Wood's season went up in smoke over a fuel leak while leading the first race from pole, an unsafe release killed Payne's Saturday race, while hurried repairs from Dick Johnson Racing weren't enough to keep Kostecki out of the wall.
“I think the Finals are living up to exactly what Supercars wanted them to, and that’s putting on a show that’s extremely exciting to watch but also puts us under a lot of pressure out there,” Brown said.
"I think we saw mistakes from teams and drivers due to that pressure. For myself, I’ve got to improve on what I did at Gold Coast and do a better job in the next couple of rounds. But it was good.
"Like I say, I think we’re fast at Sandown and Adelaide, so I think we can hopefully jump up into that top four and get through to the Finals.”
Track action will commence at Sandown on Friday. 250km races will be held on Saturday and Sunday, with Fox Sports, Kayo Sports and Sky NZ taking live coverage.
