Brown in Finals drop zone, fed up with qualifying woes

Will Brown has qualified 11th or worse 12 times this season. If he does it at Sandown even once, the door may firmly be shut on a successful championship defence.

When it comes to race pace, the #1 Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet is class of the field, courtesy of engineer Andrew Edwards's smarts and Brown's overtaking ability.

Twice Brown dug himself out of a hole in the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 opener, first after starting 10th following a Shootout crash, before a clash with Kai Allen sent him to the back.

Come Sunday, Brown spun out of qualifying, before a flying lap kerb strike consigned him to 18th on the grid. A charge to eighth was enough to make the Semi Final, but across the weekend, the Queenslander dropped from third to fifth in the standings.

Brown knows more than anyone that his qualifying performance hasn't been up to standard, especially as teammate Broc Feeney continues to rack up pole positions. However, he knows he often has the race pace to make up for it.

"Qualifying, disappointing. It got us again today. It's been something all season, Qualifying, and we've had to fight back from it in the race,” the 27-year-old said in a team release.

"Disappointing not to make the Shootout. But we went in with a fast car. We knew that from earlier in the weekend. So it was just about getting on with it.

"Started the race in that middle pack area and starting there around here is always going to be dangerous with the chicane and with the corners.

"Today was probably different because you've got maybe some desperate guys out there trying to make the Finals. But we pushed on, moved up through and made up a few spots around the stops, which was good.

"Car felt good. Ended up where we ended up and that was good enough to seal our ticket to Sandown, which is great."

Having led the championship for all bar one race en route to the 2024 title, Brown suddenly finds himself staring down the battle of a Semi Final exit.

Brown started the weekend third, and 30 points above fifth. Mostert's Gold Coast clean sweep turned the order on its head, with Brown falling out of the top four as Broc Feeney, Matt Payne and Cam Waters held onto their provisional Grand Final spots.

"Dropped a few points in the championship but excited to be there, excited to be going to Sandown where obviously we were fast and did well last year,” said Brown, who won the 2024 Sandown 500.

"So we'll go back to the workshop, sit down, go through this weekend and debrief, get ready for the next one and hopefully come out, qualify well, race well.

"Massive effort from the whole team this weekend especially the guys on my car, we were in some situations and they got us out of it, gave me a car to drive, thankful to the team and good to get the result for them, good to stay in the Finals hunt."

The Repco Supercars Finals Series resumes at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 on November 14-16. Tickets for the Semi Final are on sale now.