Brown reacts to Mostert run-ins on costly day

Will Brown has lamented being caught in a “tough” race that saw the reigning champion lose the points lead and come together with Ford rival Chaz Mostert.

Brown dropped from first to third in the standings after a torrid run to 11th in Saturday’s second Tasmania race, which was won by teammate Broc Feeney.

Heading into Saturday, Brown led Cam Waters by 34 points, with Feeney and Mostert 61 and 86 points from the lead respectively.

In a wild turn of events, Feeney scored the maximum 170 points on Saturday, compared to Waters’ 130, Brown’s 92 and Mostert’s 33.

All told, Feeney out-scored Waters by 40 points, Brown by 78, and Mostert by 137 to take control of the championship lead, albeit by 13 points over Waters.

After being undone by a botched pit stop in the first race, dropping from second to fifth, Brown believed he earned the ire of Mostert after a series of run-ins as their disputed 12th place.

Notably, Brown hit the rear of Mostert’s Ford at the hairpin on lap 3, before passing the Mobil 1 Optus Mustang on lap 9. As they approached the Turn 1/2 braking zone, Mostert got into the rear of Brown’s Red Bull Ampol entry.

The end result was Brown dropping behind Mostert and Cameron Hill, with the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver hit with a five-second penalty.

"We had a good first race, got up to second and was ready to bring it home behind Broc,” Brown said.

"I was feeling very confident and then unfortunately, just a little mishap in the pits, which set us back a few places and we came out behind Cam and others.

“It's very unheard of for us to make a mistake during a race in pit lane like that but we press on and kept going to get the best finish we can. A little bit disappointed we didn't get a podium there."

Regarding the second race, Brown admitted he didn’t intend to hit Mostert at the hairpin, but suggested the Ford driver retaliated.

"I didn't qualify the best and then had a very tough race after that. Got caught up in some mid-field racing, at one point there I wasn't meaning to hit Chaz, but everyone was running into each other at the hairpin while the pack was so tight,” Brown said.

"I think he got a bit unhappy and then sent me at Turn 1. Then all of a sudden, I'm back to 15th and eventually ended up 11th. So yeah, a tough one, overall just a bit of a disappointing day.

"Hopefully, we come back stronger tomorrow. I think the key is qualifying up the top end tomorrow. Knowing how hard it is to pass here and how hard everyone is racing, you don't want to be back in the middle of the field.”

For Mostert, Saturday marked his worst day yet this season, courtesy of lowly finishes of 15th and 19th.

“Really tough day that’s for sure, we are on the back foot here, but not giving up yet,” Mostert said.

“We reset tomorrow morning so we will have another swing at it tonight, go through everything and see what we can do tomorrow.”