Yellow flag, tyre choices cruel Brown as qualifying woes strike again
Will Brown set to start 17th in Sandown 500 finale
Reigning champion hampered by yellow flags and tyre gambles in Sunday qualifying
Brown has only qualified in the top 10 once during Finals Series
Will Brown will be forced to repeat his Saturday Houdini act when he starts 17th in Race 31 of the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500.
A curveball was thrown into Boost Mobile Qualifying when light rain began to fall over Sandown 10 minutes before the start of Q1, with showers blowing through sporadically throughout both sessions.
The most significant of the showers blew through in the closing minutes of Q1, effectively signalling an early end to the session, with the track still damp for the start of Q2.
Conditions were wet enough that Brown and Chaz Mostert ventured out on Wet tyres, however they quickly dived back in for slicks after their out lap.
Whilst Mostert was able to secure safe passage to the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout, Brown had a scrappier session, being forced to abandon a lap when he encountered yellow flags, likely for the spun Cameron Hill at Dandenong Road.
Brown returned to the lane with just over three minutes to go, which was when several drivers bumped their way up the order, some doing it on their final flying laps.
Brown was consigned to 17th at the end of the session, the only Finals Driver not to progress to the Shootout. The reigning champion has only qualified in the top 10 once during the Finals Series, at an average of 15.0.
"We just made the wrong call with tyres, and then we got the yellow flag when one of the cars spun on one of our laps," said a frustrated Brown post-session.
"Then we went on the greens too late, and another rain shower came at the back of the straight, so we just missed the window, it's about it really."
It's not all lost for the 2024 Sandown 500 winner, however, who was able to soar from 15th on the grid to an improbable second yesterday, which could've been a win had it nor been for the defences of Ryan Wood.
However, with the weather set to linger at Sandown all day, it is set to be an extreme challenge in the final leg of the Semi Final.
"I'm confident we can do it again today. We were able to do it yesterday, we can do it again today hopefully.
"I'm not sure we'll get as far up, we'll try our hardest. It's very disappointing."
Brown enters this afternoon third in points, 56 points clear of the cut-line with 150 on offer today.
Race 31 of the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship will begin at 3:20pm AEDT.
