Why Brown escaped penalty over Cameron, Murray incidents

Will Brown has a golden chance to get redemption on Sunday morning, starting from pole for Race 7 following an incident-laden Saturday.

A series of post-race penalties were confirmed after Saturday's race, but two incidents involving Triple Eight star Brown went without penalty,

The 2024 Supercars champion’s Saturday afternoon was action-packed, first being caught in a three-wide clash with Cooper Murray and Jack Le Brocq, before spinning off with Aaron Cameron.

Before the Cameron incident, Brown fell into the clutches of Murray and Le Brocq after shortcutting Turn 10 following a hit from Chaz Mostert, who later received a post-race penalty.

With Brown on the inside, Murray spun across the nose of Le Brocq and was buried in the gravel trap, triggering the Safety Car. The Cameron/Brown clash at Turn 4 ultimately took both Fords out of contention, with Cameron ending up 20th and Brown 21st.

Motorsport Australia Driving Standards Advisor Craig Baird told Supercars.com that Blanchard Racing Team driver Cameron later admitted he didn’t see Brown go up the inside at Turn 4.

“Aaron turned in and had no idea he was there was a car with overlap. So, it was deemed no one was wholly or predominantly to blame," Baird said.

“I was a little bit surprised and impressed that Aaron sort of put his hand up. From the live angle, it looked like Brown simply spun him out. But you can’t argue with the guy that got spun if he put his hand up.

“That's a positive thing for our sport, that drivers can race hard and if they have the odd incident, they can both take accountability.”

It did little to placate BRT boss Tim Blanchard, who after watching Golding and Cameron pick up damage once again, told Supercars.com post-race: "We keep getting ourselves in positions where we come off second best."

Brown was ultimately spared of a fourth penalty in six races, with the Murray/Le Brocq run-in also deemed a racing incident.

“Brown was up the inside of Le Brocq, who was side by side with Murray. Cooper didn’t realise Brown was on the inside, so he was expecting Le Brocq to turn to the apex," Baird added.

“Le Brocq couldn't turn because he had a car on the inside of him. He was a car wider than Cooper was thinking. Cooper's turned, expecting Le Brocq to turn, but he never turned. Three into one just doesn’t go.”

The Melbourne SuperSprint concludes with Race 7 at 10:10am local time.