Ford star Will Brown couldn’t afford to dwell on shock twist
Champ admits there "were moments that I wanted to kick and scream"
Brown heads to Ipswich round in seventh in the championship
Will Brown kept his head down amid a busy run into Ipswich, despite admitting he wanted to "get away from it all” after the engine restrictor saga.
It was revealed last week that the #888 Red Bull Ampol Ford had been running an undersized engine restrictor.
The Queenslander didn’t go into his shell, through, committing to work, appearances, podcast recordings, training and preparing for Ipswich with his team.
“Unfortunately, you just want to go into hiding and do whatever you want — go on holiday, have some beers, have a great time,” Brown said on MotorRacing 360.
"Things don’t stop for these sort of things, it’s disappointing. But I was still doing my appearances, still training, going to the gym, doing the things I need to do to prepare for Ipswich.
“I would've loved to do many things over the last week and get away from it all, but we’re right in the middle of our season, it’s do or die for us.”
The changes have added further intrigue to the 2026 title fight, with Brown Supercars.com tipping Brown to bounce back in a big way at Queensland Raceway.
2010 Supercars champion James Courtney, meanwhile, urged against the changes being a “silver bullet,” while Supercars data analyst Scott Sinclair suggested Brown still has a "genuine shot” at winning the title, courtesy of the Finals.
Through it all, Brown says he has moved to turn anguish into positivity, saying that wanting to “kick and scream” would have been unhelpful.
"I try and be a positive person. I feel like even this year, being at a disadvantage to a lot of the other cars, I try and be positive and try and drive through the field,” Brown said.
“That was my biggest thing, try and find some positive outcomes and not dwell too much on what the last eight months has been, because it has been tough.
"I'm probably in a fortunate situation in my career that I've won a championship… if this happened to a rookie — a Zach Bates or a Rylan Gray — someone like that who’s trying to find their feet, it could be career ending.
“As much as I hate that it was me, it’s one of those things, you’ve got to press on and get over it. There were moments that I wanted to kick and scream and blame someone for the situation, but at the end of the day, that doesn’t help anyone involved.”
Brown is 290 points ahead of 11th place heading to this weekend’s event.
