'Absolutely time': Resurgent Brown lays down Finals challenge

Will Brown insists now is "absolutely time" to mount a comeback in the regular season, should he continue to get a handle on his Red Bull Ampol Ford Mustang.

After leaving Round 2 in Melbourne well outside the top 10, Brown fired himself back into contention across New Zealand and Tasmania.

After being as low as 15th, Brown sits eighth, 140 points clear of the drop zone and just 82 points from fifth.

While teammate Broc Feeney is whopping 376 points up the road. Brown was slowly and surely rebuilt his campaign. Only Feeney, Payne and Allen have scored more points than Brown across the last three rounds.

The 2024 Supercars champion was fourth for the Tasmania round, behind Feeney, Payne and Anton De Pasquale. More — or better — results like that across the next few rounds, and Brown will have done his hopes of clinching a Finals berth before the Bathurst cut-off a big service.

Speaking post-round, Brown claimed he wants to move into the top five or better by Finals.

“A solid weekend, a fourth, a fifth, a ninth,” the Queenslander said.

“That ninth I would've liked to be a bit better, but solid points haul with where we are in the drivers’ championship now five rounds done.

“We need to claw our way back up to hopefully fifth, or hopefully even a little bit better by the time the Finals come around and there is absolutely time to do that with the right car under us."

Brown's next challenge is Hidden Valley Raceway, where he has just two podiums from eight starts to his name in the Gen3 era.

Track action in Darwin commences on Friday June 19, with races to be held on all three days of the event for the first time.