Will Brown seventh in championship heading to Ipswich
Engine discrepancy has been identified on Brown’s Ford Mustang
Brown also moved into Triple Eight's spare chassis for Ipswich
News of an undersized air restrictor on Will Brown’s #888 Red Bull Ampol Ford raised obvious questions.
On the flip side, however, has it really masked what has been an impressive season for the 2024 Supercars champion?
The simple stats have Brown sitting seventh in the championship, a somewhat comfortable 290 points above the Finals cut-line.
Before Wednesday’s revelation, Brown had been a lightning rod for criticism, particularly against the backdrop of teammate Broc Feeney’s performance.
Feeney leads the qualifying head to head 18-7, and the race head to head 17-7. Feeney has five wins and 11 podiums, to Brown’s two podiums.
Brown’s key deficiency — and it must be said, it was also a problem last season — has been in qualifying. It has recently reared its head, given he failed to qualify inside the top 10 for any of the last six races.
Critically, though — as was the case in his 2024 title triumph — consistency and delivering under pressure has kept him in the game, despite the trophy cabinet going largely untroubled through the opening eight rounds.
Per Supercars data analyst Scott Sinclair, Brown is ranked #2 in first lap gain/loss, with a differential of +1.4. He’s also ranked #5 in overtakes, reinforcing his standing as one of the premier racers in the championship.
Despite the revelation, Triple Eight has committed to putting Brown in its spare chassis for Ipswich, where he claimed his last Supercars victory over a year ago. Few cars will be under the microscope in Ipswich more than the #888 Mustang.
While Triple Eight claimed an average deficit of 0.15s per lap, the microscopic differences would equate to different deficits at different circuits. You would be prudent to speculate how different results could have been.
What’s more important, from a competitive sense, is that team boss Jamie Whincup insisted "sport is an emotional game,” suggesting Brown and championship-winning engineer Andrew Edwards are smarting about the situation. Still, it’s clear they haven’t given up at any stage this season.
You only have to look at Townsville — where Brown’s 29 positions gained across the three races was the third highest at an event in the Gen3 era — to show how the #888 car crew continues to respond.
Amid the confusion, Brown made an emphatic statement after Perth, saying on his podcast: "My qualifying was super disappointing, I probably got the shits a fair bit about my weekend because there's only so much you can joke around [about] and go, 'Oh we need to qualify a little bit better', and take the piss to try and get through it.
"Not that I'm ever not taking it seriously, but just to try and accept it. Pretty disappointed with our weekend.
"At the end of the day, if Broc's qualifying on pole, I'm not a 19th driver. I've fought for the championship the last three years in a row, and I know my qualifying hasn't been as good, but struggling a lot on our side of the team which is really disappointing."
Why this story matters too, is that it was discovered now. Brown and Edwards could have a massive swing at set-up in Ipswich, and could — barring an Ipswich disaster — clinch their Finals berth at The Bend.
It keeps the door open to another spirited Finals run - despite repeated qualifying failures, Brown recovered to score the third most points of any driver across the final three rounds. He's also the same driver who claimed podiums at every round in 2024, the first driver to do so since Dick Johnson in 1984.
Come qualifying at Queensland Raceway, Brown is now armed with a chance to reestablish himself in the 2026 title fight, especially as he and Edwards step into a new car, full of clarity.
Speaking on MotorRacing360, Supercars Hall of Famer Mark Skaife suggested that’s what has been missing for the #888 crew.
"Let’s talk recent [circuits]: if you went to Darwin, that’s about 0.15 seconds, and at Perth recently it’s about 0.1 seconds,” Skaife said.
"It doesn’t it doesn’t take Will Brown for instance from 12th to first, but it certainly makes [a difference].
"It’s awkward for everybody. It’s awkward for Supercars. It’s awkward for Triple Eight. It’s especially awkward for Will Brown, because all of the effort he and Andrew Edwards have been going to and the diligence they’ve been looking at what goes on with their performance week in, week out."
Track action at Queensland Raceway commences on Friday August 21.
