Will Brown’s car had been running undersized air restrictor
2024 Supercars champion P7 heading to Ipswich, will race spare chassis
James Courtney expects improvement, but claims fix isn't "silver bullet"
James Courtney believes changes may not be a "silver bullet" for fellow Supercars champion Will Brown, who maintains he wants to be on the “same playing field" as his rivals.
Last week, it emerged that Brown’s #888 Red Bull Ampol Ford had been running an undersized engine restrictor. Alongside a fix, Triple Eight has committed to moving Brown into its spare chassis for Ipswich.
Brown, who is seventh in the championship, recently broke his silence on his Lucky Dogs podcast, admitting he is feeling relief, disappointment and anger over the situation.
Brown — who failed to qualify inside the top 10 for the last six races — also claimed the incorrect part had cost him 0.15s per lap on average, and explained that he had to be inadvertently strategic with his racecraft.
"As a race car driver, you race the whole lap to make sure you get a good exit onto the straight and pass them. So Townsville, I wasn't able to pass. Passed a lot of cars up there. The only place I could pass was Turn 11 after the train track, save tyres and get them,” Brown explained.
"Couldn't pass down the straight at Tassie. Darwin, I had to always do it in the last corner and try and rub them up a bit to unsettle them, that I could get away. So there was a lot of strategy I had to play, and I didn't know I was playing it because I was so bad in a straight line.”
How the #888 Mustang performs in Ipswich will be the story of the weekend. When asked by Supercars.com if Brown would be a force straight away, Courtney remained wary, suggesting repeat results would be a "real test of his mental strength."
“I think he'll be faster, it’ll help, but I don't think it's the silver bullet to bring him right to the front," Courtney said.
"They said there's a tenth to maybe a tenth and a half there. At times this year, he’s been a lot further off the pace than that.
“Depending on how the first session goes, it's either going give him more confidence or destroy him. If he pins all his hopes on these changes, then goes out and he's in the exact same position, it'll be frustrating for him."
Despite stating he feels “hard done by," Brown has repeatedly made it clear that his motivation is to compete on a level playing field.
“You want something out of it, but there's nothing I can get. I can't get the points back. I can't get better results,” said Brown, whose last win came at Queensland Raceway last August.
"From a team side, I think that our owners and Jamie [Whincup, Triple Eight Team Principal] would have to be extremely disappointed. We're not in the lead of the teams' championship. This affects sponsors.
“We get bonuses, obviously, as drivers. There's plenty of times that I should have been in that window, if that's top fives, threes, poles and wins that I think I should have received bonuses.
"I don't care about the money… I just want to be on the same playing field as everyone else and have the opportunity to win on a race weekend."
Track action in Ipswich commences on Friday August 21. Tickets for the event are on sale now.
