Triple Eight's big gain in Brown DNF

Will Brown’s Race 20 DNF at the OTR SuperSprint has blown open the teams’ championship fight, with Triple Eight now within reach of the leaders.

Brown was wiped out in a Turn 1 skirmish, consigning the #9 Coca-Cola Camaro driver to his first DNF since September 2022.

It was a day of contrasts for Erebus, with Brodie Kostecki extending his drivers’ championship lead with a superb drive to victory.

Kostecki passed Chaz Mostert and Thomas Randle en route to his fourth victory of the season, with his lead atop the standings now 80 points.

That lead, however, isn’t over Brown, who dropped behind Shane van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney in the standings.

Brown entered the weekend 41 points down, and is now 141 points away from the lead. The 25-year-old led the championship just three races ago.

Speaking shortly after the incident, Brown thought he had suffered more damage when he saw his front bar sliding down the road.

“Obviously I copped a hit in the rear then I went round and saw my front bumper down the road,” Brown said shortly after the incident.

“I thought we got significant damage. I got a low oil pressure light, so I thought there’d be a drama there.

“So I pulled off and that’s why I switched it off and thought we were out. It probably doesn’t look that bad really, just looks like the front bar came off.”

It was the second time in as many races that Brown was taken out in a first-corner clash.

Brown was sent into a high-speed spin at the start of the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight finale, and slumped to 14th.

No action was taken in the Race 20 incident, with the stewards’ report stating: An Incident at turn 1 on Lap 1 involving multiple Cars. Footage showed that Car 11 made minor contact with the rear of Car 9 at the entry to turn 1 which unsettled Car 9. At the apex of the turn, Car 2 was on the inside and Car 34 filled the gap between Cars 9 and 2. Because Car 9 was unsettled from the contact by Car 11, Car 9 had oversteer which caused it to move across the front of Car 34 and contact occurred causing Car 9 to spin. Car 34 had left room for Car 9 on the outside. The DSA considered that no Driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for the Incident.

On haemorrhaging points, Brown said: "It’s really disappointing — you can’t avoid those situations, it’s just a racing incident.

“We’ll have to press on for the rest of the weekend and try bank some points.”

Supercars will return to the track for ARMOR ALL Qualifying for Races 21 and 22 at 9:45am local time/10:15am AEST on Sunday.

2023 teams' championship lead progression