No point panicking amid Chaz Mostert surge, says Will Brown
Mostert has taken 153 points off Brown in the last three races
WAU Ford star claimed victory in Sydney night race
Will Brown says there’s "no point panicking” amid a surge in form for Ford rival Chaz Mostert, who has played his way back into the championship fight.
Sydney winner Mostert has taken 153 points off championship leader Brown in the last three races, and is now just 30 points behind Broc Feeney.
Brown was 279 points ahead of Mostert after Race 12 in Darwin, but the Ford star has reeled off finishes of second, third and first to eat into Brown’s margin.
The points leader’s cause wasn’t helped by a crash in Townsville that brought everyone closer, but Brown isn’t playing into the title tension.
When asked if there was panic as his rivals circled in, Brown replied: “There's no point panicking. There's not much you can do about it.
"We've had a very consistent car all year. Yeah, we might not have been the strongest at the last round. If sixth is a bad day, it's still not too bad.
“Just need to work on it, try and find out what's going on, but I'm sure we'll bounce back."
However, when told he extended his lead over Feeney, Brown quipped: "Yeah, I just don't like that Chaz Mostert's climbing. He’s doing a fantastic job. He's obviously fast.
“Me and Broc are there and it's great for the team, but we need to start proving why we are one and two, and how we were strong at the start of the year, and kick along again."
Brown and Feeney came home sixth and ninth in Saturday’s race, with Brown the first Chevrolet home after Ford romped to a top five under Sydney’s night skies.
“We just didn't have it today, at the end of the day. We weren't fast enough,” Brown said on the broadcast.
"I actually came around like Turn 7 and saw the fireworks going off. I'm like, ‘Is that how far he beat me by? That's a long way’. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And today we're the loser."
The result kept Brown winless in seven races since Taupō, with Triple Eight losing key ground to Mostert in Townsville and Sydney after winning six of the first eight races.
“It's never good to be there,” said Brown, when asked about Triple Eight’s recent run of form.
"I said to Broc when I went in the trailer, isn't it weird? Like at Grand Prix, you're going, this is so easy and you're coming first, and today you're trying so hard to come sixth.
“We just need to have a little bit of a look at it. We struggled a bit at Townsville and we're still, I reckon on like sort of where we were in Townsville. I feel like I did the best for what I had then."