Brown secures New Zealand formula racing cameos

Will Brown will return to his open wheel roots, with the new Supercars champion revealing plans to tackle summer series competition in New Zealand.

Brown, who clinched the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship last month, will be a headline addition to the 2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship grid.

The Triple Eight Race Engineering driver will head across the Tasman for NZ NextGen Championship events at Taupō, Hampton Downs and Highlands.

It comes after Brown was named as a competitor for the 2025 Race of Champions, which will take place at Sydney's Accor Stadium next March.

Before shifting to touring cars, Brown won the Australian Formula 4 title in 2016, and finished second in the national Formula Ford championship.

The 26-year-old will compete in three NZ events next year; the Historic Grand Prix in Taupō on January 10-12, Round 2 at Hampton Downs, and 69th New Zealand Grand Prix at Highlands on February 5-7.

It's Brown's first competitive single-seater program since his S5000 cameo more than five years ago.

Formally Toyota Racing Series, the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship is New Zealand’s premier single-seater category, and attracts drivers from around the globe.

The series also includes the New Zealand Grand Prix, one of only two FIA sanctioned Grand Prix race events outside of Formula One. Winners include Sir Jackie Stewart, Bruce McLaren, Sir Jack Brabham, Keke Rosberg, Lando Norris, Liam Lawson and Shane van Gisbergen.

Brown's Supercars rivals Thomas Randle and Matt Payne also made starts in the category before they also moved to touring cars.

“Single seaters are a bit of an itch I want to scratch and there’s no better place to do it than in this championship,” Brown said,

“I was watching Formula 2 and Formula 3 races earlier this year and thought it would be great to race in a competitive field of single-seaters once again.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to get some testing in a single seater at some stage, but I know Taupo well from Supercars.

“I’ve done some laps at Hampton Downs in a Toyota 86 and I’ve done a few laps at Highlands as well, so the tracks will not be new to me.”

The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship will commence in Sydney on February 21-23. Tickets are on sale now.