'Major steering dramas' had Brown fearing chicane crunch

Will Brown has overcome an at times challenging weekend at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 to be firmly in the box seat to wrap up his maiden Repco Supercars Championship title.

Having entered the weekend with a 204-point championship lead over Red Bull Ampol Racing teammate Broc Feeney, the unforgiving streets of Surfers Paradise always presented a risky weekend for Brown, who had struggled there in recent seasons.

Indeed, an unforced error in Boost Mobile Qualifying on Saturday threatened to be a major championship twist, as Brown found the wall and was then collected by an unsighted Nick Percat and Tim Slade.

That crash saw Brown demoted to 11th on the grid, however a solid recovery drive saw him finish seventh, limiting the damage as Feeney finished third to claw back 33 points on his teammate.

Sunday was a much better day for Brown, who qualified second thanks to a Brodie Kostecki blinder in the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout, and held that position through the chequered flag, stretching the margin out to 180 over Feeney.

However, it wasn't without a major scare, as Brown reported a steering issue to Race Engineer Andrew Edwards halfway through the race, with Edwards quickly telling him there was no fix for the problem.

Despite having the issue for the second half of the race, Brown has able to maintain position, and was also able maintain his record of finishing on the podium at every event this season.

"We just kept it on the track and stayed in second, we had some major steering dramas there where it was just going left hand down," Brown said after the race.

"It came on about lap 40 and it was like the steering was changing. I was a little bit nervous through the chicanes trying to keep it off the walls.

"It actually came in and out, so it got better halfway through, and then I started going again so that was good."

If Brown finishes the Saturday leg of the VAILO Adelaide 500 with a 151-point advantage over his teammate, then he will wrap up the championship with a race to spare in his first season as a Triple Eight driver.

After losing points on Saturday, Brown admitted post-race that it was important to stop the bleeding on Sunday and head into the Adelaide finale with as much security as possible.

Having walked away from the Gold Coast with two strong finishes in the top 10, Brown will be the championship leader regardless of what happens on Saturday in South Australia.

"Definitely I needed to get some points over Broc at the end of the day, he's the main rivalry now. He's my teammate, he's pushing hard, so it's a good points haul going into Adelaide," the Queenslander said.

"I'm glad to get through this weekend, I was always nervous about getting a DNF this weekend.

"We'll head into Adelaide and we'll see what happens there."

Brown and Feeney will fight for the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship at the VAILO Adelaide 500 from November 14-17. Tickets for the event are on sale now.