New Repco Supercars Championship leader Will Brown says the tight nature of the title race brings with it “a lot of pressure”.
Erebus Motorsport continues to sit one-two in the drivers’ championship standings but Brown replaced Brodie Kostecki at the very top of the table with his victory in the first race of the NTI Townsville 500, three weeks ago.
With 150 points on offer for victory in either of this weekend’s races at the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight, 138 points for a second place, and five for the fastest lap, the only way Brown can guarantee he remains the championship leader at the end of Saturday night’s 200km encounter is by winning it.
“It’s awesome to be halfway through the season [and] roll out with orange numbers; it’s fantastic,” said the 2019 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series winner.
“Obviously, the championship is so close right now so, after the first race, you could lose it if you don’t win the race.
“So, it’s a lot of pressure on but I’m just looking forward to going out there and try and win another race.”
While Erebus has been the team to beat in the first half-season of the Gen3 era, Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Broc Feeney and Shane van Gisbergen are within 72 points of the #9 Camaro pilot, in third and fourth respectively in the drivers’ standings.
Brown is obviously conscious of the knife-edge nature of the title fight right now, but says he will seriously look at it once the Repco Bathurst 1000 has been run and won in October, after which just the Gold Coast and Adelaide events will remain.
“To be honest, I don’t think it matters right now,” he said on the subject of how close Triple Eight Race Engineering is to the Erebus duo.
“It’s just cool to be in the hunt, because pretty much Bathurst is so many points; you’ve got to get through Bathurst and see where you are.
“So, I’m not getting ahead of myself; after Bathurst, we’ll probably see where we are then.”
The 25-year-old Queenslander added, “I think we’re only getting stronger.
“The first two rounds, I didn’t get a win, and I’ve had four wins since then, in the last four rounds.
“So, I’m pretty confident that we’re only building on it and that I can definitely put up a fight against [Triple Eight].”
Coincidentally, Brown’s first event where he arrives as championship leader is also the scene of his first race win in the top flight, in November 2021, when he led two battling Triple Eight team-mates to the chequered flag.
“That was an awesome day,” he declared.
“To get my first ever win here at Sydney Motorsport Park was amazing and probably highlighted a little bit more with what the Red Bulls did behind me, and made it a bit more of an exciting race even there.
“But yeah, just stoked to get my first win here, and looking forward to getting back here.”
Support categories are on-track at Sydney Motorsport Park today, with Practice 1 for the Supercars Championship field starting tomorrow at 12:15 local time/AEST.
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