Shop
Will Brown says he engaged in “gamesmanship” to help team-mate Brodie Kostecki to a maiden win in Race 4 of the Supercars Championship at the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint.
Kostecki achieved his breakthrough victory in what was a chaotic encounter at Albert Park, although the light rain itself only played a small part in the drama.
What it did do, however, was prompt a wet circuit declaration for the second day in a row, giving teams the freedom to change only two tyres if they choose to do so.
Realistically, though, that was only going to benefit those who started on the super soft tyre, which Erebus Motorsport’s Kostecki and the Triple Eight Race Engineering drivers did.
The odd man out amongst them on the first two rows of the grid was Brown, who nevertheless managed to nail the start and take an early lead by reacting quickly to the drop of the national flag which replaced the malfunctioning light gantry.
He almost forced van Gisbergen into the clutches of Kostecki on Lap 1, then did just that on a Lap 4 restart when he ran the #97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro wide at Turn 3.
Kostecki pulled alongside through the Lakeside Stadium car park section and not only made the move on van Gisbergen but also got past the Coca-Cola Camaro of Brown to claim a lead which he would not cede.
“It was a bit of gamesmanship,” said Brown, who would be classified sixth after a post-race penalty for James Courtney.
“I knew when Supercars – and I’m not sure why they did it – announced the race was going to be wet, I knew these guys only had to take two tyres and I had to take four, so I thought, from there, it’s a bit of a team game.
“When I got my start, I thought, ‘Oh well, it’s a bit of a battle between the Red Bulls and the Coke cars,’ so I thought, ‘This is going to be a bit of fun.’
“It sort of worked out in our favour. Brodie got the lead and I was in second [at the time] and it was awesome.
“So, I can’t thank everyone enough, awesome for the team to get a win, and we’re pumped.”
Kostecki declared, “Will did an absolutely unreal job on the hards there at the start, holding a few guys up there.
“It was great to race with the Red Bulls and to come out on top, it was absolutely surreal.
“I got shuffled out a little bit on the start there – I was trying to protect Will there on the hards, but Shane got by – and, on the restart, I was able to race Shane and Will again and was able to capitalise on what Will did.”
Kostecki’s victory saw him consolidate his grip on second place in the drivers’ championship and reduce the deficit relative to Chaz Mostert to 16 points (once Courtney’s penalty was accounted for).
Brown is third on the table while Erebus continues to lead the teams’ championship, with a 142-point advantage over Triple Eight.
