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Will Brown says his bid to beat Anton De Pasquale in Race 22 of the Repco Supercars Championship was ultimately undone by tyre wear.
A sterling effort by the Erebus Motorsport rookie saw him cut down a 10-second lead to just a few car lengths in the closing stages of the final race at the first Sydney Motorsport Park event.
Despite De Pasquale reporting back to his team that he was cruising, the Shell V-Power Racing Team driver had to sustain a period of pressure from the championship newcomer.
In the end, Brown’s trailblazing times cost him valuable tyre life, meaning his assault on De Pasquale was short-lived.
Nevertheless, Brown was his usual upbeat self, hailing the team’s efforts to bring him his first Supercars Championship podium as a primary driver.
“It was pretty cool,” Brown recounted.
“I think I went out there and I was driving a bit hard.
“They told me to drive to a number and typical young bloke, I couldn’t do that,” he laughed.
“I just kept going flat out. I knew when I was getting close to him I was running out of puff so I tried giving him a few taps when I got to him out of the last corner but he had just good drive there.
“I pretty much just overheated them by the time I got there, but I had a crack at getting there and had a lot of fun.”
The second place finish marked a bounce-back for Brown and Erebus Motorsport after a disastrous pit stop in Race 20 cost him a shot at victory.
By the close of the weekend, he had finishes of fifth, 11th, and second in what is his best event this season.
“The car was fantastic, it was awesome for Erebus to be up there this weekend and consistently battling with these guys,” said Brown.
“Really happy with it and the turnaround obviously, Race [20] with the pit stop was pretty disappointing.
“I think we made the right choice to go four tyres in that race but just made a bit of a balls-up there, but apart from that, it was really good.”
Erebus Motorsport team-mate Brodie Kostecki enjoyed a similar successful first weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Brown’s misfortune in Race 20 gave Kostecki his second podium of the season with a third-place finish.
He rounded out his weekend with finishes of fourth and 15th in Race 21 and Race 22 respectively.
