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The Wanneroo event was always going to be a two-race weekend, per the 2024 calendar release, initially timed one-hour encounters before being converted to a prescribed lap count of 55 laps/133km each.
Brown thinks the fans could be better served when Supercars are on the track.
“I think the fans show up to watch us race,” said the Red Bull Ampol Racing driver.
“I’m not really sure why we’re doing a practice on Saturday and Sunday.
“I think that we should add another race in on the weekend or do something like that, is my honest opinion.
“It’s pretty weird to practice on a Sunday, I think.”
Previously, Sundays at SuperSprints had featured a pair of rapid-fire qualifying sessions and two races, while Saturday could have as many as four sessions packed in (Practice 1, Practice 2, qualifying, race) if a ‘two-day’ event.
According to Supercars’ announcement of the changes to 90-minute practice sessions in 2024, “In the case of Tasmania and Perth, the changes have been made to ensure fans get to see Supercars on track in both morning and afternoon sessions at the event, rather than just afternoon sessions as was previously planned.”
While Brown has suggested changes, Team 18’s David Reynolds was seeing the benefits in comments leading into the trip to Perth.
The 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner expressed relief at being able to ease his way into the weekend’s high-stakes knockout qualifying sessions, rather than having “a gun to your head.”
Brown’s old team, Erebus Motorsport, has made creative use of the morning practice sessions after Brodie Kostecki was pushed off the road in a three-wide run to the first corner of Saturday’s Race 9 of the season.
Erebus responded by sacrificing the 2023 champion’s afternoon so it could effectively save (at least half) a set of tyres for this morning’s practice session.
Kostecki completed 53 laps on his first set of tyres, rising from 23rd after the Lap 1 off to fourth on Lap 32, then sliding down to 10th by the time he finally stopped.
He completed one more lap before taking the chequered flag a lap down in 22nd.
“Early contact for Brodie sent him to the rear of the field; you get that at the back of the field,” said Team Principal Brad Tremain in the squad’s post-Saturday video.
“We then chose to save tyres for practice [today] to try to maximise our chances [today].”
It was a rotten afternoon all-round for Erebus, with Jack Le Brocq finishing 20th after a pit lane start.
Car #9 did not move off the grid for the formation lap due to a battery issue, which Tremain attributed to a “procedure error.”
Brown finished second to Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert and, having also scooped the five fastest lap bonus points, is now 103 points to the good in the drivers’ championship, with his Triple Eight Race Engineering team-mate Broc Feeney retaining second on the table.
Practice 3 starts this morning at 09:40 local time/11:40 AEST.
