Brown was the sixth driver on track in the session and came unstuck through the beach chicane.
The Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaro driver lost the rear through the final part of the complex, smacking the concrete on the exit.
Despite the severity of the hit, team boss Jamie Whincup is hopeful the car will return for the afternoon’s 250km race.
“Initially you think he’s hard into the wall, but looking at the replay it’s probably not as bad as we first thought,” he said.
“It’s still not good. It’ll be the whole corner and we’re not sure about the rear damage, so it’ll be a lot of work, a big push to get it out for the race, but from what I’ve seen it’s do-able.”
Brown said the crash was a symptom of the beach chicane layout.
“I got through sector one and I felt like I was on it,” he said.
“I told myself going into the chicane ‘let’s not screw this up’ and that’s exactly what happened.
“We should just be running Stadium Super Trucks out there because that’s basically what we’re doing through the chicanes.
“You just straight line them and hope you come out and I didn’t come out of that one.
“Disappointing but we’ve got a fast race car, we’ll work hard and come back this afternoon.”
Brown’s crash followed a heavy shunt for Brodie Kostecki in qualifying that has ruled the DJR Mustang out of the day’s action and injured four photographers.
Injuries confirmed following Gold Coast 500 qualifying crash
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