Brown trailed teammate Broc Feeney in the first stint of the 37-lap race but managed to overtake courtesy of a two-lap undercut.
They eventually took the chequered flag with Brown fourth, directly behind Walkinshaw TWG’s Ryan Wood and just over a second clear of Feeney.
The TV broadcast suggested Brown had been instructed to allow Feeney through, which team manager Mark Dutton admitted was partially true.
“We said if he is quick enough to catch you, don’t hold him up and definitely let him through, but as Broc caught up he lost a bit of the edge, which will happen automatically with a bit of dirty air,” Dutton explained.
“But also because we did the three tyres on that car, not four, because of a pitstop issue, it wasn’t as strong as it would have been if it had the four tyres.
“If it had the four tyres, I’m confident he would have been able to blaze through and pressure for the podium, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.”
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Asked to clarify that there was no explicit instruction to Brown to let Feeney through, Dutton added: “There was, if he was there.
“What we’re not going to do is pull over and lose a second to let him past. You don’t brake to let them pass, you just let them run the racing line.
“Will didn’t block him or anything like that, so Will didn’t disobey any orders. The orders were if Broc comes up, let him go.
“But Broc couldn’t quite get close enough and then Will’s second stint pace actually improved at the end and he started coming back towards Woody.
“So I was happy with that: they were working together, he just didn’t quite enough to get up there and come through.”
Feeney and Brown will start Race 3 of the weekend this afternoon from sixth and 16th respectively.
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