‘I owe him one’: Will Brown admits fault in team orders mix-up

Jamie Whincup revealed following Sunday’s Darwin Triple Crown finale that Feeney was “on the limiter” after losing out in a late-race mix-up.

Feeney had been told to let Brown through during the final stint to attack third-placed Cam Waters, under the proviso that the swap would be reversed if Brown’s mission failed.

Brown proved unable to overtake Waters but took the chequered flag fourth, having not let Feeney back through before a Safety Car period that ended the race.

Detailing how the situation unfolded, Brown admitted he had time to swap the positions back between Chaz Mostert’s engine blowing and the yellows coming out.

“I knew I had to give the position back,” Brown explained on his Lucky Dogs Podcast.

“[Engineer] Andrew [Edwards] said, there’s going to probably be a Safety Car, and I was like, ‘okay, well, how close is Kai [Allen] to Broc? Where can I hand this position back?’

“I was all fine, not a drama, happy to hand the position back.

“If it was for a win, first and second or something like that, maybe you start fighting on it, but I’m like, fourth or fifth, I don’t really care… but it was awkward.

“I probably got the opportunity. I rolled out and everything, but I didn’t do it quick enough and the Safety Car came out, which meant Broc couldn’t pass me back.

“I was planning [to do] that when the restart happened, I’d let him pass down the front straight just before the finish line.

“But obviously we didn’t get a restart. He’s not allowed to pass under the Safety Car, so I ended up coming fourth.”

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Brown questioned why the team would comment on the situation in the media post-race and took umbrage at the reporting of Whincup’s claim that Feeney was unhappy.

“It’s funny, they beat it up, that Broc was fuming and all that, which he was, but we’re out at dinner straight away after with his family,” he said.

“Like, after the race, you are fuming, you’re like, ‘oh, frig, I missed a spot’. And I can understand that, but it’s not something that goes on.

“It’s just like, pretty much what I would do is, I owe him one.

“So I’ll give him a position somewhere later in the year to sort of repay it. That’s how it works in teams or with teammates.

“Not that the team’s telling me I have to do that, but I would do that because I made the mistake that I couldn’t give the position back and he gave me one.”