The Supercars Championship leader could only qualify 24th for the Cup Series race at Sonoma, but that was in no small part because his Chevrolet Camaro had developed a throttle problem which restricted him to only about 75 percent of full power.

It came after Brown put in a performance in practice which went some way to emulating that which opened up the Supercar seat he now fills at Triple Eight Race Engineering, specifically Shane van Gisbergen’s stunning NASCAR debut in Chicago last July.

Brown was third-quickest in that session and, in a ‘debrief’ with Speedcafe columnist and former Triple Eight boss Roland Dane, Rodden provided some more insight into how RCR blooded the Queensland on Friday at Sonoma.

“I think Will’s exceeded our expectations, and our expectations were high,” he declared.

“We’d had a chance to run with Will before [in a World Racing League event at the Circuit of The Americas last December], we knew his talent level, and how good he was in the cars with our other guys, and he’s always done a great job.

“So, we just wanted to get a good, solid practice in yesterday and we did incredible.

“We ran three different sets of tyres at three different air pressures and let Will feel the degradation we had, and he got to experience how a repave works and how the track took rubber and kept getting faster and all that stuff.

“So, he gave really good feedback about the car as well, and let us make him some good changes – we hope – for the race tomorrow.”

Brown may be starting deep in the pack but with 110 laps spanning a total of 219 miles across three stages, there is opportunity to make his way forward.

“I think that he has a good eye for what we need to focus on to be good on a long race run and, since we didn’t get the front row starting spot we aimed for, starting a little bit deeper in the field, we will have passed some folks if we can keep the rear tyre longevity better than our competitors,” added Rodden.

Race start is due on Sunday at 15:30 ET/Monday at 05:30 AEST.

CLICK HERE for more from Brown, Rodden, and Brown’s Supercars engineer, Andrew Edwards, with Roland Dane

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