MOTORSPORT: Brown scores maiden Supercars win

Will Brown is only 23 but he drove like a seasoned veteran to score his first win in the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park (SMP).

The youngster survived incredible pressure from two of the all-time great touring car drivers, Jamie Whincup and Shane Van Gisbergen, but was helped as the teammates from the Red Bull Holden Racing team behaved like deadly enemies.

Championship leader van Gisbergen had the speed to run down Brown in the closing laps of the third sprint at SMP, but Whincup refused a team direction to let him past and that allowed the youngster to romp home to his landmark victory for Betty Klimenko’s Erebus Racing team.

Erebus had showed speed through all three of the Supercars sprint meetings in Sydney, with Brown and his teammate Brodie Kostecki both making the podium, but the Sunday was special as Brown completed the next step in his main game career.

“Now I want to be fighting for a championship in three or four years,” Brown told carsales.

“There is really no way to describe getting my first race win in my first year in the main game. My emotion was joy, just joy.”

But there was no joy at the Bulls, as Whincup refused to accept blame for a win that got away.

“Are you suggesting that someone went rogue today?” said Whincup.

“I don’t think I did. I thought I was a good chance to win the race. I’m a competitor, and I had a crack.”

The torrid tussle through the final race of the three-sprint weekend was a contrast to the first two races, where Anton De Pasquale – another young gun – scored back-to-back wins for the Shell V-Power team.

His success was offset by the struggles of his teammate Will Davison, who qualified well but failed to make a single podium result, on a weekend when the Ford Mustangs were clearly outpaced by the Holden Commodores.

The Tickford team struggled again, although the crew managed to get Cam Waters and Jack Le Brocq into the top 10 by the end of the final sprint.

But teams are now turning their attention to the long-distance end to the 2021 season, which begins this week with a pre-Bathurst test, followed by co-driver practice sessions and then a pair of 250km mini-enduros at SMP next weekend that serve as the curtain-raiser and form guide for the Repco Bathurst 1000 on December 5.

Race 1 – 32 laps
1. Anton De Pasquale, Mustang
2. Shane van Gisbergen, Commodore
3. Will Brown, Commodore
4. Jamie Whincup, Commodore
5. Brodie Kostecki, Commodore
6. Scott Pye, Commodore
7. Will Davison, Mustang
8. Zane Goddard, Commodore
9. Tim Slade, Commodore
10. Andre Heimgartner, Mustang

Race 2 – 32 laps
1. Anton De Pasquale, Mustang
2. Jamie Whincup, Commodore
3. Shane Van Gisbergen, Commodore
4. Chaz Mostert, Commodore
5. Will Davison, Mustang
6. Mark Winterbottom, Commodore
7. Nick Percat, Commodore
8. Will Brown, Commodore
9. Brodie Kostecki, Commodore
10. Bryce Fullwood, Commodore

Race 3 – 32 laps
1. Will Brown, Commodore
2. Jamie Whincup, Commodore
3. Shane Van Gisbergen, Commodore
4. Nick Percat, Commodore
5. Todd Hazelwood, Commodore
6. Scott Pye, Commodore
7. Cam Waters, Mustang
8. Chaz Mostert, Commodore
9. Anton De Pasquale, Mustang
10. Jack Le Brocq, Mustang

2021 Repco Supercars Championship standings:
1. Van Gisbergen – 2678
2. Whincup – 2341
3. Davison – 2149
4. Mostert – 2083
5. Waters – 1964
6. De Pasquale – 1955
7. Percat – 1726
8. Brown – 1652
9. Winterbottom – 1542
10. Kostecki – 1440