Supercars: Will Brown wins Race 2 of Bathurst 500 weekend

Will Brown claimed his first win for the Brisbane Chevrolet Red Bull team and leads the Supercars Championship after the Bathurst 500 weekend.

A late pit lane move was the critical play that led the #87 Camaro to the win in the second and final race of the season opening Thrifty Bathurst 500.

Brown was a big-named off-season recruit from 2023 Champion team Erebus Motorsport to replace three-time Supercars Champion Shane van Gisbergen and delivered in his second race for the team, beating WAUR Ford driver Chaz Mostert across the line.

Mostert led for the majority of the race in his Mobil 1 Optus Ford Mustang but Brown and his pit crew opted for a shorter stint in pit lane on the second compulsory stop to snatch the lead with just 11 laps to go.

As a result he sailed into the lead and made the most of it, opening up more than a second within a lap over Golding, who also got a good jump, while Feeney slotted into third ahead of Brown.

Everything was happening behind Mostert with drama arriving even before the first corner.

Ryan Wood, Richie Stanaway and Cameron Hill were going three wide towards the Hell Corner braking zone and a squeeze between the trio led to Hill being fired into the left front of Wood.

Despite Mostert getting off to a flying start and controlling most of the race, a shorter fuel stop on lap 29 allowed car #87 to leap ahead of car #25 in the lane.

Mostert pushed hard early in the final stint but ultimately had to settle for second 1.5s behind Brown, who is now the championship leader after pole sitter Broc Feeney, who finished third, having been impacted by a 5s penalty for dive bombing James Golding at The Chase.

The Walkinshaw Andretti United driver was the only one who could seriously challenge Triple Eight Race Engineering in either of the weekend’s two, 250km races at Mount Panorama.

But for a moment at The Chase during Race 2, he might have picked up his WAU’s first win of the Gen3 era and, while he fell shy of such a milestone, it was only Mostert who stood between Triple Eight and a double one-two.

“It changes [expectations] a fair bit,” said the Mobil 1 Optus Mustang pilot after his second place in Race 2.

“If you expected us, from where we were last year, to be challenging these guys at the front, it’s been a massive turnaround.

“I know what Sam [Scaffidi], my engineer, is like; I know what the team are like at Walkinshaw Andretti United– they want to win and they want to win desperately – so, no doubt from now until then, they’ll even make this little thing a little bit quicker again.”

The 25-year-old Toowoomba product, who started yesterday’s race from pole position, held on from there for his 6th career race win and 15th career podium finish.

Brown’s teammate and yesterday’s race winner Broc Feeney finished third, even with a five second time penalty for an early bump into the Nulon Racing Camaro of James Golding.

The result ensured Red Bull finished the weekend with two wins from two starts, with Brown now the Championship leader and Feeney second heading into the second round at Albert Park next month.

This weekend’s results also ensure the Red Bull outfit will move up pit lane for the next round with the 2024 introduction of a live pit lane that will see pit positions change in accordance with each round ending points tally for teams.

Behind the top three was the Castrol Ford Mustang of Thomas Randle, Golding in fifth, David Reynolds, Matt Payne, Jack Le Brocq, Nick Percat and Will Davison who rounded out the top ten.

“Yeah, it means a lot, first round with the new team. To get a win, to get a pole position this weekend, absolutely stoked,” Brown said.

“So, thanks to everyone at Red Bull Ampol Racing. I’m absolutely knackered. It was pretty hard out there. I had Chaz just pushing me along. I was thinking, can he piss off? But, he wouldn’t.

“I thought he is gonna have a lunge at me somewhere and he is a hard racer, so just trying to keep a bit ahead. But God, he is quick down the hill, early days.

“It’s a long year ahead. All these guys are driving great. So, we’ll see where we end up,” said Brown.

The second round of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship will be the four-race Melbourne SuperSprint as part of the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix from 21-24 March.

Bathurst 500 Race 2 Results

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