Triple Eight out to make a season U-turn after dry run
Sebastian Tan |
Will Brown concedes the Triple Eight team must go back to the drawing board after the crew sank to a historic low in a train-wreck weekend at the Townsville 500.
Brown and teammate Broc Feeney didn’t make the podium for a fifth consecutive time in Sunday’s final race at the Reid Park Street Circuit, something that hadn’t happened to the Triple Eight Engineering team since 2007.
It marked a fall from grace for the Supercars giants, who were on track for another team championship with Feeney on top of the drivers’ standings heading into the previous round’s Darwin Triple Crown.
But poor qualifying results cruelled the team’s chances of continuing their sparkling start to the season, and they dropped to second in the standings.
“It’s very disappointing. We’re not happy unless we’re winning races and getting podiums, and it’s been two rounds in a row now that that hasn’t happened,” Brown told AAP.
“The hardest thing is that you work hard all the time, you try new elements to the car, and try new set-up changes that you believe in … and unfortunately they didn’t work.
“You’ve got to accept that and go back to the drawing board and do it again.”
Brown, the 2024 champion, hasn’t enjoyed a race win since August.
But if there’s one point of inspiration he and his crew can draw on, it’s rivals Tickford Racing.
After a winless start to their 2026 campaign, which prompted team boss Simon Brookhouse to issue a letter to fans, Tickford turned their fortunes around, with Cam Waters winning the Darwin Triple Crown and the sprint race in Townsville.
“They’ve stepped back up, but we will find our feet, and we’ll get going again soon,” Brown said.
“We do our best work when we’re backed into a corner, and that’s what happened this weekend … we passed 29 cars.”
Unlike Triple Eight, Brodie Kostecki will be riding high into the Perth 440 beginning on July 31, with Sunday’s victory his first win since April.
Victory also completed a comeback for the 28-year-old, who missed the final race in Darwin with illness, then failed to convert his two poles into victories in Townsville.
Perth presents a new challenge for the Dick Johnson Racing star, with the course in his home town.
“I’ve never won on home soil, so that (a victory) would be really nice,” Kostecki said.
“Personally, it’s a really odd place, and it requires a bit of a different car to make speed around there.
“Generally, you see odd cars up towards the front that have different set-up philosophies, so we’ll see if we can nail it.”
AAP