Moving into the penultimate round of the Supercars season, reigning champion Will Brown believes drivers will “need a few friends” on track to help them get through to the final four.
Currently seven drivers are in contention for the title. After the two races in Sandown, it will become a showdown between the top four based on points, or through an express ticket in the form of a race win.
“It’s really hard to know how to race in these finals because how you race someone is how you’re going to get race[d] back,” Brown admitted.
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“So you don’t want to be too crazy because you probably need a few friends on your side going into Adelaide if you make it through.
“So we’ll try to keep it clean, pass people as normal, race as normal and get through to Adelaide that way.
Will Brown Getty
“I think the finals are living up to exactly what Supercars wanted it to and that’s putting on a show that’s extremely exciting but also…it’s putting us under a lot of pressure out there.”
A conundrum has cropped up out of the new finals format. Driving in the Supercars Championship alongside drivers on the grid that have nothing to lose, you have two choices.
Drive cleanly and potentially miss out on crucial points. Or drive with force and get caught out in an error by another driver or yourself.
Either way, this Finals showdown is set to generate headlines with moves from drivers that will ultimately cause controversy.
Brown had a weekend to forget at the Gold Coast, calling it “very average.”
He fell victim to his own mistake and skidded along the wall during the top ten shootout, hampering his ability to pick up a decent haul of points.
He comes into the weekend at Sandown in fifth, currently underneath the cut-off line.
“I think we saw mistakes from teams and drivers due to pressure so obviously for myself, I’ve got to improve on what I did at Gold Coast and do a better job in the next couple of rounds,” he added.
Axed Will Davison is set to hit his 600th Supercars race in Sandown.
The two-time Bathurst 1000 winner joins just four other drivers with this record – Craig Lowndes, Garth Tander, Mark Winterbottom and James Courtney.
Will Davison. Â Getty
Retiring Courtney spoke on Davison’s axing, saying it is a driver’s biggest fear to be cut from a team without warning.
“I felt for Will. He’s had quite a good, long career, and to be told that way, that was my biggest fear. That’s why I called it early,” he said.
“You work your arse off for your whole life and then have someone tear it up right in front of you.
“For him not to have his moment that I was able to have, I think for him it’s pretty tough.”
Courtney will be driving with Team 18 in a co-driving capacity for 2026 and Davison is set to follow the same path.
Eighteen-year-old Rylan Grey will replace Davison at Dick Johnson Racing, highlighting a growing amount of young drivers set to race on the 2026 grid.
Jayden Ojeda will move into Richie Stanaway’s vacant seat. Â Getty
One rookie, Jayden Ojeda, will get his first drive in the main game as he moves into Richie Stanaway’s seat for the final two races of the season.
Practice one in Sandown begins on November 14 at 1.30pm AEDT.