Will Brown’s #1 Red Bull Ampol Racing Chevrolet Camaro. Image: InSyde Media
Brown was seventh in Practice 1 on Thursday in the #1 Red Bull Ampol Racing Chevrolet Camaro before his co-driver Scott Pye topped a rain-soaked Practice 2.
The pair showed promise in Practice 3, setting the third-best time before a Practice 4 slide saw them slump to 13th.
Come qualifying, Brown couldn’t match the pace-setting Shell V-Power Racing Team Mustang and was only 12th, two tenths off his teammate Broc Feeney in the #88 Camaro.
“So, not the best day,” said Brown.
“Qualifying here at Bathurst… we were looking not too bad up until probably the end of Practice 4.
“We knew we had a little bit of work to do but I think we did that going into qualifying, going into the start of that session.
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“Unfortunately we just didn’t have the pace… it’s tight out there, two tenths to pole.
“Everyone’s doing such a good job and unfortunately we were just really on the wrong side of the top 10.
“I feel like we’ve got to do a little bit better job, but it didn’t feel so bad, it just wasn’t fast enough.
“So we’ll start the Great Race from P12, sort out our Sunday as best we can. It’s all about Sunday. Still not a good spot to start, but it’s all about Sunday.
“You can win it from P12, there’s no doubt about that, but we’ve definitely made our life harder for Sunday. We’ll work through it and try to win the race.”
Brown and Pye will turn their attention to setting their car up for Sunday’s race.
They’ll have two practice sessions on Saturday to prepare – and in all likelihood, Pye will start the race.
“That qualifying, it was just crazy close,” said Pye.
“Watching it from my point of view as co-driver, I was blown away with how close it was.
“I don’t think anyone’s car out there is going to be feeling too bad, it just might be the wrong side of the top 10.
“So disappointed ultimately with the result, we’re not in the top 10, we’re not in the shootout, but for me now I just need to focus on race car tomorrow again, get back into it and then whoever it is we need to try and have some kind of spectacular opening stint and first half of the race.
“We’ll talk tactics tomorrow, probably tomorrow night, because we will still wait for the shootout to see how it goes.
“We have the luxury of being able to get into that part of the strategy chat early as a group on car #1 and start talking our options.
“Ultimately, the plan is just going to be to get as far forward as possible and whatever we think gives us the best opportunity to do that early, we’ll take.”