As the 2024 Supercars season entered its final rounds, Will Brown carried the air of a driver whose tenure with the Triple Eight team could be measured in years, not months as was the reality.
On occasion, he lacked the outright pace of his team-mate Broc Feeney, but Brown was able to turn top-six situations into 19 podium results from the 24 races and kept mistakes to a minimum.
At 26, and with one NASCAR Cup start already on his CV, the USA may beckon – but for now, Supercars has a new number one driver. More titles look likely in the future.
Brown and Gold
When Supercars management announced a new generation for the 2023 season, conversation was centred on the new Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang racers.
A year after Brodie Kostecki won a maiden title, now Will Brown has done the same thing in 2024. The new generation of Supercar may have, perhaps unintentionally, just swept into power a new generation of drivers.
Based on the results, the younger drivers with little or no experience of the last generation of Supercars have adapted better to Gen3 those with more experience in the previous cars, which had more downforce and greater adjustability than the Gen3s.
Of the top seven drivers in the final points only two, Chaz Mostert and Cam Waters, have blown out 30 or more candles.
Brown has shown glimpses of what we have seen in former Triple Eight champions. Like Jamie Whincup, he is capable of putting setbacks, whether in a session or in a race, out of his mind and apply a zen-like focus on what needs to be done to get onto the podium.
Like Shane van Gisbergen he can adapt to conditions or problems, and deduce a way to cope with most situations. And if he does not quite display a Craig Lowndes-like megawatt ease in driving, or relating to fans – and who else does? – Brown's easygoing nature stands him in good stead, even if it disguises a laser-like will to win.
To be as consistent as he has been in 2024, in a field in which all 24 drivers have such quality hardware, is testament to what separated Brown from the other title hopefuls.
At 26 and 22, respectively, Brown and Feeney could well be T8’s dynamic duo for a decade, or perhaps until the call of different challenges on wider canvases tempts one (or both) of them away, just as happened with van Gisbergen.
Just over a year ago a new wave of drivers were setting their sights on deposing Supercars’ old guard. Looking at the achievements of Kostecki, Brown and others, the regeneration of the series' hierarchy might just be done.
