BROWN A BENCHMARK FOR TCR IN 2022
Former Supercars racers Fabian Coulthard, Tony D’Alberto, Michael Caruso and James Moffat are all up for TCR Australia Series action in 2022 but it’s ‘wild child’ Will Brown who puts the perspective into the headline act for the new SuperSeries season.
Brown already has a TCR title and his car for the coming championship campaign is an Audi RS3 from the reigning champions at Melbourne Performance Centre and that makes him the benchmark.
He also becomes a plug-and-play replacement for Chaz Mostert, as well as the only main game full-timer who wants – and is allowed – a complete season in TCR.
“You know me, I’ll race anything,” Brown laughs as he outlines his program to Auto Action.
“When this opportunity came up with Audi and Liqui Molly it didn’t take me long to decide. About 20 minutes. And that’s only because I had to check with Erebus, talking with Betty (Klimenko) and Barry (Ryan).”
He is being welcomed by Troy Russell, the managing director of Melbourne Performance Centre.
“Will proved his talent in the inaugural season driving for one of our rivals, so now it’s great to have him in our corner, filling the shoes of Chaz who did a terrific job last year,” Russell says.
The livewire youngster already fills his time by working at the family car yard, and logging lots of hours as a private pilot, but is happy to combine TCR with Supercars for the year.
“The day I start doing just one category then I should quit motorsport. All you are tyring to do is make a car going round a track as fast as possible.”
He has an impressive record in everything from Formula Ford and F4 to Toyota 86 racing and, still aged just 23, scored his first Supercars victory last year.
He is also thinking about speedway after watching his Erebus team mate Brodie Kostecki wheeling a Sprintcar in Toowoomba.
“It was cool to go and watch Brodie. Those Sprintcars are a different sort of beast. It looks like fun and I’d love to go and have a run in one.”
He’s also expecting to have fun in the Audi RS3, which was the car to beat when he was racing a Hyundai i30 in his first season of TCR competition.
“I am excited to see what the Audi is like. It is one of the best cars in the field and being run by the team at Melbourne Performance Centre is huge. There’s a bit of pressure to back up what Chaz was able to achieve last year by winning the series, but I’m up for the challenge.
“Everything I do, I want to win. Racing in TCR is no different and I’ll be aiming to be near the front right from the start.”
Even so, he’s not expecting to win or dismissing the opposition.
“I want to go out there and win. There’s no doubt about that. By I don’t go into anything being cocky.
“The car is good and the MPC team is good. That tells me we should be up at the front.”
He is firing up for the first SuperSeries weekend at Symmons Plains but won’t be flying himself south from Queensland.
“It’s cheaper to go commercial when you’re travelling that far. But I do plan to fly to most of my races this year – TCR and Supercars.
“I’m not flying as much as I’d like, but there will be opportunities to get my hours up. I’ll mostly be in a twin-engined Beechcraft Baron.”
