US bound Brown to skip Winton TCR round

Will Brown will not be racing his Melbourne Performance Centre Audi TCR at Winton in June due to a trip to the USA.

Brown, Brodie Kostecki and Barry Ryan are part of a group of Erebus Motorsport team members who are flying to America to work with leading NASCAR Cup Series squad Richard Childress Racing.

The delegation from the leaders of the Supercars teams championship will be guests of RCR at this weekend’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide technology Raceway.

RCR hopes to tap into Erebus Motorsport’s knowledge with two road course events within the next month at Sonoma and Chicago.

Brown is currently in career-best form having won three races across the last two rounds to surge up to second in the championship.

However, the 24-year-old’s fortunes in the 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia season has been anything, but successful.

Mechanical issues meant he could not finish the first four races of the season and was only able to start in half of them.

Brown finally greeted the chequered flag in Phillip Island and recorded P11 and P8 finishes, but sits 14th and last in the championship.

Whilst admitting he was disappointed to miss the Winton TCR round, Brown confirmed he will race for the rest of the season afterwards.

“I am excited to head to America to expand my racing knowledge and gain insights into the (NASCAR) teams and drivers, and how they prepare and run for race weekends,” he said.

“It is disappointing to miss the Winton round of TCR, but I will be back for the remaining four rounds of the season to gain as many points as possible to boost my World TCR ranking.”

Melbourne Performance Centre head of partnerships Belinda Narbey is not concerned by Brown’s absence, knowing all Supercars commitments come first.

“We went into this partnership with Will, knowing any Supercars commitments would come before TCR,” she said. 

“We got through last season without any clashes, but these things happen when you have someone as talented as Will on your team. 

“Troy (Russell) and the Melbourne Performance Centre team are working hard to get the car right after the issues that have plagued us for the first two rounds of the year.”

Although Melbourne Performance Centre will not be in action at the third round of the championship, it will use the break as an opportunity to get to the bottom of the gremlins that have destroyed its start to 2023.

Having had one driver in the top six of the championship in all three TCR seasons, sitting last is not what the team is accustomed to.

Despite taking pole position at the Tasmania season opener, driveshaft issues meant Brown could not finish any of the three races.

Although Phillip Island was a step in the right direction, Melbourne Performance Centre managing director Troy Russell said there is still work to be done to get Brown’s car back to the front.

“The car Will is driving, previously driven by Jay Hanson in 2022, gave us no issues throughout the year despite some running repairs needed,” he said.

“This year has not been the start myself or the team had hoped for but we are all working hard to get the car and Will back to the top of the field”

The Winton TCR round will be staged on June 9-11.

PODCAST: The latest episode of the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast is out now!

Andrew Clarke and Auto Action’s Bruce Williams and Paul Gover sat down for a candid chat on the teams, drivers and the #Supercars series championship.