Wheelspin penalty gives Brown further pain
As his teammate celebrated Sprint Cup glory, Will Brown’s campaign ended with a nightmare Sunday race in Ipswich.
During a crazy final stint, Brown went from sitting strong in fifth to finishing a lowly 23rd and seeding second in the championship to Matt Payne.
Brown’s race unravelled when he spun out of the podium battle in a cloud of smoke.
This was the end result of a developing battle with Kiwi Ryan Wood that ended in tears.
It was sparked after the Safety Car restart, where Brown muscled his way past Wood at Turn 6.
The WAU driver was not pleased and four laps later they clashed again.
This time it was at Turn 3 where Wood braked too deep and struck the rear of the reigning champion.
This sent the #1 Camaro into a smokey spin, restricting him to 19th, while Wood received a 15s penalty and fell from seventh to 21st.
The rivalry did not end there as Brown raged up alongside Wood, making light contact and even showing the Kiwi the middle finger on the cool-down lap.
“Look, probably not the finest Sunday ever. A bit disappointing.
I had a good run in with Woody at one stage which turned a good race in to not a good race. Yeah I ribbed him up a little bit, and I think he was unhappy with it, so he just turned me around. It’s disappointing… but that’s the way it goes.”
Wood apologised for the spin, stating that despite his frustration he did want to get back at Brown.
“Once again, I have left myself down on a Sunday. Sorry to Car 1’s crew, didn’t mean to turn Browny, I just got in too hard, I felt like I cost us both a good result,” he said.
“I had no intention to turn him or retaliate even.
“I knew he was probably a bit faster than me, but I just got in too hard at Turn 3 and got him right at the apex point.
“Once you’re at the peak load of your tyre and then you get one little bump, it can go pretty bad like it did.”
To rub further salt into the wounds, Brown was hit with a 15s penalty for spinning wheels whilst being serviced in the pit lane.
This dropped the #1 even further from 16th to 23rd to ensure Payne snatched second in the Sprint Cup.
During his second and final stop Brown’s rear wheels rotated before the car was dropped, breaching rule D11.8.9.
Interestingly, Brown avoided a penalty in Townsville when his wheels were also seen spinning during a stop.
On that occasion, he avoided the penalty with the linelocker being engaged.
However, this Triple Eight “failed to provide the driver with sufficient information” and were penalised with the driver’s actions as the “primary cause.”
The full steward’s report is below.
The Stewards summonsed and heard from the Competitor’s Authorised Representative. The Stewards also heard from the DRD, the GMM and Supercar’s Category Technical Manager.
The fact that the Car’s rear wheels were rotating while the Car before it returned to the ground during the relevant Pit Stop was not in dispute. It was also not in dispute that the brake lock mechanism was engaged, and the rear brake pressure exceeded the prescribed minimum of 20 bar. The question for the Stewards was as to how Rule D11.8.9 operates and what obligations it imposes on the relevant parties.
The issue is whether the obligation on the Competitor and/or Driver was only to engage the brake lock mechanism to a pressure exceeding 20 bar or whether the obligation was to engage the brake lock mechanism to the pressure of at least 20 bar and in a way to prevent the wheels rotating before the Car returned to the ground.
In the Stewards’ view, the critical words in the Rule are “so as the rear wheels do not rotate without the prior approval of the GMM”. Those words proscribe the way in which the lock mechanism must be engage, or in other words, what the Competitor/Driver must achieve by the engagement of the brake lock mechanism.
Therefore, the obligation on the Competitor/Driver is:
1) To engage the brake lock mechanism;
2) Engage it to a pressure of at least 20 bar; and
3) Engage it such a way that “the rear wheels do not rotate without the prior approval of the GMM”.
Here the Competitor/Driver complied with the first 2 elements but not the third and therefore the breach of the Rule is established.
The Stewards also heard from the DRD and the Competitor’s Authorised Representative in relation to the appropriate penalty to be imposed. The DRD submitted that a time penalty is the appropriate penalty to be imposed. The Competitor’s Authorised Representative submitted that this was a Team breach for failing to provide the Driver with sufficient information and submitted that a fine would be the appropriate penalty.
The Stewards impose a 15 second Time Penalty because a sporting penalty is appropriate as the action of the Driver was the primary cause for the wheels to rotate and consider that a sporting penalty rather than a monetary penalty is the appropriate penalty in the circumstances.
The Competitor is reminded that Decisions and Penalties that may be subject to Appeal are set out in B7.7.2 and the Rights to and process for an Appeal are set out in B5.
2025 Ipswich Super440 (All Times AEST)
Friday 8 August
Practice 1 – 1: Broc Feeney 1:09.2078 2: Anton De Pasquale +0.1965 3: Cameron Hill +0.2271
Practice 2 – 1: Will Brown 1:08.4927 2: Broc Feeney +0.1419 3: Ryan Wood +0.2088
Saturday 9 August
Qualifying Race 23: 1 Broc Feeney 1:08.1301 2 Will Brown +0.1119 3 Ryan Wood +0.1866
Qualifying Race 24: 1 Broc Feeney 1:19.8014 2 Ryan Wood +0.4782 3 Will Brown +0.9097
Race 23 – 39 laps 1 Broc Feeney 2 Kai Allen +0.4739 3 Ryan Wood +1.1230
Race 24 – 39 laps 1 Will Brown 49:05.3349 2 Broc Feeney +0.8842 3 Ryan Wood +9.8118
Sunday 10 August
Qualifying Race 25 1 Anton De Pasquale 1:08.1543 2 Broc Feeney +0.0347 3 Zach Bates +0.1115
Top Ten Shootout 1 Broc Feeney 1:08.3493 2 Ryan Wood +0.4629 3 Will Brown +0.4807
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