Brown blitzes Friday finale
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 12 September 2025
Will Brown smashed the field by being the first ever driver to record a 1m48s lap at The Bend in the final Supercars practice on Friday.
Triple Eight sent an ominous statement with Brown and Broc Feeney nailing their final laps to secure a one-two finish.
While Feeney has soaked up the applause over the Sprint Cup, it was the reigning champion, who had the speed today.
Brown stopped the clock at a stunning 1:48.9957, which blitzed his teammate and the field by more three tenths.
With the previous lap record in the 1m49’s, Brown drove where no other has gone before in the short Supercars history at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park.
Behind the Bulls, Tickford is comfortably best of the rest with Thomas Randle and Cam Waters completing the top four and the only others within half a second of the leader.
The drivers were straight into the 1m50s threshold with Heimgartner sneaking clear of Randle by a slender 0.0066s.
They were the only drivers to hit that mark as De Pasquale and Courtney were not far behind.
There was only enough time for the full field to get a single flying lap in as the new Full Course Yellow system was trialled at the five-minute mark.
After four minutes of the yellow simulation, the field was released and the heat was on at the top of the leaderboard.
De Pasquale was the first to put the foot down and snuck ahead in the Team 18 Camaro by 0.059s.
Wildcard Dalton shone to put the #5 Mustang into P1 before Percat, Murray and Wood found more speed.
The MSR driver ended up at the top of the pile, having nailed a 1:50.0118.
In an attempt to join them, his teammate Hill caught his rear wheel in the grass during his journey through the high-speed right-hander that links Turns 7-10.
The MSR driver caught it, but not without touring the expansive outfield.
It was not until the 20-minute mark that Percat was knocked off as the 1m49’s were found for the first time this weekend.
De Pasquale flew to a 1:49.4308 with Randle and Stanaway joining him.
With the pace stepping up, some close calls in the pit lane left Brown shaking his head as many were released for a qualifying simulation inside the final five minutes.
Payne was the first to make a move at the death, splitting De Pasquale and Randle.
However, no one was in the same postcode as Triple Eight, which marked the chequered flag by going one-two.
Feeney kept Waters at bay by finding a tenth on the previous leader De Pasquale.
However, that was nothing compared to Brown’s mighty effort, which was more than three tenths faster.
Randle fired in a purple first sector to displace his teammate from third.
Reynolds was restricted to three laps for the first 27 minutes of the session after the car stalled when leaving the garage due to electrical dramas.
It was not until the final three minutes that Reynolds was released back on track.
While the 500 is at a new home, it is a familiar feel at the end of Friday with Triple Eight well ahead of the rest.
Image: Peter Norton
Practice 3 results
1: Will Brown 1:48.9957
2: Broc Feeney +0.3210
3: Thomas Randle +0.3837
4: Cameron Waters +0.4112
5: Anton De Pasquale +0.4351
6: Matt Payne +0.6090
7: Andre Heimgartner +0.7985
8: Cooper Murray +0.8399
9: Richie Stanaway +0.8584
10: Bryce Fullwood +0.9349
11: Kai Allen +1.0092
12: Will Davison +1.0104
13: Jack Le Brocq +1.0156
14: Nick Percat +1.0161
15: C. Lowndes/Z. Bates +1.0452
16: L.Dalton/R.Gray +1.0882
17: Jaxon Evans +1.1012
18: Macauley Jones +1.1638
19: James Courtney +1.1645
20: Ryan Wood +1.2052
21: C.Mostert/F.Coulthard +1.3709
22: David Reyolds +1.4317
23: Cameron Hill +1.4666
24: James Golding +1.6001
25: C.Crick/A.Seton +1.6836
26: Brodie Kostecki +2.2616
27: A.Cameron/Z.Best +2.5804
Practice 1: 1: A. Cameron/Z. Best 1:50.0617 2: T. Randle/Z. Best +0.0283 3: B. Kostecki/T. Hazelwood +0.3358
Practice 2: 1: Jamie Whincup 1:50.5875 2: Todd Hazelwood +0.2082 3: Dale Wood +0.3248
Practice 4: Saturday 9.50-10.30
Practice 5: Saturday 12.00-12.40
Qualifying: Saturday 15.05-15.25
Top 10 Shootout: Saturday 16.50-17.30
Warm Up: Sunday 9.30-9.50
Race 26: Sunday 13.45-17.18 102 laps
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