Current supercar champion Will Brown has explained that his upcoming return to single-seater racing is to check himself “against the best” drivers who aspire to a future profession in Formula One.
Brown, who won his first dramatic Supercars title in 2024, will compete in three rounds of the 2025 Formula Oceania Regional Championship, competing in the primary two races and the season finale in January and February.
The Formula Regional series, which has quite a few regional divisions around the globe, is renowned for being a proving ground for future F1 talent, and Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda and Franco Colapinto will compete for the Oceania championship in 2020.
It will feature 20 cars in 2025, the most important number because the Covid-19 pandemic, and Brown sees it as a chance to check his skills in a wide range of racing disciplines.
“Single-seaters are something I want to get rid of and there is no better place to do it than in this championship,” said Brown, who won the Supercars Championship with a surprising comeback drive from last November's final in Adelaide.
“I watched Formula 2 and Formula 3 races earlier this yr and thought it will be great to race within the competitive single-seater segment again.
“I don't come to compete, I come to New Zealand to win. This is not any different than why I desired to try NASCAR and TCR.
“As a racing driver, I want to test myself against the best and I know that this championship has a fantastic track record of producing world-class drivers.”
Will Brown, Triple Eight Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 race engineer
Photo: Edge Photographics
The 26-year-old, who also competed in a single round within the 2024 NASCAR Cup season, will race for four-time series champion Giles Motorsport in a Toyota FT-60 six years after Brown's last appearance within the single-seater.
It was within the S5000 where he drove throughout the 2019 season, including a podium finish at The Bend Motorsport Park, three years after winning the Australian Formula 4 Championship.
Brown had long been keen on competing in Formula Regional, but the chance finally got here this yr when Tony Quinn took over the promotion of the New Zealand tracks where he’ll race – Taupo International Motorsport Park and Highlands Motorsport Park.
“The desire to try again started to seem like a much more realistic possibility,” Brown said of the person who’s a shareholder within the Supercars team he races for, Triple Eight Race Engineering.
“I'm delighted to be taking part in these three weekends and I'm looking forward to some great racing.”
This won't be the primary time the reigning supercar champion has raced in single-seaters, as three-time series winner Shane van Gisbergen claimed a formidable victory on the 2021 New Zealand Grand Prix.
Brown is due to this fact determined to emulate the supercar legend, hoping that “at some stage he will be able to test in a single-seater.”
“But I know Taupo well from Supercars,” he added. “I did a few laps at Hampton Downs in the 86 Toyota and also a few laps at the Highlands, so the tracks won't be new to me.”
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