Brown's objective in Feeney championship battle
Supercars
23 Apr
Will Brown beat Broc Feeney in thrilling Taupō finale
Triple Eight teammates put on a show in tense, yet clean battle
Brown says goal is to "try not to run into each other" in future races
"Try not to run into each other and hopefully win some more races."
That's the simple goal for Will Brown in his growing championship rivalry with teammate Broc Feeney following their epic battle in New Zealand.
Brown overhauled Feeney in a thrilling conclusion to the ITM Taupō Super400 on Sunday, with the former extending his championship lead.
Feeney led for the majority of the race before Brown closed in the final stint, with the two Triple Eight drivers going to battle.
On two occasions, the duo ran line astern into the Turn 11 hairpin, with Brown later making light contact before eventually sealing the overtake.
The battle between Brown and Feeney has raged on since they ran first and second at the season-opener in Bathurst, with Feeney leading a one-two. A day later, Brown turned the tables and claimed the points lead, which Feeney grabbed straight back in the next race in Melbourne.
Saturday's race was the first hiccup in what had been a near-perfect start to 2024, with Brown ninth and Feeney 21st in a dramatic wet race, which saw Feeney turned around at the first corner.
When asked what happens from here with Feeney in coming races, Brown replied: "Try not to run into each other and hopefully win some more races.
"It's obviously going to be a tough season. I'm loving working with Broc. Great guy. He was happy when he got out of the car. He said it was an awesome battle.
"Obviously, I know he would have loved to win, but, uh, you know, at one stage he'll beat me and I'll beat him."
Despite being beaten by his teammate on Sunday, Feeney reiterated that there was a long season ahead, but praised Brown for the "super-respectful" battle.
"As long as we keep it going the way we are, we're having fun going racing and we're enjoying it. So that's the main thing for me."
The Taupō battle saw both drivers use all the tricks in the book on each other, with Brown's superior tyre life eventually sealing the destiny of the result.
However, Brown reiterated that if he managed to get past Feeney, he wanted to do so cleanly: “It was hard. I didn't want to bump him and put him off or put both of us off, so it was really hard.
“He said after to me, ‘I knew what you were doing there.’ It was cool. I just think it was an awesome battle, no matter what, so, absolutely loved it."
Brown leads Feeney by 71 points heading to the next round in Perth on May 17-19.
