Reigning Supercars Champion gets special award
Will Brown received a hometown hero’s treatment last week, where he was gifted the Key to the Region by Toowoomba Regional Council.
Brown claimed his maiden Supercars title in Adelaide in November, capping a sensational debut season with Triple Eight Race Engineering.
The 26-year old finished on the podium in 19 of the season’s 24 races, and was the first driver in 40 years to score a podium at every event in a Supercars season. Brown is also the first Queensland-born Supercars champion since Dick Johnson in 1989.
Joined by his family on Thursday, Brown became just the fourth recipient of the key to the region.
The first recipients were the Mr Haruo and Mrs Mitsuko Ishida from Takatsuki, Toowoomba’s sister city in Japan.
Indy 500 winner and Toowoomba native Will Power was awarded the keys in 2015 after winning the 2014 IndyCar title, followed by Alyssa Azar in 2016 after she became the then-youngest Australian to climb Mount Everest.
Brown – who still lives in Toowoomba – has kept busy in the Supercars offseason, making single seater racing cameos in the NextGen Championship in New Zealand, and will compete in next weekend’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour, racing a Ferrari he will share with Supercars rival Chaz Mostert.
Brown’s quest to claim back-to-back Supercars titles begins in just over four weeks, when the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship kicks off at the Sydney 500 in Eastern Creek.
Supercars will stage three races across three days at Sydney Motorsport Park, February 21-23, including Friday and Saturday night races at the popular circuit in western Sydney.
It was announced on Wednesday that a party on Pit Straight will follow the Saturday night race at the Sydney 500. Fans will be welcomed onto the SMSP track itself for live performances from Sunset Bros and Timmy Trumpet in what will be an adrenaline-pumping weekend with action and entertainment aplenty.
