AN emotionally charged VAILO Adelaide 500 awaits Erebus Motorsport for more reasons than one.
More prominently, it’s in the box seat to seal its first Supercars championships, holding the advantage in both the drivers’ and teams’ standings into the title decider.
Secondary to that, there’ll be the break-up of a six-season relationship with Will Brown and Erebus to part ways after the event.
Erebus blooded Brown as a 20-year-old at the 2018 Sandown 500, co-driving with Anton De Pasquale.
He now has exactly 100 main game races under his belt, all of which have come with Betty Klimenko and Barry Ryan’s team.
The return has been five pole positions, five race wins and 13 podiums – the first of those victories (at Sydney Motorsport Park in 2021) snapping a three-year drought for the team.
Brown is off to Erebus’ archrivals Triple Eight next year, with Jack Le Brocq to come in as Brodie Kostecki’s new-for-2024 teammate.
“It will probably be an emotional day on Sunday,” Brown told V8 Sleuth with a view to Adelaide.
“That’s my last race for Erebus and I’ve got a lot of great memories: my first win, my first pole position, but even just my first ever race in the main game.
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“It’s going to be a bit of a sad one, especially as I’ve got a lot of great friends at Erebus.
“There’s new, exciting things on the horizon but it definitely will be an emotional day.”
Kostecki leads Shane van Gisbergen by 131 points, with a maximum of 300 left in play and no other driver still in the hunt.
Brown is locked in a battle for third with future teammate Broc Feeney, nine points separating the duo.
In the teams’ championship, Erebus enters Adelaide with a 170-point advantage over Triple Eight. A two-car team can score up to 576 points at the finale.