Will Brown is set to adopt the most famous number in Triple Eight Race Engineering history, confirming he will race as #888 for the 2026 Supercars Championship season. The 2024 Supercars Champion will carry the number on his brand new Ford Mustang GT following the team’s switch to the manufacturer.
The decision follows a request made by Brown to Managing Director and Team Principal Jamie Whincup. Crucially, the move comes with the blessing of motorsport legend Craig Lowndes, who made the number iconic over a 20-year relationship with the team that concluded in 2025.
Lowndes, who won Triple Eight’s first race in the championship in 2005 aboard the #888 Betta Electrical Falcon, expressed his strong support for the transition.
“This number is iconic to the team,” Lowndes said. “In motor racing and in sports sponsors come and go, liveries change, kits change. But this is Triple Eight Race Engineering, that’s the number and it’s iconic with the success that comes out of this workshop.”
Lowndes amassed 110 career race wins, with more than half achieved during his tenure with Triple Eight, alongside six of his seven Bathurst 1000 victories. He believes Brown is the right driver to carry the legacy forward.
“I know Will pretty well, to have him carry on that legacy I think that he’ll do it proud,” Lowndes said. “I think the new change of manufacturer, the new change of car, the new change of number, it’s all a good fit and I think at the start of the season he’ll come out punching.”
Brown, who raced as #87 during his championship-winning debut season with the team in 2024 and utilised #1 in 2025 as the defending champion, acknowledged the weight of the history behind the number.
“It’s cool to know I’m going into 2026 with such an iconic number on my car,” Brown said. “Obviously there’s a lot of history there, I’ve watched the #888 race around for years now ever since I started watching the sport.”
According to Brown, retaining the number within the organisation was a priority for Lowndes.
“With Craig leaving the team he thought it best that the #888 number stay with Triple Eight, he was really keen for it to stay here,” Brown said. “That was a really easy conversation to have knowing how much it meant to him. I’m really excited to go racing with that number.”
The change coincides with a significant shift for the team, which announced in January 2025 that it will join forces with Ford Racing as the manufacturer’s Supercars Homologation Team from 2026 onwards. Brown and teammate Broc Feeney—who will race as #88—recently signed three-year contract extensions, securing their places with Triple Eight until the end of the 2029 season.
