Kostecki snares P1 in fast final practice

Erebus Motorsport has completed Chevrolet’s sweep of Supercars practice sessions at Newcastle thanks to Brodie Kostecki.

Kostecki emerged victorious after a scintillating final five minutes, where teams pushed the boundaries in a mini qualifying session at the end of practice 3.

Car #99 stood at the top for the majority of the session before losing P1 towards the end, only to snatch it back with a 1:11.4068 at the death.

Kostecki edged out Shane van Gisbergen and Chaz Mostert by less than a tenth, which sets the scene for a thrilling qualifying after the third and final practice.

Tim Slade pushed hard for PremiAir Racing in car #400. Image: Peter Norton/Epic Photography

Tim Slade showed strong pace in car #400 and was joined by PremiAir Racing teammate in the top five.

Less than half a second separated the top nine, which was completed by Nick Percat, Will Davison, Scott Pye and Cameron Waters. 

The increased pace was notable straight away as the heavy hitters fired in the laps on the increasingly rubbery 2.63km street circuit.

Practice 1 pacesetter Andre Heimgartner went straight to the top once again. He set a 1:12.1413 to sit ahead of teammate Macauley Jones and Pye after the first set of flyers.

But the fastest lap of the early runs was eventually set by Brodie Kostecki, who recorded an impressive 1:11.6160 – the fastest time of the weekend by a tenth.

Car #99 was particularly impressive across the first two sectors and enjoyed a comfortable three tenth gap over Dick Johnson Racing’s Anton De Pasquale.

De Pasquale was the only Mustang in the top six, holding off Will Brown, Cameron Hill, Heimgartner and Mark Winterbottom, who were all covered by less than two tenths.

Shane van Gisbergen climbs the Turn 1 kerb before finishing second in car #97. Image: Peter Norton/Epic Photography

After a brief quiet period, Golding threw his PremiAir Camaro into the mix, snatching second.

Pye was the first driver to go off at Turn 2, while his Team 18 teammate Mark Winterbottom and Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Broc Feeney followed each other down the Turn 1 escape road.

Despite throwing the car into the top five on a green tyre run, Hill had an extended period out of the car due to cool suit issues, but returned inside the final half an hour.

The halfway mark saw more cars push the limits with Nick Percat, Golding and Jack Le Brocq throwing themselves into the top five, but Kostecki remained untouchable.

Race runs also started to be a priority with Feeney putting in an 18-lap run, averaging 1:13s laps.

Will Brown came unstuck at Turn 8 and slid gently into the barriers after a small moment at corner entry.

Despite being the first to put a Gen3 car in the fence, he escaped with no visible damage and pushed on.

Kostecki’s lap stood in P1 for half an hour until Slade shaded it by 0.05s in the #400 Camaro ZL1 to setup a four-minute qualifying simulation.

Van Gisnbrgen then edged car #400 out by a tenth, but he was knocked off by Kostekci, who snatched P1 back by the barest of margins.

Qualifying begins at 11.15 AEDT tomorrow morning.

2023 Newcastle 500 Practice 3 results

1 Brodie Kostecki 1:11.4068

2 Shane van Gisbergen +0.0557

3 Chaz Mostert +0.0760

4 Tim Slade +0.1581

5 James Golding +0.2830

6 Nick Percat +0.3207

7 Will Davison +0.3614

8 Scott Pye +0.3693

9 Cameron Waters+0.3980

10 Anton De Pasquale +0.5067

11 Cameron Hill +0.5157

12 William Brown +0.5315

13 Andre Heimgartner +0.5357

14 Jack Le Brocq +0.5408

15 Matthew Payne +0.5714

16 Broc Feeney +0.6206

17 Bryce Fullwood +0.6403

18 Mark Winterbottom +0.6682

19 James Courtney +0.6862

20 Thomas Randle +0.7141

21 David Reynolds +0.7991

22 Todd Hazelwood +0.9511

23 Macauley Jones +0.9621

24 Declan Fraser +0.9961

25 Jack Smith +1.2872

2023 Newcastle 500 schedule

Friday, March 10

Practice 1 – 1: A. Heimgartner 1:11.9958 2: W. Brown +0.1813 3: D. Reynolds +0.2021

Practice 2 – 1: S. van Gisbergen 1:11.7555 2: W. Davison +0.0374 3: B. Feeney +0.1167

Practice 3 – 15.50-16.35

Saturday, March 11

Qualifying – 11.15-11.35

Top 10 Shootout – 12.35-13.00

Race 1 (95 laps) 15.20-17.20

Sunday, March 12

Qualifying – 11.15-11.35

Top 10 Shootout – 12.35-13.00

Race 2 (95 laps) 15.20-17.20

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