Erebus not getting ahead of itself despite special first
After an eventful, but promising season-opening Newcastle 500, Erebus Motorsport has found itself at a new high.
For the first time in the team’s 10-year history, Erebus is leading the team’s championship after collecting 417 points across the two races.
It enjoys a 78-point lead over both Brad Jones Racing and Grove Racing, which sit narrowly ahead of Team 18.
After Shane van Gisbergen’s Sunday win Triple Eight Race Engineering sits eighth on 261 points, but if the reigning teams champion’s get its Saturday 1-2 finish reinstated, its total would elevate to a chart-topping 549.
However, Erebus earned its right at the top of the teams championship after both Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki showed flashes of promise.
Over one lap, Kostecki’s #99 Coke Camaro was the one to catch before racing commenced, being fastest on Friday.
He took it a step further on Saturday by taking the first ever pole position in Gen3 machinery by 0.1520s.
Although the superior qualifying speed did not quite translate to superior race pace, he still finished a solid fifth, but made up big ground on Sunday.
After a setup change pushed things in the wrong direction, Kostecki qualified 15th for race 2, half a second off the pace.
But he turned it around with a strong comeback drive to sixth after a shorter early stop gave him track position before he had enough car speed to retain it at the end.
Kostecki said there were plenty of positives from the weekend, but refuses to read much into the teams standings, with 11 of the 12 rounds still to come.
“We are leading the team’s championship, but we won’t count our chickens just yet. It is only the first round,” he said.
“It was a real up and down day. Qualifying 15th after getting pole on the previous day is not something you really want to do.
“When you put it on pole by a tenth and a half and then you are six tenths off or whatever it was the next day is really puzzling.
“I am glad the boys found something and we just have to make sure it won’t happen again.
“We had a pretty strong race to drive from 15th to sixth and to have top three pace was pretty cool.”
While Kostecki’s teammate Brown did not have the same heights pace wise, he managed to work his way from 11th to well into the top 10.
He finished sixth on the road, which would become fourth in the results, but Sunday was a different story.
Brown believed he had the speed to reach the Top 10 Shootout, but had to settle for 17th after being impeded by Will Davison.
The car #9 driver would have hoped to make similar progress to Saturday in the more eventful Sunday race.
However, Brown battled his way to a P13 finish as the highest lapped car after an afternoon including a five-second penalty for giving Cameron Hill a shove out of the way at the hairpin, which he put his hand up for.
The third-year driver said it was a “disappointing” finish to the weekend and has “a lot to learn” despite sitting sixth in the standings after placing 14th and eighth over the last two years.
“It was a pretty up and down Sunday for us, qualifying did not go to plan after we did not get setup and a few things in the car right,” he said.
“But we made a really good start and moved through the field.
“I got a five-second penalty which was my fault for a bump and run and I should not have done it.
“Overall disappointing day, but I leave here sixth in the championship, so we have a lot to learn and hopefully we can come back stronger.”
Erebus Motorsport hopes to defend its championship lead at the Australian Grand Prix on March 30-April 2.
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 – 1 Brodie Kostecki 1:11.4068; 2 Shane van Gisbergen +0.0557; 3 Chaz Mostert +0.0760
Saturday, March 11
Qualifying 1 – 1: Kostecki 1:11.131. 2: Mostert 1:11.358 3: VanGisbergen 1:11.435
Top 10 Shootout – 1: Kostecki 1:11.8481 2: Waters +0.1520 3: Feeney +0.1527
Race 1 (95 laps) – 1: Van Gisbergen 2: Feeney +14.740 3: Waters +19.746
Sunday, March 12
Qualifying – 1: Reynolds 1:11.4872; 2: Waters +0.0147; 3: Golding +0.0456
Top 10 Shootout – 1: Reynolds 1:12..0813 2: Mostert +0.0058 3: Golding +0.1092
Race 2 : 1. Van Gisbergen 02:13.25 2: Mostert +4.499 : 3 Reynolds +25.140
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