Signed, sealed, delivered: Kostecki takes Supercars title

Brodie Kostecki is the 2023 Supercars champion after trouble befell Shane van Gisbergen on the opening lap at the VAILO Adelaide 500, finishing in seventh place, whilst Cameron Waters led a trio of Mustangs for the victory.

The new champion is the first Aussie since Jamie Whincup in 2017 to take the Supercars title, with the team taking no risks and avoiding any potential trouble to ease the #99 home, doing well to find comfortable space to operate in after dropping out of the podium spots.

The title was effectively sealed on the fourth corner of the race when the Triple Eight bound Erebus driver Will Brown inadvertently took out SVG in a strange moment of poetic foresight after Anton De Pasquale forced him wide into the concrete.

For the race winner, Waters led home the first all-Mustang podium of 2023 for a tenth career win, with it being his third registered win of the year to cement the fact that the Mustang is now indeed an equal machine to the Camaro.

It was commanding win for Waters in the #6 Mustang, leading home a trio of Fords. Image: EDGE Photography

But the main story was Brodie “Bush” Kostecki and the privateer garage of Erebus, with a huge sense of overwhelming emotion coming out with it with a long dreamed of drivers title attained, with the formal celebration to well and truly come after Race 28 on Sunday where Kostecki can also afford to throw the kitchen sink at a win with an unassailable 233 point lead.

“I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet, obviously you don’t want to win a championship when your other contender is knocked out the race,” Kostecki said.

“But it’s been a whirlwind of a year and we’ve worked so hard to do what we’ve done today and I can’t thank everyone enough that have been behind me my whole career, my family and my team, and it was shame to see Will get knocked out early.”

There was a strong feeling of the real party starting tomorrow, with the teams championship also on the line, a big repair job needed on the Brown car to fight for the points, and a free-for-all race to come.

Here’s how the historic race unfolded…

One of the most anticipated Supercars races in recent memory got going with Kostecki staring down the first corner and a possible maiden championship at the end of 78 laps.

He’d have Reynolds next to him with Randle and the contender in SVG in behind with a tense outing ahead, whilst in the format lap frame, Cam Hill also failed to get off the line

Kostecki got a great start and he and Reynolds made some contact into the first corner but both were unscathed.

Then out of Turn 4 it was disaster for Brown, and of more vital note, SVG took damage to his front left as a result after De Pasquale forced the #9 into the wall leaving the #97 with nowhere to go as Brown bounced off the wall and into his path, which could be the title sealer for Kostecki if he gets to the end…vaguely poetic.

David Reynolds gave it a crack but fell short of a maiden Adelaide win. Image: Mark Horsburgh

In a separate incident, Payne also rubbed the Turn 3 wall bad enough to be parked up in the sheds with rear damage, as the safety car stayed out until lap 6.

At the green flag Kostecki maintained control and the Penrite harangued him to look for a way past, whilst Payne was able to rejoin, as had Hill under the safety car.

When the resumption settled, Randle was holding third over the unwitting #11 DJR title shaper, with Waters, Mostert, Golding, Davison, Feeney and Courtney filling the first ten.

There was plenty of hot air being consumed all down the field early, whilst up the front the leafing two looked like they were going to gap Randle with the pit stop window opening on lap 11.

Reynolds took the lead from Kostecki on lap 15 after sticking close since the restart, with the #26 looking very pacey, with the #99’s fight not with taking the chequered flag, but just to make the finish line.

Feeney was the first to pit on lap 19 to get some free air, whilst the tyre deg was looking low with the leading pace not having dropped very much.

Randle then took second from Kostecki with little fight given, with Waters not far behind making it a Mustang top three as Reynolds held a 2.3 sec lead. Kostecki pitted on lap 23 for a big gulp of fuel and came out in P14 with some good clean air.

Randle pitted on lap 26 from P2 and emerged over De Pasquale in ninth as the highest pitter, with Waters showing good pace in second, +2s back, with the leader then pitting on lap 30 for four greens, coming out in front of Randle who was having a lunge at the lead.

Brodie Kostecki leads David Reynolds at the start of the opening race of the 2023 VAILO Adelaide 500. Image: Peter Norton

Waters took a short fill in his pit, but still came out third with the attempt at the lead failing with the true order resuming the overall race lead in lap 33, with Kostecki in fourth over Davison and Feeney.

Waters moved on Randle with much protest shown, and the gap to the leader was under one second with the three Mustangs holding a 3s gap to Kostecki.

After sweating on the #26 for a few laps Waters made his move on the inside of Turn 7 to take the lead with 37 laps to go.

Randle took his second stop with 30 laps remaining for a last fuel load, with the champion elect doing the same, with little hurry or fuss going on at that pit stop, whilst Waters took his last with 26 left on the board.

He came out with space to burn on his teammate in P2 whilst Reynolds was still running a second pit window overcut, before he went in with it expected to be tight out of the pits.

Shane van Gisbergen and Will Brown make race-ending contact on the opening lap at turn 4 on Saturday in Adelaide. Image: Fox Sports

He came out just in front, and the #26 had to cut the chicane to avoid contact, with Waters coming out on top after they narrowly avoided a big crash.

Feeney and Mostert nearly came to blows in fifth and sixth at Turn 4, with Davison, Fullwood, Courtney and Heimgartner fighting to hold the remaining top-ten spots.

 With 17 laps to go the two leaders were within one second of each other but Waters, though challenged, was looking controlled, whilst Kostecki let Mostert pass him into fourth.

Thomas Randle put in a solid drive to continue his perfect record of podiums in South Australia in 2023. Image: Mark Horsburgh

Waters grew the gap to +2 seconds with 8 laps to go, whilst Reynolds held a comfortable +7 second margin to Randle who comfortably had a foot on the podium with a nine second gap to Mostert.

Feeney came up on the rear of Feeney and the team told him to let him pass after the two threatened to have a little niggle.

At the front, Waters was too good in the end for a second race win in two rounds, whilst Reynolds was strong to finish with a decent 12 second gap over Randle who rounded out the podium in a good showing for the Mustangs.

But it was all about the bloke in seventh place, the new Supercars champion, and the first of the Gen3 era.

Download the full Supercars VAILO Adelaide 500 Round 12 Event Guide with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus extensive driver profiles here

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