How Kostecki looks back on comeback
The championship winning force of Brodie Kostecki and Erebus Motorsport were back in action at Taupo and endured an up and down weekend.
Having missed the first two rounds, plus pre-season testing, Kostecki was always going to be on the back foot coming to New Zealand.
Whilst his race results of 13th and 14th were not quite the heights hoped for, the reigning champion showed some promising signs back in the #1, racing the revised Camaro for the first time.
The weekend started with the sole 90-minute practice session where Kostecki emerged 12th fastest.
Kostecki could not quite unlock top speed in the #1 in qualifying and could only manage 15th, but was notably just ahead of teammate Jack Le Brocq.
Being the maiden fully wet race of the Gen3 era and first since The Bend 2022, Saturday proved to be a massive banana peel for everyone.
Kostecki got a strong start and avoided the chaos to rise to 11th before getting stuck in the congested pits and dropping to 12th.
Things took a turn for the worse when a bold dive down the inside of David Reynolds did not go to plan and the Erebus Camaro speared into James Courtney, sending the #7 Mustang into a spin.
Kostecki received a 15s penalty for his troubles which saw him fall to as low as 21st before eventually crossing the line in 14th, which became 13th thanks to a penalty for Thomas Randle.
Kostecki put his hand up for the Courtney clash, admitting he made “too many errors.”
But the reigning champion bounced back strongly on Sunday, returning to the Top 10 Shootout and stitching together an impressive lap to secure third on the grid, just 0.0306s off pole.
Off the second row he did not get the greatest getaway, losing third to Anton De Pasquale.
However, Kostecki hung tough on the inside line to keep hold of fourth despite both Broc Feeney and Le Brocq being ahead on corner entry.
But a poor final pit stop saw the #1 fall from sixth to 17th and although the reigning champion recovered to 10th, it lost some more ground in the final two laps.
Kostecki was hit with a 5s penalty after wrestling for track position against Richie Stanaway in the final laps saw him 13th on the results sheet.
Despite this Kostecki and Le Brocq did enough to rise to third in the teams championship.
“It was a bit of a wild day for us,” Kostecki said on social media.
“We had a really good day getting both cars in the Shootout and started off the second row in third.
“Didn’t quite get a good jump and sat around fourth but did not quite have the car pace as the front guys.
“We then had a little fumble in the pit stop and that put us back.
“It was a disappointing way to end the day and we have a few things to work on before we head to Perth.”
Now with the tricky return round under his belt, Kostecki will be much better prepared heading to Wanneroo where he memorably took the fight to SVG last year.
Image: Peter Norton EPIC Sports Photography
Taupo Super400 schedule (all times AEST)
Friday, April 19
Practice: 1: C. Mostert 1:26.4937 2: M. Payne +0.0318 3: W. Davison +0.0508
Saturday, April 20
Qualifying Race 7: 1: M. Payne 1:27.9684 2: A. De Pasquale +0.0940 3: C. Mostert +0.1669
Top 10 Shootout: 1: C. Waters 1:34.7415 2: W. Brown +0.5011 3: A. Heimgartner +0.5374
Race 7 (60 laps): 1: A. Heimgartner 2: W. Davison +1.1012 3: A. De Pasquale +2.5641
Sunday, April 21
Qualifying Race 8: 1: A. De Pasquale 2: C. Mostert +0.0272 3: W. Brown +0.0292
Top 10 Shootout: 1: M. Payne 1:26.8173 2: B. Feeney +0.0126 3: B. Kostecki +0.0306
Race 8 (60 laps): 1: W. Brown 2: B. Feeney +3.3585 3: A. De Pasquale +14.2612
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Podcast: We’re going to Taupo… Tow Paw… Whatever. Supercars is back!
After a break that feels like months, the Supercars Championship is back and headed across the ditch to Taupo in the middle of the North Island. And yes, Brodie Kostecki will be there! As will the rain.
Somehow, the rain will also be in China for F1’s return to 中国. Philip Island was stunning on the weekend, just gone, if a little cold, but we chatted about whether Supercars should return to the land of penguins.
Plus, there’s more… all the news in the way only the Auto Action RevLimiter can deliver.
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