France beats fighting Team Australia in ROC opener
Brodie Kostecki gave it everything with Will Brown, but Team Australia just fell short on the opening night of Race of Champions.
For the first time Race of Champions touched down on Australian soil at Sydney Olympic Park’s Stadium Australia last night Kostecki put on a show for the home crowd.
The opening night saw the teams title go on the line where Team France spearheaded by WRC legend Sebastien Loeb and young open wheeler Victor Martins emerged victorious.
“It was just so much fun and incredible to win here on debut,” said Martins.
“To win the ROC Nations Cup is pretty special and provides another chance to show my potential.
“I was obviously asking Seb (Loeb) for lots of tips and asked if it could be flat over the bridge (without the chicane) and he said the car had the suspension to land it.”
The night began with Finland’s Valtteri Bottas and Heikki Kovalainen and Team Great Britain’s David Coulthard and Alister McRae who were eliminated.
Brodie Kostecki, Will Brown, Sebastien Loeb and Victor Martins on the ROC podium. Image: Supplied
When the quarter finals arrived, the first local group of Off Road team Molly Taylor and Toby Price fell victim to Team Germany’s Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher.
The other local hope of Kostecki and Brown were lined up against USA’s Kurt Busch and Travis Pastrana and found themselves on the back foot.
Kostecki missed the start against Busch, but the 2023 Supercars champion put in a mighty final lap to snatch a 0.7s win from multiple car lengths back.
The special drive pushed Team Australia into the semi-finals against Team Germany that featured former Formula 1 stars Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher.
After Brown lost to Vettel, Kostecki needed to beat Schumacher to stay alive and did just that.
This forced them into a tie break where Kostecki got the better of Vettel in a Toyota 86 Cup car to give the home crowd a massive moment to cheer.
France overcame the All Star team of Chaz Mostert and Johan Kristoffersson also in a tiebreak to book their spot in the final.
Both Brown and Kostecki loved the experience.
“I asked Will’s opinion on how to drive the rally car and he said ‘just don’t crash it’,” laughed Kostecki.
Victorious Team France pushing hard.
“It has been a surreal couple of days after getting the late call up because of the weather in Queensland – and let me just say, I hope everyone will be safe up there in the next 24 hours.
“Like Will, and I guess Victor (Martins), I grew up idolising a lot of these drivers and we are out there racing against them. And doing it inside the Australian Olympic stadium.
“The final was just a great battle, maybe the difference is that they got home a little earlier than us last night. Maybe we might have to change that this evening.
“It was cool that Will and I could team back up to do this together, but I guess it is every driver for themselves tomorrow night. I have already “unfriended” him.”
“To be honest, we just wanted to make sure we were not last and eliminated in the first round,” said Brown.
“Brodie dragged me through one round and I dragged him through another and somehow we ended up in the final, which was just fantastic.
“The final was such an amazing battle, we just fell a fraction short which was not a bad result for our first attempt at the ROC Nations Cup.
“This whole thing has just been an amazing experience and hopefully we get the chance to do it again.”
With the historic opening night out of the way, Saturday night sees the drivers put pride on the line and fight for individual honours across off road and circuit categories.
Racing starts at 19.30 AEDT and is broadcast on Channel 10.
ROC Night 2 draw
OFF-ROAD
Group A; Johan Kristoffersson (SWE), Molly Taylor (AUS), eROC winner (Michael Romanidis)
Group B: Travis Pastrana (USA), Heikki Kovalainen (FIN), Oliver Solberg (SWE)
Group C: Petter Solberg (NOR), Toby Price (AUS), Hayden Paddon (NZ)
4-time ROC Champion Sebastien Loeb is seeded and receives an automatic spot in the quarter-finals.
CIRCUIT RACING
Group D: Sebastian Vettel (GER), Jamie Whincup (AUS), Louis Sharp (NZ)
Group E: Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Kurt Busch (USA), Chaz Mostert (AUS)
Group F: Will Brown (AUS), David Coulthard (UK), Victor Martins (FRA)
Mick Schumacher, winner of the Racing Group at ROC Sweden, is seeded and receives an automatic spot in the quarter-finals.
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