DJR's Bathurst disaster changes Gold Coast Live Pit Lane

Brodie Kostecki's Finals campaign has already got off to a shaky start following a disastrous day for Dick Johnson Racing at the Repco Bathurst 1000.

Whilst Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood's quest for back-to-back Bathurst wins got off to a blistering start with the 2023 champion claiming his third straight Bathurst pole, it all came crashing down on Sunday.

Hazelwood had a strong start, however the day began to slowly unravel as all manner of gremlins struck the #38, namely impacting the clutch, steering, and the alternator.

It was the latter issue that wrecked the team's bid, with the alternator issue eventually dropping them down the order. Kostecki then smashed into the rear of Kai Allen at Hell Corner, earning a drive through penalty, and had a wild off at The Chase before being consigned to the garage.

The combination that many thought were the favourites to win the race ended up finishing six laps off the pace in 18th.

"Towards the end of my second stint we started suffering from what turned out to be an alternator issue, so obviously we lost a fair bit of time in both our pit stops early on just trying to throw batteries at it to try and keep us in the race," said Hazelwood on the Cool Down Lap presented by Moza Racing.

"It got to the point where we were basically only getting eight laps out of a battery.

"Gutting. Disappointing. It felt like if we got through that stanza of the race, being wet in my stints there, we sort of went from back of the pack and raced into the top 10 and handed over the keys to Brodie and thought this is our time to shine, but it wasn't meant to be."

Further compounding the misery was the wrecked #17 Mustang of Will Davison/Tony D'Alberto, D'Alberto having thumped the wall at Forrest's Elbow on lap 56, bringing out the first Safety Car of the day.

It was a turbulent week for the team off-track as well, with Kostecki bemoaning proposed changes to the Ford package being rejected, before the team filed an unsuccessful protest on the race, which was then followed by a strongly-worded statement on the eve of the race.

Teams' championship after 2025 Repco Bathurst 1000

As a result of their traumatic Sunday, DJR have now dropped to sixth in the teams' championship behind Team 18, who were on the verge of claiming one of the biggest Bathurst boilovers of all-time with David Reynolds and Lee Holdsworth.

Kostecki enters the Elimination Final at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 fifth in the Finals standings, 27 points above the cut-line. Should he win a race, as he did last year with Erebus, he will progress to the Semi Final at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500.

Despite being dumped back a garage in the Surfers Paradise pit lane, DJR CEO David Noble says that the team are primed for a title charge with Kostecki.

“It was a very promising weekend, and we positioned ourselves well after qualifying, but it ended up not being our day. Still, the crew did a great job on changing the alternator and getting Brodie Kostecki back into the action," said Noble.

“We probably only needed another six safety cars and we would have been back on the lead lap.

“We talked about coming out of The Bend with good momentum and we’re going to stay positive as we move into the Finals series. The Finals will be a new experience, but we’re going forward at the right time of the year."

2025 Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 provisional pit lane allocation