Kostecki's surprising souvenir from final Erebus race

Outgoing Supercars champion Brodie Kostecki was unable sign off with from Erebus Motorsport a win, but managed to take home an obscure souvenir ahead of his move to Dick Johnson Racing.

Kostecki ended his four-year tenure at Erebus with a recovery drive to sixth in Sunday’s VAILO Adelaide 500, after being penalised over a clash with Will Brown.

Brown remarkably went on to win the race after falling to 22nd, with Kostecki pinged with a 15-second penalty over the incident.

Kostecki ran long in both stints and charged through the field, and with Chaz Mostert ailing home after a collision with Broc Feeney, a podium looked possible.

Ultimately, Kostecki finished up with Erebus with another typically bold performance, something the Perth-born driver was proud of.

“Would have liked to get the win today, but unfortunately, had that penalty there,” Kostecki told Supercars’ Schick Cool Down Lap podcast.

“Would have been really cool to cap it off with a win today. Car was definitely there to do it and Cooper [Murray] did a great job standing in for Jack Le Brocq, and they've had their newborn Romy come along.

“It's been a great four years, won a lot of races, won a championship and a Bathurst. Can't ask for much more really."

As is often tradition, drivers are ‘delivered’ to new teams after the last race of the season, but Kostecki instead opted to pass and reflect with the crew that helped deliver him a championship and Bathurst win.

However, he did get a small souvenir — his seat insert, which he’ll fit to his Erebus-built DJR Ford next season.

“I was allowed to take my seat insert. So I was very happy about that,” he said.

"It has been a great day for everyone here. There's been a lot of jokes and everything like that. It's been the same crew, pretty much since I started. There's been a lot of memories. So it's been great.”

All told, Kostecki ended with Erebus how he started, fighting hard and pushing to get the best result he could. A then 23-year-old Kostecki claimed a shock podium at Sandown in March 2021, added a Bathurst podium later that year, before stepping up in 2022 and becoming a force with Gen3 in 2023.

"I'll just be honest, the only thing I thought about in 2021 was to get out of those shitbox Gen2 cars, to be honest. So I absolutely hated those things,” Kostecki joked.

“I was really glad when Gen3 come along and the team put in all the effort behind the scenes, it really showed last year.

“And to come back this year, the back half of the season that we've had, we've had outstanding pace to win Bathurst the way we did, go on the Gold Coast on the Sunday and dominate that day.

"Even today, the car was stellar today, just a bit unfortunate with the penalty."