Kostecki's silver lining despite first DNF in three years

Brodie Kostecki was pleased to have speed to burn in his Erebus Motorsport Camaro, despite losing his 'ironman' race-finishing tag at his home event.

The reigning champion had a weekend to forget in Perth, racing to 22nd on Saturday after being hit off the road. The tables seemed to have turned come Sunday, with Kostecki running fifth early in Race 10, with Erebus's decision to focus on the finale coming to fruition.

However, while chasing old teammate Will Brown, Kostecki was forced into the garage and into retirement as an engine issue reared its head.

Remarkably, it consigned Kostecki to his first DNF in the last 71 races he has started, dating back to Sydney 2021 when he collided with James Courtney. It was only his third DNF in 103 Supercars races, with his 2019 Bathurst debut ending after cousin Jake crashed.

The 'longest finishing streak' tag now sits with Will Davison, who has gone 42 races without a DNF, dating back to the 2022 Bathurst 1000.

In a team video, Kostecki said the car "dropped all of its water," before elaborating on the broadcast after the race.

“The car was actually quite speedy there,” Kostecki said.

"I just tried to manage my tyres a little bit, and I sort of knew the first couple of laps. You can kind of tell all these things when you've been around a little while that, you know, if your car is good or not.

“Today just wasn't the day."

Kostecki showed glimpses of speed at his comeback event in New Zealand, notably qualifying third for the Sunday race. However, he was penalised in both races.

The 26-year-old still knows there's work to be done when it comes to finding more speed, but expects to be a factor at the next round in Darwin if his #1 Chevrolet has anything like what he had on Sunday in Perth.

“We've had a few little issues here and there. Until we sort all those out, I think we've still got a bit of progress to make,” he said.

"I'm looking forward to Darwin, which is coming up in a few weeks, and if we have speed like that, it won't be a problem."

When asked if he had noticed a change in the cars following off-season aero tweaks, Kostecki replied: “Yeah, it's a little bit different than last year, obviously, with the aero upgrades and whatnot.

"It’s great to see we’ve had some Fords running up the front this weekend as well, I've definitely noticed I'm racing a lot more cars this year, that's for sure."

Erebus dropped from third to eighth in the teams' championship points, with Jack Le Brocq turned around on Sunday, a day after being stranded on the grid.

Longest finishing streaks (2024 full-time drivers)*

*Includes when a driver was disqualified from a race

**Stanaway didn't race in 2020-21, raced in 2022-23 enduros