How Kostecki can join exclusive group with Sydney win

All eyes will be on Supercars star Brodie Kostecki when he rolls out at Sydney Motorsport Park in a Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford, and rightly so.

In one of the biggest silly moves in recent memory, Kostecki will trade championship- and Bathurst-winning machinery at Erebus Motorsport for a Dick Johnson Racing Mustang.

Amid a rebuild at DJR, which includes new engineers and Erebus-built chassis, 2023 champion Kostecki arrives at Stapylton in red-hot form.

After missing the first two rounds, Kostecki closed out 2024 with pole-to-win performances in Bathurst and the Gold Coast, and had the pace to win in Adelaide too.

Through all the changes, new formats and another new season-opening track, a first-up Kostecki victory in Sydney is well and truly a possibility.

Should Kostecki take out one of the three races at Sydney across the February 21-23 weekend, the 27-year-old will become just the fifth driver in the V8 era, since 1993, to win at his first round with a new team.

Craig Lowndes (1996), Greg Murphy (1997) and Craig Baird (2000) all pulled off first-up solo wins with the Holden Racing Team and Stone Brothers Racing, but had made previous enduro starts with their respective teams.

When it comes to nailing it at Round 1 with their new team, Kostecki's fellow Supercars champions Jamie Whincup (2006), James Courtney (2010), Shane van Gisbergen (2013) and Will Brown (2024) all struck gold.

Whincup's long and unbroken journey with Triple Eight Race Engineering began in stunning fashion in Adelaide, when he opened the 2006 season with victory in Race 2 of the season.

Five years later, Courtney christened his blockbuster move to the Holden Racing Team with a stunning triumph in Abu Dhabi, holding out Jason Bright to claim victory in Race 2.

In 2013, van Gisbergen silenced the naysayers with a shock Race 2 win in Adelaide with new team Tekno Autosports, having made a highly-publicised exit from Stone Brothers Racing at the end of 2012.

Then, over a decade later, van Gisbergen's replacement at Triple Eight, Brown, overhauled Chaz Mostert to win the second race of the 2024 season-opener at Mount Panorama.

In 32 seasons of the V8 era, four drivers represents a small group, but if anyone can pull it off, it's Kostecki.

The Perth-born driver has been followed to DJR by engineers George Commins and Tom Moore, while the reigning Bathurst champion has previously claimed pole (2022) and victory (2023) at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Richie Stanaway (PremiAir Racing) and Anton De Pasquale (Team 18) will also be making their first starts with their new teams, while rookies Cooper Murray (Erebus) and Kai Allen (Penrite Racing) will also commence their first full seasons after making cameos late last season.

While Kostecki is the arguably the strongest of the quintet, De Pasquale has a brilliant record at Sydney Motorsport Park, winning five races during the four-round swing in 2021.

Tickets to the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship opener in Sydney are on sale now.