Kostecki targets Triple Eight battle after breakthrough

Having beaten Triple Eight to the championship in 2023, Brodie Kostecki is determined to take the fight to the team for the remainder of 2024 after a breakthrough Sunday.

Kostecki started second for Sunday’s Darwin finale, and after being beaten to Turn 1 by old teammate Will Brown, sailed home to third.

It was the reigning champion’s first podium since last October’s Gold Coast event, marking a key result after a poor run following his comeback.

Kostecki was penalised in both Taupō races at his first event back, before an engine issue consigned him to his first DNF since 2021 in Perth.

The drama continued in Darwin, with engine issues making Kostecki a non-starter for Saturday’s race. Before Sunday, Kostecki’s record in 2024 read 14th, 13th, 22nd, DNF and DNS.

After an overnight engine change, Kostecki was back to his competitive best with an impressive second in qualifying, before managing to seal a front row start for the race amid controversy around gamesmanship with Brown.

Kostecki was a distant third in the race, which was dominated by Broc Feeney. However, having closely trailed the Bulls in the opening laps, Kostecki is now determined to close the gap and fight for wins

“Just missing the two days of running, really, with the gremlins we had, we just sort of fell a little bit behind these guys,” Kostecki said.

“But to have a solid day like that, after the days that we had was pretty cool. We’ve got a bit of work to do going to Townsville, but stoked to get a podium for the guys.

“We'll just go do some homework and try catch these guys."

Barring the Saturday DNS, it was Kostecki’s first Darwin podium in 10 attempts.

Critically, it was silverware for Erebus Motorsport, which after a nightmare lead-in to the season, sat a lowly 10th in the teams’ points heading into Sunday.

When asked what the result meant to him on a personal level, Kostecki replied: "Yeah, it means a lot to me.

“Actually, I'm not very good here. I kind of suck here. We've still got a bit of work to do to catch these guys.

“Hopefully all those dramas are behind us now and we can just put our head down and focus on some of the big races and just make sure everything's smooth sailing from here."