Penalised Randle apologetic over Kostecki run-in

Confusion over who was on a flying lap was the cause of a close call with Kurt Kostecki according to fellow wildcard driver Thomas Randle.

Randle will start from 20th for the opening race of the ARMOR ALL Sydney SuperNight, after being hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Kostecki.

The Tickford Racing driver weaved in front Kostecki heading over the crest into Turn 4, causing the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver to take evasion action and hit the polystyrene brake marker board.

Kostecki would continue to record the 20th fastest time of the session, with Erebus Motorsport rookie  Will Brown claiming his maiden career ARMOR ALL Pole Position. 

“Firstly, I want to really apologise to Kurt,” Randle said after the session.

“I thought we were all on warm-up laps I didn’t realise there was one car on a flyer.

“I had Scott Pye behind me with his headlights on and he was on a slowdown lap, so I was weaving my tyres and at the last second I saw him

“I tried to get out of the way, he did a bloody good job to avoid me so once I get out of the car I’ll be definitely apologizing to Kurt, I’ve been in that situation before and it’s not very nice.

“I’m just glad, it could have been so much worse.”

Kostecki, who will start an adjusted 19th for Race 23, was understanding of the altercation.

“We went out there out of sync a little bit because of the tyres this weekend,” Kostecki said.

“There was a bit of cloud cover coming in and we thought we would steal a lap there, but obviously everyone came in.

“It was really clumsy.

"I don’t think anyone does it intentionally, but sometimes it's unavoidable.”

The 32-lap Race 23 will commence at 7:45pm AEDT.