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Unusual pit mistake causes wildcard crash

11 Oct 2019
Jake Kostecki’s tough start to Great Race week continues
2 mins by James Pavey
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Kostecki Brothers Racing’s wildcard debut at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 has gone from bad to worse, with a second crash of the weekend in Practice 4.

The Boost Mobile-backed Commodore was walled by Jake Kostecki at Sulman Park in Thursday’s Practice 2, missing the day’s final session as a result.

After overnight repairs, Jake returned to the track for the Friday morning Practice 4, only to find the wall at Griffin's Bend on his outlap.

The car had refused to turn when the 19-year-old arrived at the right-hander, despite Kostecki driving relatively slowly.

“I think one of the guys accidentally left the rack-stop in, but mistakes happen,” said Kostecki after returning to pitlane.

“I made a mistake yesterday myself, so we’ll get it fixed up and be out there as soon as we can.”

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The team fixed the damage and returned the car to the circuit by the halfway point of the one-hour session.

Commentator Mark Skaife explained the reasons for using rack-stops in the Fox Sports broadcast.

“When you wheel align the cars, what we do is set the steering and then we put rack-stops in, so they’re aluminium billeted rack-stops, to make sure the steering is centred,” he said.

“Then you do the wheel alignment to make sure that the camber, toe and caster are where you’d like, essentially for doing the toe-in, more than anything else.

“So the rack stops are there for a reason and to not take [one of] them out… it just wouldn’t turn right.”

Kostecki is sharing the #56 Holden with his cousin Brodie Kostecki, who is the car's nominated primary driver.

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