Van Gisbergen: Kostecki battle 'on the edge'

Shane van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki both enjoyed their thrilling Perth battle, which the winner described as “on the edge”.

Van Gisbergen passed Kostecki on the penultimate lap to win the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint opener on Saturday.

Both drivers engaged in combat late on, with both Chevrolets coming to blows as Kostecki fought to hang on.

Kostecki was hit with a bad sportsmanship flag for blocking, with van Gisbergen barging past at Turn 6.

It came after Kostecki won the start, before the two first went into battle on lap 17.

The series lead was passed and fought back through, with van Gisbergen nudging the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro as Kostecki pitted.

Later, they crossed paths again in a lively battle, with van Gisbergen emerging on top.

“It’s pretty awesome,” van Gisbergen said of the battle.

“It was on the edge of what’s legal and what’s not, I love that stuff, but it’s a fine line with what’s allowed in our rules.

“He got a bad sportsmanship flag, and I’m not allowed to bump him out of the way.

“It’s a fine line. I loved it, but it’s a grey area in our rules. In a one-on-one battle, you should be allowed to do what you want.

“They gave him a warning — you want to be allowed to race for the lead."

On Kostecki, van Gisbergen added: “He’s awesome.

“Everyone up the front now, and new guys, there’s no bad guys, everyone’s fun to race.

“There’s no one where I go, ‘Ah shit, this is going to be a pain’.

“Everyone’s good, fun to race… I enjoyed the battles.”

Kostecki was disappointed to finish second, but was pleased he and van Gisbergen were able to race without incident.

“The last time I remember doing something like that was probably go-karts,” the Perth-born driver said.

“It’s not as fun for me coming second, but I had a lot of fun racing him.

“It is for the win, and it was three laps to go. That’s how racing should go.”

On the bad sportsmanship flag, Kostecki said: “I was pretty confused by it afterwards.

“I’ll have to go through it and see what’s allowed and what’s not.

“He was coming at me with a lot of pace, probably a few things I could’ve done differently earlier in the race that wouldn’t have put me in that scenario.

“As far as the last few laps, I did what I could."

Kostecki extended his championship lead to 76 points over Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang), who raced to 11th from 15th.

Van Gisbergen is 78 points down in third, with Will Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro) and Feeney moving to fourth and fifth.

Erebus continues to lead the teams’ championship by a reduced 79-point margin over Red Bull Ampol Racing.

Cars will return to CARCO.com.au Raceway on Sunday for Qualifying for Race 8 and Race 9 from 9:15am local time/11:15am AEST.

Tickets for this weekend’s Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint are on sale on Supercars.com and Ticketek.com.