Kostecki explains late fade in Sydney finale

A clutch issue was key to Brodie Kostecki’s fade to eighth in the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight finale on Sunday.

Kostecki regained the points lead with victory on Saturday night, and opened up a 41-point gap over teammate Will Brown, who was 14th after a lap 1 spin.

However, Kostecki and Brown’s Sunday issues helped Shane van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney close in in the championship battle.

Van Gisbergen won Race 19, with Feeney fourth after being passed by Anton De Pasquale on the final lap.

Kostecki started fourth and passed Feeney for third prior to the latter’s compulsory pit stop.

Erebus stopped Kostecki on lap 19, and he emerged a net sixth. He dropped to eighth by the flag, some 23 seconds from the win.

“We were looking alright in the first stint, then we came out behind Bryce [Fullwood] which wasn’t ideal,” Kostecki said on Supercars Trackside.

“The tyres got hot pretty quick, then the clutch crapped itself halfway through the race, so that’s it, race over.

“Sliding the tyre under brakes, and left-foot braking’s not very good in these cars.”

Victory on Saturday night was Kostecki’s first since Race 5 at Albert Park in April.

Sunday’s finish of eighth was perhaps numbed by Brown’s first miss of the top 10 since Race 7 in Perth — but Erebus itself ceded ground in the teams’ championship to Triple Eight.

Heading to The Bend, Triple Eight is just 80 points behind its Chevrolet rivals.

Kostecki will now turn his attention to the United States, with the Perth-born driver to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Indianapolis on August 13.

“We had a great day yesterday, the car was great in clean air,” Kostecki continued.

“But some of our rivals didn’t qualify too well yesterday. Obviously that all got sorted out today.

“I was able to pass Broc in the first stint, the car didn't feel too bad, but the front two guys got away there.

“It all fell apart in the second stint. We’ll have to go back through, and validate what we can do better.”