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Kostecki rues 'unfortunate' race-ending clash

19 Jun 2023
Series leader's margin slashed to just 59 points
3 mins by James Pavey

A race-ending clash in Sunday’s finale was the final Darwin body blow for series leader Brodie Kostecki, who missed the podium for the first time in 2023.

Erebus Motorsport star Kostecki arrived in Darwin 87 points in the lead, and left 59 points ahead of teammate Will Brown.

Critically, where both Kostecki and Brown missed the podium, closest rivals Broc Feeney and Shane van Gisbergen finished first and second for the weekend.

Van Gisbergen and Feeney arrived in Darwin 172 and 191 points down. Feeney was third, first and second, and drew to 91 points of the #99.

Van Gisbergen, meanwhile, is 110 points down heading to Townsville, where he has won 10 races.

Kostecki’s Race 15 was over before it began due to a lap 1 incident, with the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro suffering a broken steering arm.

Wheel to wheel contact with Anton De Pasquale’s #11 Shell V-Power Ford consigned Kostecki to the garage, and he was classified 26th, four laps down.

It came as Kostecki opted to attack van Gisbergen at the hairpin.

The incident was described in the stewards' report as: “an Incident on Lap 1 at turn 6 when Car 11, Anton de Pasquale, slowed unexpectedly at the entry to the turn resulting in unavoidable contact between Car [99, Brodie Kostecki], and Car 11 and a series of concertina collisions behind. The evidence was incapable of establishing that any Driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for the Incident.”

Later in the race, Brown was penalised over contact with Mark Winterbottom, and dropped from fourth to sixth in the classification.

“I got a pretty decent start, and was following Shane through,” Kostecki recounted on the broadcast.

“Shane chose the inside for the hairpin — there was a two-car-length gap, I tried to go around the outside and get the inside for the next corner.

“Not sure if Anton missed a gear or locked a front, he parked it at the hairpin. Wheel to wheel contact, and it broke the left-front steering arm.

“Bit unfortunate, but we’ll bounce back in Townsville… not an awesome weekend for us."

It comes after Kostecki was caught up in an incident in the Tasmania opener, with broken steering caused by contact with Cam Waters.

Dual finishes of fourth ensured Kostecki took home solid points, but for the first time this season, Erebus went home empty-handed.

Kostecki labelled the Race 15 incident as “wrong place, wrong time” and rued qualifying 11th, which left him fighting in the midpack.

“I remember one of the Shell cars almost stopping,” said Kostecki, who is now winless in 10 races.

“It’s a bit of an awkward down-change there, I’m not sure if they just missed a shift or locked a front.

“Wrong place, wrong time. When you qualify there, that’s what happens."

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the NTI Townsville 500 on July 7-9. Tickets are on sale now.

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