Kostecki tipped as next new race winner
Third-year Erebus Motorsport driver Brodie Kostecki looms as the next new winner in Supercars according to fans.
In a poll, Supercars.com posed the question of who the next new winner would be.
It came after Broc Feeney broke through at the VALO Adelaide 500 to win his first race.
Such is the potential of Kostecki, that the Erebus driver garnered 49 per cent of the vote in the poll, which collected nearly 2000 votes.
Thomas Randle (19%) and James Golding (12%) were the next highest voted drivers.
The next new Supercars winner: Results of poll (1947 responses)
49%: Brodie Kostecki**19%:**Thomas Randle12%: James Golding8%: Matt Payne7%: Todd Hazelwood2%: Bryce Fullwood, Jake Kostecki1%: Jack Smith, Cameron Hill, Macauley Jones
Kostecki scored two podiums and a pole in 2022
The 2022 season was Kostecki’s best yet, with the 25-year-old finishing seventh overall.
Kostecki opened the season with a maiden pole and podium in Sydney, and scored another podium at The Bend.
As he did in 2021, Kostecki saved his best performance for Bathurst, where he finished fourth with David Russell.
Kostecki ran as high as second before the final stops, before being overtaken by Cam Waters at the final restart.
Only David Reynolds, Anton De Pasquale and Will Brown have won races for Erebus as full-time drivers.
Kostecki is edging ever closer — critically, he outperformed Brown across the 2022 season.
The Perth-born driver’s tenacity was ever present as far into the season as Adelaide.
Kostecki survived a wall hit — at Turn 8, no less — to steal seventh overall from Reynolds.
He impressed team boss Barry Ryan, who likened Kostecki’s fighting attitude to a “bulldog”.
“I think we’re the only car that hit the wall at [Turn] 8 that actually finished the race,” Ryan told Supercars’ Cool Down Lap podcast.
“He actually learnt how to drive it [damaged], because he bent it pretty bad.
“He learnt how to go fast with it bent, credit to Brodie — that’s his bulldog attitude.
“It was bloody good… Brodie and Will did a great job, the team did a good job.
“Brodie ended up seventh in the championship — we can’t sneeze at that.”
Kostecki’s bid to become the next new winner will commence at the Thrifty Newcastle 500 in March.
Tickets are on sale on Supercars.com and Ticketek.com.
Race winners on 2023 grid
75: Shane van Gisbergen38: Mark Winterbottom22: Will Davison21: Chaz Mostert15: James Courtney8: Cam Waters, Anton De Pasquale7: David Reynolds4: Nick Percat2: Tim Slade1: Broc Feeney, Will Brown, Andre Heimgartner, Jack Le Brocq, Scott Pye
Starts for 2023 drivers who haven’t won a race
159: Todd Hazelwood146: Macauley Jones105: Jack Smith101: Bryce Fullwood91: James Golding83: Jake Kostecki71: Brodie Kostecki51: Thomas Randle1: Matt Payne, Cameron Hill
