The rare Bathurst feats Kostecki/Hazelwood could achieve

Save for a dominant Friday win in Townsville, and flashes of speed in Taupō, it had been a quiet season for the revitalised Dick Johnson Racing before the AirTouch 500 at The Bend.

However, when Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood combined to win the team's first 500km enduro since 2001 in dominant fashion, it showed a ruthless side to DJR that hasn't been seen for several seasons.

Now, the pair and engineer George Commins will look to secure the Ryco Enduro Cup at Mount Panorama, also securing Kostecki 25 bonus points to kickstart his Finals campaign at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.

If the pair can go back-to-back at the Repco Bathurst 1000, not only will they secure DJR's (and for that matter Ford's) first Bathurst win since 2019, but they will also accomplish several rare feats.

Since the beginning of Bathurst's Great Race history, only one driver has won back-to-back races with different manufacturers, namely Steven Richards in the late 1990s.

Richards' first win came at the helm of a Ford Falcon EL in 1998, an unlikely triumph alongside Jason Bright having started 15th on the grid following a heavy qualifying crash for Bright on Friday.

That win was backed up by victory in a Gibson Motorsport Holden Commodore VT in 1999, which came from another lowly position on the grid - 12th - to take victory with Richards sharing with fellow Kiwi Greg Murphy.

In fact, Richards was only 1.9 seconds away from making it a three-peat with three manufacturers, when his and Matt Neal's Nissan was denied victory in the 1998 Super Touring 1000 by the Volvo of Rickard Rydell and - ironically - Jim Richards.

Kostecki and Hazelwood could also become the first combination to win three consecutive Supercars enduros in 18 years if they can defend their title as Kings of the Mountain.

Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup started their era of enduro dominance with an emotional Bathurst win in 2006, before doing the Sandown 500/Bathurst 1000 double the following season.

Should Kostecki claim a third straight pole in Saturday's iconic Top Ten Shootout, he would join legends Allan Moffat and Peter Brock as the only drivers to have won three straight pole positions.

"It's always exciting come enduro time, I feel like I always lift around this time as well," Kostecki said on the Cool Down Lap presented by Moza Racing.

"George and I always stick to our plan. Sprint rounds are always really, really quick, and here we get a bit of time to settle in and set the car up a little bit more."

Hazelwood, who won his first career Supercars race at Bathurst last year, said: "I get greedy. You win one, and we want another one. Roll on the Mountain.

"To go there as reigning champs, that gave us a pep in the step and a bit confidence in ourselves to get the victory today, it's a massive boost for the whole team and we're going to use this as motivation to sharpen our tools.

"We're going to be even stronger come Bathurst, so bring it on."

List of feats and records that could be achieved or beaten