Kostecki takes cheeky swipe at Whincup over infamous clash

Brodie Kostecki has poked fun at Jamie Whincup over their infamous battle at the 2020 Bathurst 1000 that ended with the Triple Eight star in the wall.

Kostecki/Todd Hazelwood will start Sunday’s AirTouch 500 at The Bend third behind the pole-sitting Broc Feeney/Whincup entry.

Starting alongside Feeney/Whincup is Matt Stone Racing’s Cameron Hill/Cameron McLeod, with rising star McLeod set to launch off the line alongside Whincup.

A young Kostecki was a co-driver with Erebus Motorsport in 2020 when he took on Whincup in the opening stages of that year’s Great Race.

The end result? A misjudgement from Whincup, and a race-ending crash at The Cutting that caught the motorsport world by surprise.

With rookie McLeod the centre of attention amongst a sea of stars in Saturday’s press conference, Kostecki didn’t miss an opportunity to cheekily sledge Whincup.

“If you want any advice on how to race the GOAT, just ask me, mate,” Kostecki said to McLeod.

“I’ve got plenty of tricks from The Cutting.”

Whincup took the Kostecki sledges in jest, referencing his crash with teammate Scott Pye in Saturday morning practice.

“I’m asking him for advice at the moment, I haven’t had the proudest day," Whincup quipped.

"I said to Broc, 'can you qualify on pole so I don't have anyone in front of me?' He's ticked that box."

Should he start the race, McLeod will have it all to do when the lights go out at 1:45pm local/2:15pm AEST. However, the 20-year-old was more focused on handing back to Hill in a solid position.

“I never really thought I’d be sharing the front-row with Jamie,” said McLeod, who won this year’s Super2 opener in Sydney.

“It’ll be super cool, but obviously whoever is starting the race, it’s just my job to get off the line good, do my best into Turn 1 and give Cam the car in relatively good shape.”

Cars will hit the track for Warm Up at 9:30am local/10:00am AEST before the 102-lap race in the afternoon.