Mostert, Kostecki trade opinions on wild Taupō stoush

Chaz Mostert and Brodie Kostecki have shared their sides of events following their fierce battle for the Race 9 win at the ITM Taupō Super 440.

This afternoon's 37-lap encounter threatened to be an epic with the Ford duo starting off the front row, and it was the WAU driver who got the upper hand from the outside of the front row.

Mostert pulled away from the Dick Johnson Racing recruit across the opening stint, before the margin crushed at the end of the stint as the #25 ran into tyre strife on the Dunlop Super Soft.

Kostecki closed so rapidly that he made a bold lunge at Turn 5 on Lap 18, leaving Mostert with no option but to open the steering to avoid a collision.

The pair pitted at the end of the lap, with Kostecki surviving a hair-raising moment when he slapped the wall at pit entry right in front of Mostert.

The pair resumed hostilities on their new tyres, with Mostert making an aggressive move of his own at Turn 4 on Lap 20, rattling past the #38 Ford.

Kostecki then retaliated with 16 laps to go at Turn 4, but ran wide on the run to Turn 5, allowing Mostert to dive down the inside and escort Kostecki off the road.

The Jet Couriers entry then slipped backwards as the reigning Bathurst winner struggled with a damaged Mustang, finishing third behind teammate Will Davison.

Speaking post-race, Mostert displayed remorse for damaging Kostecki's car, however he remained adamant that it was a fair battle for the win.

"It was a super tough tussle, I had really good car pace at the start of the stint and the middle of the stint, but just kind of ran out of tyres a little bit," said Mostert.

"I knew I had to fight him really hard, and especially after the pit stop. I was setting up a move into Turn 4, he was saving his tyre, but as I went to commit into 4, I just didn't expect him to come hard right, and I had already committed.

"I didn't want to end up like that, but then he got the nose back into me and I thought, 'Alright, that's fair,' and then I just thought we raced along from there.

"Obviously he had a little bit of damage around the back, and you don't want to race like that, but I'm glad to hang on for the win, we just probably didn't quite have the car to those two behind us today."

As always, there are two sides to every story, and Kostecki was not at all pleased with how Mostert secured the win, saying contact with Mostert ended his chances of claiming his first win with DJR.

Kostecki has also called for more consistency with driving standards calls made by race control, something which has been the centre of debate amidst a new, harder style of racing that has been allowed.

"It knocked a toe link loose as well, so the steering was slowly going left-hand down as the race went on, or that's what it felt like.

"It's just different every time in my opinion, if it looks great on TV and both cars continue it's fine, but it sort of destroyed my car so it sort of put me out of the race."

When asked in the press conference about the battle, Kostecki said,: “I think we’re racing sort of half-baked, at the moment in some cases.

“The rules are still there, and we have people that choose to adjudicate them, or at least one person.

“It was front to rear, then it turned into a big tankslapper and I was trying not to spin out, then we interlocked wheels, many drivers have said the wheels need to change.

“The fans want to see races like that. That's really hard. I’m fine to race like that, the rules just need to be consistent."

In reply, Mostert said: “We had a bit of a chat with Bairdo [Driving Standards Advisor Craig Baird] at the start of the weekend, and I agree with a lot of stuff he was saying.

“Brodie’s on the wrong end of this one… was it my intention to hit him in the rear and purposely do it? No. Did I feel like I had a run in [Turn] 3 and 4? Yes. Did I expect him to move slightly at the last second and I couldn’t get out of the way or get out of it at that point for the closing speed? No I couldn’t.

“I don’t go out there intentionally to race like that… my side of things, I'm glad it got left play-on. A lap later, Brodie got back down the inside of me at Turn 4, and I thought he was gone. Then he went pretty deep into 4 and went off and gave me another opportunity to get down the inside at 5.

“I had to be super aggressive at the start of that stint, or I wouldn't be sitting here today."

Supercars will return to the track on Sunday at 10:35am NZST/8:35am AEST with Boost Mobile Qualifying.