Grove hits back at 'ridiculous' Kostecki, Brown claims

Penrite Racing CEO Brenton Grove has hit back at recent comments made by Supercars champions Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown over the Perth tyre saga.

An appeal into the Kai Allen minimum tyre pressure decision from Perth was dismissed earlier this week following a hearing.

Prior to news of the appeal being formally lodged, Allen's fellow Ford drivers Kostecki and Brown — on their Lucky Dogs podcast — both claimed Allen had an advantage.

Notably, Kostecki claimed it was “huge” and quoted Allen as "probably three tenths a lap advantage, [or] two tenths a lap advantage.”

The Shell V-Power Racing Team driver claimed a 0.7psi difference equates to around a 1.7psi difference in pressure during a race. Brown, meanwhile, claimed it was a "massive advantage.”

Speaking in Ipswich, Grove took umbrage to those remarks, telling media: “I think there are a couple of drivers who made that comment who also had a pretty horrible Perth.

“I'm not surprised that they did that, and they’ve got a voice in their podcast to do so. But Will and Brodie’s strong suit’s not maths.

“To claim that the advantage was as big as what it was is ridiculous."

Supercars issued a clarification to minimum tyre pressure rules on the eve of the Ipswich round, essentially allowing teams to self penalise by removing the tyre, and avoid being referred to the stewards.

Highlighting that the #26 Ford was among the fastest of the race regardless, Grove noted that Allen set the fastest lap of the race in the final stint of the race.

“If you go back and look at the pace from the race, Kai was fastest at the end of the race,” Grove said.

“He did the fastest lap later… in that race when the tyres were lower [at the end of the race]. People will say what they want, it doesn’t change anything. At the end of the day, we had a fast car, and the other car won the race.

“Numbers are numbers."

Allen is 35 points behind Kostecki heading into the Ipswich weekend, with Brown seventh. Allen and Brown's teammates, Matt Payne and Broc Feeney, are the chief contenders for the Repco Sprint Cup.