Kostecki happy to play up to Feeney's 'game' in epic battle

Few drivers on the grid enjoy a hard battle more than new championship leader Brodie Kostecki, and it's one with Broc Feeney that could set the tone for the rest of the season.

Kostecki was class of the field in Melbourne, winning three of four races and with it, the Larry Perkins Trophy.

The only race he failed to win was Saturday's sprint won by Feeney, who somehow survived a blowtorch from the #17 Shell V-Power Mustang to creep home by 0.1s.

In what will go down as one of the best Supercars battles at Albert Park, Feeney defied Kostecki for lap after lap, notably hanging tough at Kostecki's favoured overtaking zone into Turn 11.

While he was beaten on the day, Kostecki praised Feeney for putting his #88 Red Bull Ampol Ford "in all the right spots" to break the Dick Johnson Racing driver's hot streak.

"I don't think Broc's ever been in that sort of situation where he was that wounded late in the race," Kostecki said on MotorRacing 360.

"Normally their race pace is great, but they sort of really struggled on that weekend.

"He did a fantastic job to put his car in all the right spots and really put all the risk on me to make a move."

The flashpoint of the absorbing battle came at Turn 9, when contact from Kostecki sent Feeney across the grass. Instead of sailing through and risking a penalty, Kostecki redressed the incident and allowed Feeney to retain the lead.

Later, Feeney revealed that he had elected not to block in order to save Kostecki from receiving a penalty and ending the battle. Ever the statesman, Kostecki still apologised to Feeney over the clash.

"I purposely didn't block into the next corner, because I knew if Brodie overtook me there probably would've been a penalty, which I didn't want to happen," said Feeney post-race.

"The safest bet for me was to just go straight ahead and cut through, thankfully we had a big gap to the guys behind. Brodie's smart, he followed me for a couple of corners, and we got back to business as usual."

Further incident or penalty would have undone both drivers in the championship, which ultimately swung towards Kostecki on Sunday when Feeney, Kostecki's closest rival in the fight for the Perkins Trophy, crashed out.

It was Feeney's clever games, though, that left a lasting impact on the driver of the #17 Ford.

"It's a really tricky one around the Grand Prix, there's no pit stops. So if you get a five- or 10-second or a 15-second penalty, you're serving it after the race. And if it ends under Safety Car, you're going to dead last," Kostecki added.

"He knew what game he was playing, and did a fantastic job. I applied all the pressure in as many places I could.

"We even had a bit of a tiff [at Turn 9] and I had to redress that. We settled back in, I let him gather his tyres up, and we had a fair battle to the finish."

Kostecki will carry a 28-point lead over Cam Waters to the ITM NZ Double Header, which kicks off in Taupō on April 10-12.