DJR to rebuild Kostecki Mustang following heavy Tasmania hit

Brodie Kostecki's #17 Shell V-Power Racing Mustang is set to undergo a rear end rebuild following extensive damage inflicted at Tasmania.

After struggling to 12th in the Tasmania finale, on a weekend where he dumped 150 points to championship leader Broc Feeney, Dick Johnson Racing Executive Chairman Dr Ryan Story revealed that Kostecki's chassis will have a new rear clip installed.

The change will be made following a noticeable drop in performance for the finale, which left the 2023 champion 'pretty confused' after racing his way to third in the opener and displaying strong pace throughout Saturday.

Dr Story has since confirmed that the team are set to carry out the work before the Supercars fraternity make the long trip north to Darwin.

"The boys stayed at the track on Saturday night until 10:30, 11 o'clock that night, so there was a fairly big repair that went into that thing," said Dr Story on PG & The Doc.

"It's highly likely we'll take the rear clip off the car as a result.

"We suspect when we get that thing crack tested that we will find cracks and some hairline fractures in a couple of tubes.

"When that car was back on track the following day, pretty early in the first qualifying stint Brodie said, 'There's something not quite right here,' and if anyone is going to pick it from the seat of his pants in a race car, I'm tipping it'll be Brodie.

Eyebrows were raised when Kostecki slipped from first to fifth in the Shootout despite having two brand-new tyres at his disposal, though Kostecki later admitted through his Lucky Dogs podcast that provisional pole was a 'fluke'.

"Brodie had a pair of greens that went to the rear of the car for the Shootout, and we just weren't able to light them up and get the heat into them. There was something a bit funny about it.

"So we'll put a new rear clip on the car for Darwin, and that rear clip will be sent away to get crack tested, and we'll get a better understanding of just the extent of the damage."

Further compounding matters were refuelling issues for both Kostecki and rookie teammate Rylan Gray, with both drivers forced into fuel saving, and Gray even making an extra stop.

However, Dr Story is confident those issues won't pop up again: "I just had the guys all downstairs, pulled everyone together at our coffee break and said, 'Look, a bad weekend for us is a third place and a provisional pole, that's ok.'

"But we just need to keep getting better, so when we have a rough one, and we had some challenges on the pit stops on Sunday as well, the guys have already done a post-mortem on that.

"They've already looked at all the video footage, they've got a really clear understanding of what went on there, and that's the most important thing.

"When the proverbial happens so to speak, it's important to understand why, because it allows you to get better.

"We've already updated some of our procedures and processes, particularly when it comes to pit stop practice, to eliminate those issues."

Kostecki is now 173 points behind Feeney, having led the championship as recently as four races ago. However, there is now panic within the DJR camp, with Dr Story confident that luck will turn around should they remain at the head of the field.

"I mean it is, we've dropped a bunch of points from incidents we haven't necessarily been responsible for, and in both instances the other cars have had penalties for those incidents.

"It is unfortunate, but that's motor racing, sometimes the proverbial happens.

"Sometimes you do make your own luck, but we have fast cars. There's plenty of green shoots to take out of Tassie, but all eyes are on Darwin now."

Kostecki will be looking to reignite his Repco Sprint Cup hopes when the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship continues at the betr Darwin Triple Crown from June 19-21. Tickets are on sale now.