Brodie Kostecki starts Sandown sitting 30 points above cut
Kostecki qualified for Sandown with GC500 finishes of seventh, second
DJR driver missed top 10 in qualifying for first time since February
Throw anything at Dick Johnson Racing right now, and the team all but has all the answers.
That's the word from DJR Team Manager Tom Moore, who is confident Brodie Kostecki has what he needs to qualify for the bp Adelaide Grand Final.
Finishes of seventh and second were more than enough for the 2023 Supercars champion to qualify for the Penrite Oil Sandown 500, something he failed to achieve last year.
Off the back of a stunning Bathurst win, which was centred on supreme pace, Kostecki somewhat came back to earth on the Gold Coast, missing the top 10 in qualifying for the first time — and just third time all season — since Sydney in February.
Come Sunday, Kostecki rebounded to start fourth, and settled for second after breaking his front splitter and earning a bad sportsmanship flag for overuse of the Turn 10 timing loop.
While it wasn't pretty, the Ford squad still managed to execute with what they had, even if, for the balance of the weekend, Kostecki wasn't the pace-setter.
It continued a trend of DJR not hitting the panic button, with the team turning potential misery of a slow brake stop into a race-winning strategy at Mount Panorama.
“The few scenarios we’ve found ourselves in over the last few weeks, it proves the philosophy’s strong," Moore told media.
“And even when we’re a little bit off, we’re still there or thereabouts, so you can definitely make a go of it.
“It was unfortunate on Friday to miss the Shootout, it’s definitely not what we wanted to do, but even then in the wet conditions, we were able to drive forward through the field. If we didn’t have a little mistake at Turn 11 yesterday, would’ve been further up again."
The stats show Bathurst champion Kostecki as a favourite for the championship, even though nothing short of a race win at Sandown guarantees him passage through to Adelaide.
His 18 podiums and seven poles are equal most with Matt Payne, while his eight wins lead the way. Per Supercars data analyst Scott Sinclair, Kostecki has finished ahead of each of the other six Finals drivers more often than not this year.
Kostecki does need to improve on his Sandown record, though. He is winless in 12 starts at the venue, but raced a spare car — brought online after his Gold Coast crash — to dual top fives last year.
All told, the pressure is now on DJR to ensure car speed remains strong, with Moore suggesting execution in the pits could make or break their season.
“There's definitely a lot of confidence in the car at the moment, the team just needs to execute on the day, like we’re doing a lot more frequently and consistently now," continued Moore, who again stepped in for George Commins to engineer the #17.
“That’s what it’s going to take at the business end of the season."
Kostecki is 30 points clear of the cut-line heading to Sandown, where track action commences on Friday November 6.
