Kostecki Ford set for engine change after wild excursion
Brodie Kostecki Ford set for Christchurch engine change
Championship leader managed overheating after wild off in Race 12
Kostecki heads into Sunday second in Jason Richards Trophy points
The championship-leading Ford Mustang of Brodie Kostecki is set for an engine change ahead of Sunday’s 200km Christchurch finale.
After winning Saturday’s first 120km sprint, Kostecki came home fifth in the day’s second race, 18 seconds behind winner Matt Payne.
Post-race, Kostecki quipped that he had a “horrible” afternoon, and revealed that the #17 Shell V-Power Ford is in line to receive a fresh engine.
On lap 26, Ryan Wood and Kostecki bowled a massive wide at Turn 3, surfing through the dust and dirt. Kostecki lost a position to Anton De Pasquale, before De Pasquale made a mistake of his own and gifted the spot back to Kostecki at the very next corner.
After the wild off, Kostecki managed overheating in the final stint, dropping away from Wood and falling into the clutches of De Pasquale.
Kostecki had won five of the season’s first 11 races before Saturday afternoon’s race.
"It's getting changed tonight, it got pretty hot,” Kostecki said on the broadcast.
"The boys and girls will pull it out and put a new one in for tomorrow.”
In a bright moment for Dick Johnson Racing, rookie Rylan Gray brought home his first top 10 finish in the main game, earning praise from Kostecki.
Kostecki admitted he wasn’t fast enough in the day’s second race, saying he battled in the first stint of the race.
"We just have to be a bit faster, we struggled a lot in the start of the race, but I felt like after the pit stop we started coming back towards Broc [Feeney] and Woody,” Kostecki said.
"Ultimately we just weren't fast enough, so need to do a bit more homework and try and be better tomorrow.”
The final day of the 2026 ITM Christchurch Super 440 commences with Boost Mobile Qualifying for Race 13 at 11:50am NZST/9:50am AEST.
