Brodie Kostecki secured Semi Final berth with second on Sunday
Kostecki survived tyre bundle scare that damaged front splitter
Tyre bundle collision triggered 2025 qualifying crash
The demons of 2025 have been banished for Brodie Kostecki, but the front bar on his Shell V-Power Mustang told a different story at the end of 85 laps on Sunday.
For the first time, the Dick Johnson Racing spearhead will progress through to Supercars' Semi Final round at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500, finishes of seventh and second enough to see the #17 Ford climb to third in points.
That's not to say it was all smooth sailing, Kostecki failing to secure a Saturday Top Ten Shootout berth when he could only manage 11th in Friday qualifying.
However, when the chips were down on Sunday, Kostecki stood tall to give eventual winner Broc Feeney a real fright, before settling for second after 250km of racing.
But the thoughts of his 2025 disappointment were never far from the front of Kostecki's mind, admitting after his 18th podium of the season that nerves were sky-high entering Sunday.
"I felt more sick today going into the race than I did prior to Bathurst," Kostecki admitted post-race.
"Really, really glad to get through this part, and the car has been so fast in race trim lately. Just happy to get through that and obviously eyes forward to Sandown.
"It'll be really tough once we get there. These guys next to us are always really good around there, and obviously Chazzie [Mostert] won a few races there last year as well.
"I feel like it's gonna be on for the next one."
Whilst there was no repeat of his heavy qualifying accident from 2025, Kostecki certainly wasn't taking it any easier in 2026.
His Friday qualifying efforts were spoiled by kerb hops at the Beach Chicane, whilst on Sunday he picked up splitter damage after whacking the newly installed tyre bundles.
A hefty chunk was taken out of the left front corner of Kostecki's front bar, but unlike 2025, it remained structurally stable throughout Sunday's race.
Despite that, he still closed to within a second of Feeney after his final stop, helped by teammate Rylan Gray parking up the #88 Ford before he made his final stop, but ultimately Feeney proved too strong.
"Credit to Broc, he drove a flawless race, just mistake free. Really proud of everyone at the Shell V-Power Racing Team, they gave me a fantastic race car today," Kostecki added.
"Once we got a bit of clean air in the middle stint I was able to use it a fair bit, and close the gap down to Broc. I just made too many mistakes today myself, put us out a little bit, damaged my front splitter.
"I was joking with Broc just before, whoever got the bad sportsmanship flag first generally has a pretty big, I guess disadvantage the way the track is, trying to make time at the Beach Chicane and Turn 2.
"Just proud of everyone's efforts today, these guys were super quick, especially Chazzie as well, so we've still got a little bit of pace to find, but happy with how we bounced back today after missing the Shootout on Friday.
"I was confident in the car the whole time, I just didn't really piece it together."
