The 'brave' email that changed Kostecki's life

Mark Winterbottom's charge to a Perth clean sweep nearly 20 years ago left its mark on a young Brodie Kostecki, who revealed he reached out to the Supercars legend via email.

Born and raised in Perth, Kostecki is now a Supercars champion and Bathurst winner, and is one of the biggest names in Australian motorsport.

A 10-year-old Kostecki was trackside at Wanneroo Raceway in 2008 as Winterbottom motored to three wins in as many starts, a performance that made an impression on the then rising star.

Via his father's account, Kostecki sent a message to Winterbottom, who he met 12 months earlier. In the email, Kostecki claimed Winterbottom's "technique" was "different from the rest," reminded him that he signed his kart hat, and that his goal was "to race with you or against you one day."

As fate would have it, Kostecki would share the grid with Winterbottom for the first time at the 2019 Bathurst 1000, before they went head-to-head as full-timers between 2021 and 2024.

While filming a special feature on his epic 2023 battle with Shane van Gisbergen, Kostecki explained how Winterbottom's effort to reply made a "big difference."

"I remember going [to Wanneroo], got a lot of fond memories as a kid, actually spending a bit of time with DJ [Dick Johnson], Frosty as well," Kostecki said.

"I actually sent an email after Frosty won in '08, I believe. I still joke with him about that today. He actually replied to me, so I was pretty happy about that.

"It's these little things that make such a big difference to my career growing up. You always try to do the same thing when you see kids and spend a lot of time with them. It's little moments like that that I cherished."

When informed of Kostecki's comments, Winterbottom admitted he had to rejig his memory, before trawling through his emails. There, he found the email — dated May 11, 2008, sent just hours after the win — which began: "Hi Mark (frosty)."

“Looking at what he wrote, he actually commented on my driving,” Winterbottom told Supercars.com.

“It's kind of no surprise to see what he’s like now, the way he breaks everything down, because even as a kid, he was dissecting what I was doing as opposed to others. That’s really cool, isn't it?

“He was obviously destined to race cars. He was into it and was getting results and was brave enough to send an email directly back then. It’s no wonder to see him succeeding. He's driven and has taken everything all in, and it's no surprise he's a champion.”

Rising through the ranks, all the way to becoming Supercars champion, Kostecki has attracted commentary from all comers, including Perth hero turned commentator Garth Tander.

In the wake of Kostecki's 2023 defeat to van Gisbergen in Perth, Tander said his fellow West Aussie could lean on that race should he need to fight hard to win the crown.

On that occasion, Tander quipped that Kostecki, who is regarded as one of the tougher drivers to race, would "do whatever it takes."

When asked if the ‘do whatever it takes’ line was a fair representation of his racing style, Kostecki replied: “Yes and no. I mean, I obviously get the tag all the time that I'm really aggressive and whatnot, but I consider myself quite fair.

“It's quite easy to, I guess, say things from the sidelines, but I don't generally run people off the road when I'm next to them, like how some of the other drivers do.

“If someone's gonna block or if someone's gonna make it hard, I'll make sure I make it twice as hard back. So I think I'm pretty fair like that and I've had some great races with a lot of good guys on the grid now these days.

"Cam [Waters], Chaz [Mostert], and everyone else, we all have good races and sometimes we get one over the other, but it always tends to even out over time.”

Kostecki sits third overall heading to this weekend's Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440.