Kostecki reveals hidden error in epic Perkins Trophy charge
Brodie Kostecki reveals hidden error in epic Perkins Trophy charge
DJR star fumbled a gear change while battling Thomas Randle in early laps
Kostecki passed Randle, Aaron Cameron, Will Brown to win AGP finale
Brodie Kostecki was class of the field, but even he wasn’t immune to tension on a wild Sunday in Melbourne.
The Shell V-Power Racing Team star snatched the championship lead, and victory from Will Brown, in an enthralling Race 7 at Albert Park. It was Kostecki’s third win of the weekend, fifth podium in seven starts this season, and 14th win of his Supercars career.
Sunday’s win was Kostecki’s best, given he started fourth and had to pick off Aaron Cameron, Thomas Randle and former teammate Brown to claim the victory.
After the lap 1 Safety Car for the pile-up that took out Broc Feeney, Zach Bates and Cooper Murray, Kostecki restarted fourth and picked off Cameron for third into Turn 11 on lap 6.
On the following lap, he cleared Randle at the penultimate corner, before a Brown mistake in the closing laps opened the door for win No. 3 of the weekend.
Speaking afterwards, Kostecki revealed a close call in his battle with Randle, missing a gear change.
“Starting fourth, it's obviously not the ideal position, but there’s plenty of people behind that were worse off, obviously with all the chaos behind,” Kostecki told media post-race.
"I knew I had to get a good start and almost got overlap on Aaron going into Turn 1, it was really close. These guys [Brown and Randle] were going pretty hard for the first couple laps.
"But obviously that Safety Car came and really sort of allowed the field to become single file. I was able to pick off Aaron then got up to Thomas.
“I made a small error trying to pass Thomas and missed a down change. It was in neutral. So, that was almost a bit close there.
"I knew I had a fair bit of pace up on Will… and I knew with about one or two laps to go, I was going to be able to pull the trigger and try have a crack.
“My job becomes easy when the car’s great. It's been on rails all weekend, so it's just a big credit to everyone at Shell V-Power Racing.”
In the press conference, Randle added: "He went to neutral when he got me, and I just gave him a bit of a push to get him out of the second last corner and get him going."
A second Larry Perkins Trophy meant a great deal to old school racer Kostecki, who paid tribute to the likes of Perkins and Dick Johnson for setting the tone for the current generation of drivers to take Supercars into a new era.
"I've said this many times, I feel like we had a lot of momentum going into the season,” the 2024 Bathurst winner said.
“We've been quietly confident, we need to focus on ourselves and execute. We did all that this weekend, which has been great. To deliver three race wins this weekend, four podiums is fantastic, and to get the LP Trophy again as well is awesome.
“That trophy means a lot to me. LP, DJ and all those guys really paved the way for us to come and do what we do.”
Kostecki will carry a 28-point lead over Tickford Racing rival Cam Waters to the inaugural ITM NZ Doubleheader, which commences in Taupō from April 10-12.
