Kostecki in 'world of hurt', suspects hangover from Reynolds hit

Brodie Kostecki had no answers for as to why his Tyrepower Tasmania Super 440 fell apart despite strong speed once again being displayed by his Shell V-Power Racing Ford.

Such was the inexplicable loss of pace, that the 2024 Bathurst winner has suggested he was even fighting with one arm behind his back after heavy contact with David Reynolds on Saturday.

Kostecki's Race 16 unravelled almost immediately, with his first pit stop hampered by a refuelling bungle that saw next to no fuel go into the #17 Ford, forcing him into a fuel save through the second stint.

As Race Engineer George Commins revealed post race, there was never concern that Kostecki wouldn't be able to make the finish, though it compromised the rest of his race.

"We had a vapour lock or something in the fuel system, so got hardly any in at the first stop," said Commins.

"We could still do it on two full churns, but we needed a little bit of fuel save in the second stint from Brodie, which he did easily, and then it all balanced out in the end.

"It's something we'll have to look into, the multitude of errors in the race."

However, even when Kostecki was cleared to race without fuel save, he continued to tumble back through the pack, a fifth place start turning into a disappointing 12th place finish.

Kostecki lit up on the radio several times as frustrations boiled over, with braking performance at the hairpin a key gripe throughout the 84 laps, though he admitted he could tell it would be a long afternoon almost immediately.

A five-time race winner this season, Kostecki hinted the car didn't feel the same since his hairpin tangle with Reynolds in Saturday's second race, which saw the rear of the #17 Ford heavily rearranged.

"I think I was just pretty confused to be honest," admitted a frustrated Kostecki post-race.

"Inside the car, I knew straight away five laps in that I was in a world of hurt.

"Before I had the tangle with Davey yesterday I felt really strong in both races, didn't maximise qualifying to be honest.

"We fixed qualifying today, but funnily enough during qualifying I was quite unhappy with the car, and it was doing things it shouldn't have been doing. I think we were lucky enough just to fluke a lap out of it.

"The pace really shows in the race when things aren't quite right and you're doing laps consecutively.

"We'll go back to the workshop and sort it out, but Darwin's a new round.

"We've come to another track and the car was fast, yes we didn't finish like we wanted to today, but still proud of the effort, and we'll jog on at Darwin."

Kostecki recorded three top six starts at Symmons Plains, but only walked away with one top 10 finish for the weekend, a podium in Race 14, as he continued to leak points in his fight for the Repco Sprint Cup.

Such has been the rate that Kostecki has sunk, that he has lost 234 points to runaway leader Broc Feeney in the last four races. The #17 Ford is now third in points, 173 behind Feeney, and 83 behind Matt Payne in second.

Kostecki will be looking for a big rebound when the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship continues at the betr Darwin Triple Crown from June 19-21. Tickets are on sale now.