Past champions divided on controversial Cameron/Kostecki clash
Brodie Kostecki spun Aaron Cameron on last lap of Sydney finale
Both drivers traded barbs in aftermath of collision
Craig Lowndes, Mark Winterbottom offered their opinions to Supercars.com
It's the collision that was on everyone's lips after the DUNLOP Sydney 500, and potentially the beginning of a rivalry that few, if anyone, saw coming.
Aaron Cameron was on course to pick up his second big haul of points in three races in the final race of the DUNLOP Sydney 500, and was fourth commencing the last lap ahead of Brodie Kostecki.
As Broc Feeney cruised to his second victory of the year, TV cameras cut to Cameron pointing backwards out of Turn 2, with the #17 Shell V-Power Ford of Kostecki tiptoeing around the spun LIQUI MOLY BLAHST Ford.
Cameron's engine stalled as he was facing backwards, the 2024 Super2 runner-up tumbling back to 17th, whilst Kostecki was slapped with a post-race 15 second penalty that dropped him back to 12th.
Cameron immediately voiced his displeasure post-race, on both broadcast and Supercars' Cool Down Lap presented by Equip Super podcast, before Kostecki returned serve on his own Lucky Dogs podcast.
It's a collision that has split opinions up and down the pit lane, and whilst two former champions believe that a penalty was justified, their opinions differ on the severity of the penalty.
Seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes believes that the incident provided stewards with the opportunity to draw a line in the sand early in the year, and that drivers will take note.
"The Brodie Kostecki/Aaron Cameron incident was a tricky one, but I also believe the penalty was justified," Lowndes said in his exclusive post-Sydney column on Supercars.com.
"The stewards have made a statement. Drivers need to know where the boundary lines are, and I think it's very clear now what that looks like.
"Going forward, I think the drivers will adapt to that or at least take it onboard, especially when they’re going for a passing opportunity."
Meanwhile, 2015 champion Mark Winterbottom also believed Kostecki was largely responsible, but didn't think Cameron was completely innocent owing to the unique nature of the multi-apex corner.
"There's always a war of words isn't there when you're taken out?" said Winterbottom on Supercars' The Run Home podcast.
"Brodie just misjudged it. We saw alternate lines at Sydney, and I've never seen Turn 2 get used where you go literally on the white line around the outside and turn back, because the surface on the inside is so bad now.
"So when Aaron Cameron took that line on the last lap, he should have blocked. You don't let someone have a look up the inside."
"Brodie saw a hole and took it, but then on that old surface got a lot of understeer, and Aaron Cameron came back down and he hit the rear.
"So it's just a misjudgement, but I think initially if I was Aaron Cameron, I'd go narrow, so that's his mistake initially. But the contact is all on Brodie Kostecki."
However, the 2013 Bathurst winner wasn't convinced that the severity of the penalty handed out to Kostecki matched the crime.
Whilst he believes a penalty was justified, the Tickford co-driver also suggested that additional penalties could be added to the usual matrix of five seconds, 15 seconds, and pit lane drive through penalties.
"I don't know if it's a 15 second penalty, or a 10 second, or a 12 and a half or a seven point five. I don't know what the time should be because it's a big consequence.
"The fact that Aaron Cameron couldn't get going and stopped, often they give a penalty on the outcome, and it ruined Aaron's race so, rightfully so, it ruins Brodie's."
Supercars action resumes on Thursday at the Melbourne SuperSprint, on the undercard of the Formula 1 QATAR AIRWAYS Australian Grand Prix.
