The battles that handed Kostecki the points lead

Brodie Kostecki heads to his home event in Perth as championship leader for the first time, having unseated Chaz Mostert in Melbourne.

Kostecki raced from 14th to third in the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint finale, with Mostert dropping from second to 14th.

Mostert led Kostecki by a point going into the race. Heading to Perth, Kostecki leads Mostert by 32 points.

Kostecki, 25, became the first Erebus Motorsport driver to lead the Supercars drivers’ standings.

Two battles for Mostert — one with Kostecki’s teammate Will Brown, and another with Bryce Fullwood — ultimately stunted Mostert’s progress and brought Kostecki into play.

The race started under Safety Car, with Feeney leading Mostert into Turn 1.

Feeney started on Hard tyres whereas Mostert was on Super Softs, and the WAU driver made a pass for the lead at Turn 5.

Feeney and the other Hard tyre starters — including Kostecki — pitted at the end of lap 2.

Kostecki takes third

Mostert battled with Brown, who spun out on lap 4, before being forced to defend from a racy Fullwood.

Fullwood wouldn’t pass the ailing Mostert until lap 8, by which time Feeney, Heimgartner, Kostecki and co. had enjoyed five laps on Super Softs.

Mostert plummeted down the order and stopped from ninth at the end of lap 11, with Fullwood being reeled in by van Gisbergen.

The top eight came into the lane with a lap to go for their respective compulsory pit stops, handing the running to Feeney, Heimgartner and Kostecki.

Mostert was classified 14th. All drivers ahead of him either stopped on lap 2, or passed him before his own stop.

Kostecki emerged from his stop over a minute behind Mostert. Just before Mostert stopped, the margin between the two was roughly 43 seconds. Kostecki then finished 16 seconds, and 11 positions, ahead of Mostert.

At the start of the race, Kostecki merely expected to finish — but once Mostert was forced into battle, he was in prime position to take the front-running.

“No, I just expected to finish,” Kostecki said after the race.

“I would’ve been happy to finish in the top 10.

“As soon as the green flag dropped, I knew I was able to hang onto the soft runners at the front.

“Then I was able to get on on the soft and the car felt really good. I knew we were a chance to be in the top six, or top five even.

“When the front guys started battling on the soft out there, it made it easy to jump them."

Erebus now leads both championships, with the team leaving Newcastle atop the teams’ standings.

The Melbourne team is 101 points clear of Red Bull Ampol Racing heading to the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint on April 28-30.

“It’s fantastic,” Kostecki said of the championship leads.

“I thought we had pretty good form at pre-season testing, and Newcastle, obviously getting that first pole.

“We didn't really convert in the races too well. We put our heads together and came up with a few ideas.

“They all seemed to work out. The cars were astounding in all the races, Will and I have been working closely together as well.

“It makes it easier when you have a team that’s working really well.”