The opportunity that made Kostecki's career
Brodie Kostecki scored crucial drive with Super2 squad for 2020
Kostecki won opening round with Eggleston Motorsport
Future Supercars champ scored Erebus co-drive at season's end
Erebus Motorsport may have delivered Brodie Kostecki a maiden Supercars championship crown, but it was another team that revived his career and set up his run to the main game.
Kostecki took out the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship at last month’s VAILO Adelaide 500 after a season-long battle with Shane van Gisbergen.
The Perth-born driver helped Erebus to its first title, 10 years after the team first debuted in Supercars with three Mercedes-AMG entries.
Kostecki’s Supercars journey is as unique as they come, given he initially raced in the lower tiers of NASCAR in the United States before returning to Australia.
He made waves with cousin Jake in a family-run enduro wildcard in 2019, but with a new season fast-approaching, then 22-year-old Kostecki didn’t have plans for 2020.
Enter Eggleston Motorsport, run by Rachael and Ben Eggleston, which gave the young driver not only a drive in Super2, but a place to live.
By then, the Eggleston squad had a Super2 crown in 2014 with Paul Dumbrell, and this year added another with teenage rising star Kai Allen.
“At the end of 2019, when I finished up racing with my family [Kostecki Brothers Racing], doing the wildcards, I honestly had nothing organised for 2020,” Kostecki said after sealing his title win in Adelaide.
“I called Ben and Rachael and said, ‘I don’t really have any money, and I don’t have a place to stay either, so I want to go racing, but obviously, it costs money.’
“But, they were really good to me and gave me an opportunity and obviously I was able to come here in 2020 and win in Adelaide.
“I got signed with Erebus that year to co-drive with Anton [De Pasquale] and that sort of kicked off my career, and that all falls back to just having good people around me.”
That signing with Erebus, for the 2020 Bathurst 1000 alongside De Pasquale, came after Kostecki dominated the opening round of the COVID-shortened 2020 Dunlop Series.
On his Eggleston debut, Kostecki claimed two poles, two wins, three fastest laps and the round win on the unforgiving Adelaide streets, which proved the scene for his Supercars coronation nearly four years later.
Later, Erebus signed on Kostecki for Bathurst, before locking him in for a full-time swing, culminating in a championship built off the back of ultra consistency and Erebus’ strong debut in the Gen3 era.
Rachael Eggleston knew Kostecki was one to watch before he stepped foot in one of her cars, saying in his initial announcement release: “We have always held Brodie in very high regards as a driver ever since he debuted in the series in an older spec car [compared to the rest of the field] and always punched well above his weight.
"When he beat Paul Dumbrell at Sandown in 2018, it certainly showed us that he was going to be one to watch in the future.
"Brodie’s technical knowledge of the car is probably unrivalled in the Super2 paddock, so to have a driver who understands exactly what the car is doing mechanically and is so interested and involved in the set up and running of the car is a huge plus in our books."
Also key to Kostecki’s career was 2014 Bathurst winner turned driver coach Paul Morris, who proved a strong mentor for the rising star.
“Paul Morris has been a massive part of my career,” Kostecki said.“He’s guided me through this year and always seems to call me right at the right times, which is pretty cool.
“I just I have a really good support system around me, which has been really beneficial to make good decisions and not make bad ones.”
Kostecki will commence his title defence at the Thrifty Bathurst 500 on February 23-25 at Mount Panorama. Tickets are on sale now.
