Supercars 2023: Brodie Kostecki goes three from three to complete the cleansweep Tailem Bend
It doesn’t look like anything will stop Brodie Kostecki has made another statement at Tailem Bend, extending his series lead with a trifecta of triumphs.
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Series leader Brodie Kostecki has stamped himself as the form driver of the field leading into the critical Supercars endurance season after securing a clean sweep at Tailem Bend.
In the final round before the Supercars enduros kick off with the Sandown 500 next month, Kostecki sealed a trifecta of wins at The Bend with back-to-back victories in Sunday’s two 20-lap sprint battles.
The Erebus Motorsport star led home Tickford pair Cam Waters and Thomas Randle to win the final sprint race, having earlier held off Randle and Chaz Mostert for his second win.
It was a strong bounce back for Waters, having finished 24th in Sunday’s first race after suffering damage in an opening-lap incident, to claim his first podium since Newcastle.
Randle also completed a break-through weekend with three straight podium finishes.
Having held a 41-point lead heading into the round, Kostecki’s three-peat has now helped him extend his championship lead to 137-points over Triple Eight’s Shane van Gisbergen.
Get your brooms out because it's a @BrodieKostecki clean sweep 🧹
— Supercars (@supercars) August 20, 2023
He is your Repco Race 22 winner at the OTR SuperSprint! #RepcoSC#Supercarspic.twitter.com/ED15mSHBDH
It’s a handy buffer for Kostecki leading into two of the most important races on the calendar when 600 points will be up for grabs in two races at Sandown and the Bathurst 1000.
Kostecki will again team with David Russell for the enduros after the pair finished third and fourth at Mount Panorama the past two years.
After finishing the round in South Australia with three wins and two poles in a week when he made his NASCAR Cup Series debut, Kostecki was now looking ahead to carrying his strong form into the endurance season.
“It was an awesome effort by everyone at Coca-Cola Racing by Erebus, fantastic execution all weekend, fantastic pit-stops and all the effort that has gone into this year has really started to pay off ,” said Kostecki, who again converted from pole.
“The car has been lightning quick all weekend and I had to hold off Cam, he was breathing down my neck and really pushing me the whole race.
“I’m glad to take away the clean sweep, first one for myself and first one for the team.
“Enduros are crucial to the championship as well, less races so it’s more crucial, you can’t afford to have a DNF. Really looking forward to sharing the car with David Russell, he has done an awesome job the past two years with me.
“It’s all looking positive, we’ll just try to keep the ball rolling and try to continue this form that we’ve had.
“This weekend will be one of those that I cherish forever.”
After a rollercoaster year, Waters was relieved to finally get back on the podium for the first time since round one.
Waters said it was a relief to find pace again - and get closer to the Camaros.
“I forgot what trophies look like. It’s awesome to get a podium and cool to be up here with T Randle,” Waters said.
“I’m super happy to finally have some pace out of this thing and can actually see the back of the Camaros a bit now.
“We’ve had a lot of bad luck again this year, obviously all the parity woes have poured fuel on the fire in that respect.
“We’ve just been working hard and making sure that we’re the fastest Ford.
“It’s good that we’re going on the right trajectory, but we didn’t win the race, so we need more.”
After breaking through for his first solo Supercars podium on Saturday, Randle finished the weekend with two thirds and one second-place finish.
Randle hoped his breakthrough Tailem Bend results could provide a springboard for the rest of the year.
“It has been a challenging year in many different aspects,” Randle said.
“Obviously (Saturday) for me was a breakthrough podium and I think we showed today that wasn’t a fluke and we’ve come back and got second and another third.
“It was nice to get that (first podium) off my back, it’s been a long time coming trying to get a solo podium, so I was a bit more relaxed today.”
While Kostecki dominated this weekend, it was a tough round for his teammate Will Brown.
In the week when his switch to Triple Eight as van Gisbergen’s replacement was confirmed, Brown suffered a DNF in Saturday’s race after being turned on the first lap. Brown then finished 13th in both of Sunday’s two sprint races.
After starting the round in second place in the standings, 41 points behind Kostecki, Brown is now 258 points behind his teammate in fourth.
“It was a very tough weekend, I’m not really sure what to make out of the weekend,” Brown said. “I came in pretty confident and pretty excited, wanted to have a really good weekend and it’s the toughest weekend I’ve had all year. I’m really disappointed.”
He wasn’t the only driver to endure a tough weekend.
Triple Eight young gun Broc Feeney finished the final race in last place after he was forced wide off the track approaching the final lap by David Reynolds, who copped a 15-second time penalty for careless driving. It followed Feeney’s ninth-place in Sunday’s first race.
Feeney also found himself in a scrap earlier in the race with Chaz Mostert, who was hit with a bad sportsmanship flag after forcing Feeney wide down the main straight.
Despite moving up to second place in the championship this weekend, van Gisbergen, who finished fifth in every race, continues to be plagued by steering issues.
He revealed the team changed five steering racks to try to get to the bottom of the issue.
“We are trying so hard to fix problems and find that feeling, but we are struggling at the moment,” van Gisbergen said.
“All in al, we did get consistent points over the weekend but there is still a lot more work to do to understand what it is we’re missing in the car.”
Triple Eight was hit with a $1500 fine and the loss of 30 teams championship points for an unsafe pit release for van Gisbergen after he was dropped and released when the wheel gun was still attached to the right rear wheel.
Nick Percat produced a stunning start off the line for the final race and finished in fourth place in a timely result as speculation swirls over his future at Walkinshaw Andretti United.
Kostecki’s 2023 pole blitz continues at The Bend
Erebus Motorsport star Brodie Kostecki is on target for a clean sweep at Tailem Bend after he made it two wins from as many races to again strengthen his position at the top of the championship standings.
After his win in Saturday’s opening sprint race, Kostecki backed up to clinch the first of Sunday’s two 20-lap battles after holding off a strong challenge from Tickford Racing pole sitter Thomas Randle.
Reporting a steering issue in the second half of the race, Kostecki managed the problem as he steered his Camaro home for a maximum points haul.
Kostecki, who also had the fastest lap of the race, led home Randle and Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert, who both added to their Saturday podiums.
The victory was Kostecki’s fifth win for the year and extended his championship lead to 111 points over Triple Eight’s Shane van Gisbergen.
Kostecki will start from pole for Sunday‘s final sprint race at The Bend as he targets a trifecta of wins.
The series leader revealed after the race his engineer George Commins had to coach him home over the radio as he battled with the steering drama.
“It felt really strange from yesterday and I couldn’t brake in a straight line,” Kostecki said.
“It was wandering around a fair bit. It was pretty scary the last 10 laps there and I was happy to have enough car speed to stay in front of Tom there. He did a great job.
“He (Commins) was doing pretty good (coaching me) because I was starting to lose my marbles a fair bit, so he was trying to keep me cool and just trying to make sure that I manage my tyres in the race.
“We all did a great job, but we need to sort it out for the next one.”
After earlier securing his first Supercars career pole, Randle was unable to hold his position at the front for long off the start line before Kostecki edged past him at turn two.
But his second-place continued a strong weekend for Randle, who broke through for his fist solo podium in Supercars on Saturday when he finished third.
Randle, who overcame testicular cancer earlier in his Supercars career, was thrilled with his best Supercars finish, but wants to go one better.
“(Brodie) had it over us again today, but if anyone doubted our podium yesterday, well I think we were pretty convincing today,” Randle said.
“My best finish in Supercars, but I still want to go that one better.“
Mostert stormed onto the podium after passing David Reynolds on the last lap, having edged past Shane van Gisbegen two laps earlier. Reynolds finished fourth and van Gisbergen fifth.
Kostecki’s Erebus teammate Will Brown, who suffered a costly DNF after he was turned on the opening lap on Saturday, finished 13th.
As there was in Saturday’s race, there was drama on the opening lap when Cam Waters, Jack Le Brocq and Will Davison were caught up in a turn-six tangle.
Race control launched an immediate investigation into the incident, which forced the trio to the rear of the field before Waters and Le Brocq headed to the pits for repairs.
The pair were both able to rejoin the race, but Le Brocq had to return to the pits again shortly afterwards after he was hit with a drive-through penalty for his part in the incident.
Waters ended up in 24th position.
Kostecki’s 2023 pole blitz continues at The Bend
Championship leader Brodie Kostecki and Thomas Randle have split the pole positions for Sunday’s two sprint races at The Bend.
After breaking through for his first solo Supercars podium on Saturday, Randle’s strong pace at the Tailem Bend circuit continued to snare his maiden career pole in his Tickford Racing Mustang for the first of two 20-lap races on Sunday.
Kostecki then backed up from his Saturday win to secure his second pole position of the weekend and his sixth for the year for Sunday’s second race.
In a breakthrough weekend, Randle topped the opening qualifying session with a 1:50.068 lap ahead of Kostecki and Grove Racing young gun Matt Payne.
Kosecki then emerged on top with his 1:49.482 lap at the very end of the second qualifying session ahead of Tickford’s Cam Waters and Randle.
The Erebus Motorsport star has been the top qualifier in the Supercars field this year.
“The first qualifying session today I didn’t quite get it right, but I was really happy with that last lap there and we waited till the death,” Kostecki said.
“I misread the track conditions there for the first one, but we nailed it for the second one and to be on pole again by four-tenths is pretty unreal.
“I’m really proud of everyone here at the team and to be able to get another pole here today is awesome.”
Taking Ford’s fifth pole for the year, Randle was excited to continue his strong pace.
“Wow, what a way to back it up,” Randle said after claiming his pole.
“We’ve always had some good speed around here and it’s just a real credit to the whole team.
“We had a pretty clean run off the line yesterday and hopefully we can do the same … fingers crossed we can keep the Castrol Mustang up the front.”
Triple Eight’s NASCAR-bound star Shane van Gisbergen will start from fourth and seventh for Sunday’s two races.
Kostecki’s Erebus teammate Will Brown – who suffered a costly DNF in Saturday’s race after being turned on the opening lap – will start from 16th and 13th.
Kostecki extended his championship lead to 80 points over second-placed van Gisbergen with his victory in Saturday’s opening sprint race.
SvG gutted as Kostecki makes another title move
Erebus Motorsport star Brodie Kostecki has extended his championship lead after converting from pole as his teammate and title challenger Will Brown suffered a costly blow when he was taken out in the opening sprint race at Tailem Bend.
A week after showcasing his talents in the United States when he made his NASCAR Cup Series debut in Indianapolis, Kostecki strengthened his standing in the Supercars title fight after claiming his fourth win for the year.
After he earlier claimed his fifth pole of 2023 — the most of any driver in the field — after blitzing his rivals in qualifying, Kostecki held off Ford pair Chaz Mostert and Thomas Randle to push his credentials as the man to beat in the battle for this year’s crown.
In a week when his Erebus teammate Brown’s defection to rivals Triple Eight was confirmed, Kostecki gave team boss Barry Ryan reason to smile again on a mixed day for the squad.
But it was a horror day for Brown, who was taken out on the opening lap and slipped from second to fourth in the championship standings.
Kostecki now holds an 80-point buffer in the drivers’ championship over Triple Eight’s Shane van Gisbergen, who benefited from Brown’s misfortune as he steered his Camaro home for a fifth-placed finish on a day when he continued to battle handling issues.
Despite getting beaten off the start line by Randle and Mostert, Kostecki did little wrong for the rest of the race, making strong passing moves and timing his compulsory pit stop to perfection to emerge at the front of the field.
“I made it a bit hard for myself, I didn’t get a very good jump off the start and Chaz and Tom got a good start, so I had to pass them both back,” Kostecki said.
“And just luckily this Coca-Cola Camaro had plenty of pace under its bonnet. I’m just proud of everyone at Erebus and it’s great to get the pole and the win today.
“It’s definitely very important to keep building that (championship) buffer, the team just executed today flawlessly and it’s days like today you will cherish forever and we will go back and celebrate this one and try and do it twice again tomorrow.”
Kostecki, who became the first driver to win with the series leader’s orange numbers on his car, finished ahead of a trio of Mustangs, with Cam Waters finishing fourth behind Mostert and Randle.
The result was Mostert’s fifth podium of the season as he continued to chase an elusive 2023 win, while Randle claimed his first podium as a solo driver in Supercars after finishing third as a co-driver at Sandown in 2019.
There was drama on the opening lap when the cars of Brown, Jack Smith and Cameron Hill were all taken out in a turn one incident, prompting a first-lap safety car and early race control investigation.
Brown, starting from eighth on the grid, was turned in a mid-pack battle coming out of turn one before Smith and Hill got caught up in collateral damage. But race control deemed there was no further action to be taken over the incident.
“It’s really disappointing … I try to avoid those situations as much as you can, but you can’t avoid those situations, it’s just a racing incident,” Brown said.
“So we’ll just have to press on for the rest of the week and try and bag some good points.”
Mostert, who had started the race from fifth, edged past Randle on lap 14 with a move the Tickford driver was not happy with, but race control deemed no action was to be taken.
The Walkinshaw Andretti United star hoped he was starting to find some form at the right time of the year.
“I didn’t have much for Brodie, he was super fast and really strong through turn five there and he could just be right on your tail for six where us other guys were all about the same through there,” Mostert said.
“It was a good battle with Randle and got on the inside and then I just had a little slide and a little rub and it’s good that he got third as well and obviously great for our team as well.
“Podiums are great at the moment, obviously the race pace was there or thereabouts … this is the time of year you want to get some momentum because we have got a pretty special race in October and if you can’t win the championship that’s the one you want to win.”
After qualifying in second place, Randle was thrilled with his career-best result.
“That was a lot of fun. We certainly didn’t have the pace of Brodie, he deserved that win,” Randle said.
“We just couldn’t quite stay in front of Chaz … but to get a top three is such an awesome result for the guys.”
Van Gisbergen lamented the ongoing handling issues he experienced with his Camaro, but thanked the team for its efforts to resolve the problem.
“We continued to have a few problems with our car today which was gutting,” the defending Supercars champion said.
“The guys work so hard, and I really want to give them credit for trying to get to the bottom of these issues, but they plagued us all day unfortunately.
“Although we got a decent haul of points in the end, I want to put today behind us and work with the guys to get to the bottom of these problems, so we can start fresh and have a better day tomorrow.”
There are two more sprint races at The Bend on Sunday.
WHINCUP WON’T RULE OUT RETURN FOR US BOUND SVG
Triple Eight team principal Jamie Whincup has not given up on the possibility of Shane van Gisbergen returning as a co-driver for the team in the Supercars enduros next year.
The Camaro squad this week confirmed it had agreed to free the Kiwi star from the final year of his contract in 2024 to allow him to pursue his NASCAR ambitions, signing Erebus driver Will Brown as his replacement on a three-year deal.
Whincup said Triple Eight would “love to have” the triple Supercars champion return as a co-driver for the team next year, but the prospect would hinge on the size of the Kiwi star’s racing program in the United States.
“There is certainly a chance, it’s a slim chance because I think he is planning a fairly big program over in the US,” Whincup said.
“There is certainly a chance he can come back, but it’s all just to be confirmed at this stage.
“He won’t really know until the end of this year, really, or early next year if he can make it happen or not.
“We’d love to have him back, we’ll just give him some time to work out what he’s going to do at his end.”
Trackhouse Racing, the team van Gisbergen made his two Cup Series starts for in Chicago and Indianapolis, is favoured to secure the New Zealand ace for his first year Stateside.
His schedule is likely to include limited Cup Series appearances alongside a more extensive program in either the second-tier Xfinity Series or third-tier Truck Series as he comes to grips with oval racing.
Van Gisbergen is a two-time Bathurst 1000 champion, having won the great race at Mount Panorama with Garth Tander in 2020 and 2022.
The New Zealand star will team with Richie Stanaway for his endurance campaign at the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 this year before his exit from Supercars.
Asked if there was any clause in van Gisbergen’s contract release to ensure he could only return as a co-driver for Triple Eight, Whincup said:
“No, I just assume he would want to drive here,” Whincup said.
“We haven’t even got to the enduros for next year at all yet, I’ve only just got over trying to work out who was going to drive it full-time for 2024.
“I think DJR (Dick Johnson Racing) tried to do it with Scotty (McLaughlin) as well, but they couldn’t quite make it work, but hopefully we can.
“Hopefully we can see them both back at some stage.”
LIFE AFTER SVG: WHO WILL BE NEW FACE OF SUPERCARS?
Shane van Gisbergen’s departure from Supercars will hurt the series in the short-term, but could ultimately benefit the sport by making more drivers household names, a sports marketing expert says.
Exclusive research figures have revealed Supercars will be losing its most popular driver among fans when van Gisbergen leaves the series at the end of 2023 to pursue his dream of racing in NASCAR in the United States.
In research compiled by Gemba, the New Zealand star emerged as the favourite driver among Supercars fans, both “casual fans” of the sport and the “hardcore fanatics”.
The triple Supercars champion (28 per cent) ranked well ahead of the next-most popular drivers – veteran Mark Winterbottom (13.5 per cent) and Chaz Mostert (11 per cent) – in the figures compiled at the end of the 2022 season.
It leaves a big hole in the series, which will now be searching for another driver to step up to become the face of Supercars.
Van Gisbergen has dominated to win the past two Supercars championships in 2021 and 2022 when he won a record 21 races.
Andrew Goodieson, The Head of Insights for Gemba, said the loss of a popular driver would initially “make an impact”, but the flow-on effect was it would provide a greater opportunity for more drivers to enhance their own profiles.
“It will hurt Supercars a little bit in the short-term just because he is such a recognisable face and he is such a drawcard for viewers because his performances are obviously world-class,” Goodieson said.
“I have this perspective that motorsport, as a whole – if it can get more eyeballs, Supercars benefits, so Shane going to NASCAR, Supercars fans are still going to follow him over there.
“Then the longer-term benefit is that more Australians are going to know more drivers as they have been hidden a bit because previously he has been so dominant, he was the only guy you really needed to know.
“He gets the most attention because he has been dominant over the past five years and he drives for the best team.
“It’s always bad that your best driver goes, but I think the sport and the drivers are in a really good spot that the hole that he will leave will give a lot of other drivers some opportunity to take stuff on.
“The fact you can spread that around and make more Supercars drivers become household names is a good thing.”
Ahead of van Gisbergen’s looming exit, the series appears well-placed to usher in a new champion this year.
Brodie Kostecki leads the driver standings ahead of his Erebus Motorsport teammate and van Gisbergen’s newly-signed Triple Eight replacement, Will Brown.
Van Gisbergen sits 54 points behind Kostecki in third place in his campaign to win a third straight Supercars title.
Asked if it had become more important for the sport to welcome a new champion this year now van Gisbergen was leaving, Goodieson said either way it would create a strong “storyline” for the series with a fairytale exit for the Kiwi ace – or his reign ending.
“Either way it is really well set up,” he said.
“He wins and has the fairytale finish or a new driver wins their first championship and (ends) five years of dominance from SvG and (now IndyCar star) Scott McLaughlin.
“Supercars in 2023 has had a bit of a change in their product, they have got a new image and new (Gen3) cars and Shane leaving is not going to fundamentally change the sport or the product.
“The investments in their marketing and drivers in the past couple of years has set them up to weather this pretty well and give greater visibility, greater investment and greater camera time to a much wider range of drivers which I think will benefit the sport longer term.”
Goodieson felt Supercars had a number of “very marketable drivers” who could step up to become the face of the sport.
He expected the fan bases of Chaz Mostert, Brown and Kostecki to all grow after van Gisbergen departs the series.
“From our research, Chaz … he is kind of the second-most popular driver. Chaz has a really strong following already, so he is probably the guy that would jump up to No.1,” he said.
“Will Brown has just been promoted to Red Bull, so he is going to get a lot more prominence in taking over SvG’s seat. He is really likeable, but now he has got a bigger platform to work with, so he will plug that gap.
“We track his asset power and some other metrics and just his presence through broadcast and sponsors, he is a really positive, friendly guy. A lot of fans have warmed to him, so he has done really well.
“Cam Waters has kind of been the perennial bridesmaid who had been around and popular for a while, but he definitely became more popular last year.
“The other one is Brodie Kostecki, he is currently leading the championship, having come from an over-achieving team at the moment but has got the driving creds that Shane has.
“He is a very similar driver and personality to Shane, so I think that he will quickly assert himself as one of the best drivers that we have seen.
“To get new fans in the door, you need drivers who are relevant and younger, you can’t just rely on the old guard to get new drivers in, particularly with how Formula 1 is going.”
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