Australian Grand Prix 2023 Supercars results: Brodie Kostecki claims win, Nick Percat’s car on fire

Broken grid lights, a Mustang engulfed in flames with the driver still inside and a safety car marathon were just some of the incidents which has turned the latest Supercars race upside down.

Brodie Kostecki rode a seven-lap safety car to his maiden Supercars checkered flag in bizarre circumstances at Albert Park on Friday.

Broken grid lights, devilish gravel traps and a flaming Mustang dominated the narrative just two tours into the 15-lapper in Melbourne — but by half race length it was Erebus Motorsport ace Kostecki who was declared Race 4 victor.

When Jack Le Brocq found the wall on lap seven it was enough for stewards to call an early end to the second race of the Melbourne SuperSprint, which threw an entire round’s worth of surprises at the grid all at once.

The drama started on the lap to grid with the lights refusing to work, forcing officials to return to the old flag drop method to begin the race.

Will Brown stole a march on pole-sitter Shane van Gisbergen to reach turn one in the lead, but that was all the competitive driving to be had as the Penrite car of David Reynolds went flying into the gravel near the back of the field.

A safety car was deployed and while the drivers slowly lapped Albert Park, further disaster struck.

Walkinshaw Andretti United star Nick Percat’s No.2 Ford Mustang spontaneously caught fire under the hood and he was quickly ushered to the side of the track to be met with fire extinguishers.

Brodie Kostecki wins race 2 of the Melbourne SuperSprint.

Percat joked about “finding the black cat” such had been his run of bad luck; in-part referencing a similar set of circumstances four years earlier when his car caught fire in pit line during a race in Townsville.

“I know what I have on clothing wise I’m going to be safe, I don’t know what happened,” Percat told Fox Sports.

“I thought I could smell something down the back straight, maybe the exhaust or something.

“Next thing I’m like ‘oh my god I’m on fire’.”

Flames can be seen at the front wheel of Nick Percat's Mustang as he heads to the pits.

With Percat safe but his day over, driving resumed and Kostecki emerged from a five-wide race at the restart to retake the lead.

The chaos continued as cars began to enter the pits for their mandated stops and the race order was thrown into turmoil, compounded by Le Brocq coming together with the wall which brought out the second safety car.

Race control decided it had seen enough and relayed its decision to end the race under the safety car, handing Kostecki his maiden Supercars Championship victory in truly bizarre circumstances.

“It’s definitely good to tick it off the bucket list but it would have been nice to go the full distance,” Kostecki said of his first checkered flag.

Fire extinguishers are used to put of the fire in Nick Percat's Mustang.

The interior of Nick Percat's Mustang is filled with smoke.

“When I was told (the race was) time certain I knew we would be pitting on the last lap and obviously the safety car came out at the end there (to end the race).”

In all the carnage it was the Snowy Rivers Mustang of James Courtney that made its way into P2 by the time the second safety car was deployed, while van Gisbergen followed the procession home for third.

Courtney was later handed a 30-second penalty for his involvement in sending Reynolds into the gravel trap on the opening lap.

That dropped the veteran from second to 22nd and installed van Gisbergen as runner-up, with the second Red Bull of Broc Feeney rising to the third step of the podium.

PremiAir Racing driver James Golding crossed the line 10th but was later hit with a 15-second penalty for an unsafe release and he tumbled down the order to 21.

“Firstly congrats to Brodie on his first win and (to) his team, that’s awesome,” van Gisbergen said.

“For me as well, I could have sent it at turn five (during the race) but I was a bit concerned — I really need to score every point I can now and we’re doing that.

“The guy leading (Mostert) was a bit behind us and that’s good, we’ve just got to keep scoring the points and clawing back the ones that got taken off us.”

Van Gisbergen’s comments came after he won the opening race of the Melbourne SuperSprint on Thursday, drawing him ever-closer to the early series leaders after the reigning champion had his season-opening Newcastle win ripped from his hands via a controversial disqualification.

The Supercars action continues on Saturday with back-to-back qualifying sessions from 9.05am, before the third race of the weekend at 5.25pm.