Supercars 2023: All the news and race reports from the Darwin Triple Crown

Erebus Motorsport’s drivers are leading the Supercars series and owner Betty Klimenko believes this can be attributed to one thing – “nappies off, big boy pants on”.

Erebus Motorsport owner Betty Klimenko is confident her series-leading drivers Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown are ready to take their title fight “the whole way” this year after donning their “big boy pants” in the Supercars championship.

Describing the Erebus squad’s impressive start to the sport’s new Gen3 era as “amazing”, Klimenko admitted the squad’s performances had exceeded all of her own expectations.

Erebus has emerged as a serious championship contender after the opening four rounds with Kostecki and Brown sitting first and second in the drivers’ standings.

As the series heads to the top-end for the Darwin Triple Crown this weekend, Erebus is coming off a dominant round in Tasmania where Brown won two of the three sprint races, Kostecki bagged two podiums and the team swept every pole position in their Chevrolet Camaros.

(Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)

Klimenko, who has taken a step back from team operations, was on the ground for her first event of the year at Symmons Plains to witness the squad’s success first-hand.

And she was adamant the team could continue its strong form to challenge for this year’s crown.

“If you had asked me that six months ago (about how we would go) I would have given you a whole story about young kids and how they do the best they can, but what they have shown so far this year is amazing,” Klimenko said.

“Even though it is my own team and I hoped they would have done well, I don’t think I could have foretold what has happened.

“I have been in a position where I have been sitting in the garage watching Red Bull walk up to get their trophies and their firsts and their seconds …. sitting there thinking to myself ‘One day, that will be our team’ and now it’s there.

“I think the boys are ready, I think they are ready to take it the whole way.”

Having confirmed their status as rising stars of the sport, Klimenko said Kostecki and Brown had repaid the team’s faith in heavily investing in a pair of rookie drivers.

Kostecki and Brown are both in their third full-time season with Erebus after making their main game debuts in 2021.

Klimenko revealed she had originally wanted to sign a “seasoned” driver before the team settled on the young pair, but thanked team principal Barry Ryan for talking “me out of it”.

“When we signed Will … I had wanted to take on someone who was seasoned and it was literally for the points to get back up the garage ladder,” Klimenko said.

“But then Barry talked me out of it, which I thank him very much (for). And the same thing when Brodie came along, it was a case of ‘Really, you want to go to two rookies? You know that means two or three years of sitting at the back of the grid or mid-pack if we are lucky’.

“But that never happened …. to put our faith in the two young ones paid off in the end.

“They know that we took a big chance and they know that they are now paying that chance back. At the end of last year I said ‘OK, nappies off, big boy pants on’. I remember saying that to both of them and they have definitely put their big boy pants on this year.”

Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown in Hobart. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)

Klimenko believed Kostecki and Brown’s relatively short time racing in Supercars had been their trump card for the start of the Gen3 era.

“It was good for Brodie and Will, they have only had a very short time in Supercars and because we changed (to Gen3), there is really not a lot of muscle memory that has to change,” Klimenko said.

“And I think for a lot of the younger ones, that’s their ace in the hole is that they have not been doing the same thing, year in, year out with the same cars.

“They’ve only been doing it for a short time so for them, this is a new car, they learn it quickly.”

BATHURST VILLAIN BACK FROM SUPERCARS HELL

Zane Goddard feels he has emerged as a “stronger person” after dealing with the fallout from the multi-car smash he sparked at the Bathurst 1000 last year as he attempts to reignite his Supercars career in a Triple Eight wildcard, starting at Darwin Triple Crown this weekend.

Confident he still belongs on the Supercars grid as a full-time driver, Goddard revealed he had to go “MIA” from social media for a couple of months after the 2022 Bathurst race to keep away from the barrage he received for his part in the early-race carnage.

Goddard, who had been co-driving for Tickford Racing’s James Courtney, came under heavy fire after wiping out three cars from the race at Mount Panorama last October.

The 23-year-old speared off the track at the bottom of the Chase and collected Andre Heimgartner’s co-driver Dale Wood and Matt Campbell (David Reynolds) when he rejoined the field and later apologised for the shunt, for which he copped a $10,000 fine (half-suspended) by the race stewards for an unsafe re-join.

Goddard earned the wrath of some sections of the paddock, but defending Supercars champion – and now T8 teammate – Shane van Gisbergen said earlier this month the young Queenslander had been “unfairly smashed” over the incident.

As he prepares to kickstart a three-event wildcard campaign in a Triple Eight Camaro at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway, Goddard said the Bathurst episode had made him stronger and determined to prove he still belonged in Supercars.

Zane Goddard will team up with Craig Lowndes for this year’s Supercars endurance races.

“It was very rough, (it was) definitely not an enjoyable period of my life,” Goddard said of the Bathurst fallout.

“But I feel like I have come out stronger from it all and know the people that do have my back and the people who are the ones that are going to be there when it does go wrong.

“I have got a good group of people behind me and around me so on that side it was good.

“I definitely learned some lessons and I definitely feel like a stronger person, and hopefully that shows in my racing and how I go about it.”

Goddard, who previously raced for Matt Stone Racing in 2020-21, said he was forced to tune out from the online noise after Bathurst, but felt he made the most of an “average situation”.

“I went MIA for a couple of months for sure. I didn’t bother going on any (social media) or looking at any of that stuff, which is good, to be honest,’ Goddard said.

“It was sort of refreshing in a way. Although it was a pretty average situation, it did have its positives and there are definitely things that I can take away from that.

“It has definitely improved who I am and my outlook on stuff. It wasn’t the worst thing, obviously there would be nicer ways to come to those realisations and have those learnings.

“I have processed it and forgot about a lot of it and I feel like I am in a pretty good place, and I am really enjoying racing and just loving getting in the car again.”

Goddard will race the Supercheap Auto wildcard at the Darwin Triple Crown this weekend and alongside V8 great Craig Lowndes for the two endurances races, at Sandown and Bathurst.

Zane Goddard skids out of control across the track at Bathurst. Picture: Fox Sports

This weekend’s Darwin round marks the first time Goddard has raced in a solo entry since the end of the 2021 championship, but he is hoping to use his wildcard campaign as a springboard to a return as a full-time driver next year.

“The past two drivers to compete in the Supercheap wildcard have gone on to full-time (seats), obviously Broc (Feeney) with Triple Eight and Declan (Fraser) with Tickford (Racing), so they want to make it three from three,” Goddard said.

“It is definitely a goal (to get back full-time) and they have given me the best possible opportunity to do that.

“Three rounds, one by myself and two enduros, with the strongest team and a great car. Everything on my car is the same as the other Triple Eight cars, it’s one big team.

“It’s the best possible opportunity to try and get back in. I am definitely going to try and make the most of it, I don’t want to let the opportunity slip, it’s not every day you get this chance.

“I just want to take it with both hands and really make the most of it.

“I feel like I should be in a grid in a full-time capacity, I feel like I can do it. Hopefully on the weekend I can prove that.”

Originally published as Supercars 2023: All the news and race reports from the Darwin Triple Crown