Kurt Kostecki says he won’t rush a full-time graduation to the Supercars Championship next season after his two outings with Team 18.
After just eight Dunlop Series event starts, Kostecki was thrust into the main series for Townsville and Ipswich under a deal to supply his ex-Triple Eight chassis to Charlie Schwerkolt’s crash-hit squad.
Team 18 will have its own new car built by the next event at Sydney Motorsport Park, where Karl Reindler is scheduled to drive before teaming up with a returning Lee Holdsworth for the enduros.
Kostecki endured a rough run through his two events with the team, crashing in both races in Townsville before chalking up 23rd and 21st place finishes at Ipswich.
The 18-year-old will now return to the Dunlop Series for the next round at Sandown, looking to improve on his previous best finish of fourth.
“It was more than I expected,” Kostecki told Speedcafe.com of stepping up to the top tier.
“I really underrated what it was going to be like racing in the long races and things like that.
“The biggest thing for me was trying to be on it every single lap. You can dump time so much easier than you can gain it.
“In the DVS (Dunlop Series) you can get away with it here and there but in this you lose time and can’t make it back.
“I wish I could start Townsville all over again with what I’ve learnt.
“Working with these guys (Team 18) really helped me develop as a driver just by using what they know to get more out of me with my feedback.
“They know what questions to ask to make me really think about what the car is doing.”
Kostecki says there’s still a chance his own team will run a wildcard at Bathurst, while he also isn’t ruling out appearing in one of the few vacant seats remaining on the enduro grid.
He however stresses the need to do the right thing by Triple Eight, who he works for full-time as a mechanic.
Regardless of whether he appears in the two-driver races this year, Kostecki is adamant that a full-time graduation next season would be premature.
“I’ll definitely need another year of DVS,” he said.
“Hopefully a co-drive can be on the cards as well, that’s the goal, but I just want to keep chipping away in the DVS.
“I’m glad I’ve learnt what it takes to drive in these cars so I can just work on that back in the DVS.
“That’s been the plan all along and I don’t see it changing.”
The youngster garnered unwanted attention at Ipswich when he baulked Mark Winterbottom in qualifying – a mistake that saw him publicly lambasted by the reigning champion and Prodrive boss Tim Edwards.
In the immediate aftermath of the near-miss, Edwards called for a licensing system to be implemented to prevent the likes of Kostecki from graduating to the top tier so quickly.
Not to be intimidated, Kostecki admitted fault for the incident but took umbrage at accusations that he posed a safety risk to other drivers.
“I didn’t really appreciate what they had to say about me, which is why I didn’t go down and say anything to them,” he said.
“I do apologise, I was in the wrong, it was my fault, but whinging like that won’t get anyone anywhere.
“They act like they’d never made a mistake in their lives. I would have thought that someone of Mark’s calibre would have more understanding of what I’m going through.
“He went through it (being a rookie) and everyone else has been supportive.
“They go on about safety but in the end if it didn’t affect them they wouldn’t have said a thing.
“Whinging and jumping up and down like that won’t get anyone anywhere.”
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