Boost Mobile’s sponsorship of Supercars’ pole position award created headlines earlier this year when select drivers refused to wear the sponsor hat due to conflicting telco deals.
Three drivers were given dispensation not to wear it as part of a peace deal between Supercars and Boost that included a reduction in the sponsorship money.
Kostecki’s relationship with Boost has been a little more complicated; the driver dramatically splitting with the brand amid his sudden return to Erebus Motorsport in April.
The divorce appeared a messy one, with outspoken Boost boss Peter Adderton alleging Kostecki had been ordered by Erebus to remove the company’s logos from his helmet.
Initially celebrating his Bathurst pole and conducting a TV interview wearing a Chiko hat, Kostecki eventually swapped to the Boost example when its CEO Jason Haynes stepped in.
Haynes told Speedcafe that he was pleased to see Kostecki wear the hat but expressed frustration at how the process played out.
“First and foremost, stoked to see Brodie get pole. It was well deserved,” he said.
“While he’s currently not a Boost ambassador, we’re still friends and it’s always good to see a friend win. For Brodie to take the $15,000 and win the Top 10 Shootout is amazing.
“In the end, the hat dance kind of came up. In my mind the team didn’t do the right thing, Supercars didn’t enforce what the rules are, but Brodie did the right thing.
“Brodie put the hat on, I didn’t know it was my job to give it to him, but Brodie did the right thing, and he wore the hat.
“I think at the end of the day he deserves the $15,000. Brodie will probably decide to share it with everyone else, but that’s up to him.”
Haynes wants Supercars to be stricter in its post-qualifying process, which featured a new celebration area at the end of pit lane at Bathurst this year.
“I think obviously there just needs to be some stricter guidelines around teams and stricter follow-through,” he said.
“We’ve invested into it and have rights as well with our sponsorship. There’s a few people excluded from that for obvious reasons, but Brodie is not one of them.
“I’m glad he wore the hat and I’m glad he won.”
Broc Feeney and David Reynolds, who both have personal deals with Vodafone, and Optus-backed driver Chaz Mostert are all exempt from wearing the Boost hat.
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