Erebus was a powerhouse in 2023, then team-mates Brown and Kostecki combining to secure the teams’ title for the first time, while Kostecki won his maiden drivers’ crown.
Brown was also a race winner and title contender in the first half of the season before drifting out of contention as the year wore on – his dip in form coincidentally occurring after an impending move to Triple Eight was announced.
Reflecting on the breakthrough year in a recent episode of the Apex Hunters United podcast, Brown outlined how Kostecki’s expectations of the team contributed to its success.
“We worked so well together there and we’re still great mates,” Brown told host and enduro co-driver Scott Pye.
“And we pushed that team. Brodie did a fantastic job last year to lift the team.
“His expectation to how his car had to arrive at the track was high, higher than mine, even. If it showed up with dirt on it or anything like that, he was like, ‘you didn’t look at that spot. You have to lift your level of that because if it’s shown up dirty, you haven’t cleaned it, you haven’t checked there’.
“I had a lot of respect for him from that way, and the team had a lot of respect for him as well.
“Like, he didn’t go about in a bad way, but he let him know the standard that he expected. And that made me better in some ways.
“I probably dumbed him down in some ways. He was probably a bit angrier when we first became team-mates, I probably pulled him back a bit there. We got along well and he probably boosted me up in certain areas.”
The success did come at a cost for Erebus, with Brown breaking contract to shift to T8 for 2024, while Kostecki sat out the first two rounds of the season after a falling out with Erebus senior management.
He has since returned to the team with competitive outings in New Zealand and Perth, however without the dominant pace seen the previous year.
Brown, who leads the standings for the Red Bull squad, reckons Kostecki is still at a race-winning standard, and that Erebus needs to “step up” after a rocky start to the year.
“I think he’s still at the standard though, to be honest. I think he can still win races right now,” said Brown.
“I think New Zealand, what he did there… I think that they need to step up as a group after what has happened. As in, you know, Brodie can’t just get them back here just by him coming back.
“You know what I mean? It can’t be expected that, ‘oh, Brodie’s back, we’re gonna win.’ A lot’s happened there.”
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