Brown wins, Kostecki 23rd in Race 10 at Symmons Plains

Will Brown has won Race 10 at Symmons Plains while Repco Supercars Championship-leading team-mate Brodie Kostecki could only manage 23rd after incurring early crash damage.

Kostecki was but one victim in an incident on Lap 3 which involved several cars, and had to pit in order to repair steering arm damage after the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro was put into the fence.

Worse befell his nearest championship rival from pre-race, that being Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert, who was a DNF altogether when he got spun around just behind the Erebus Motorsport driver.

Brown, however, effectively led all 42 laps in the opening race of the Ned Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint, with Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner finishing second at 0.6856s back in the #8 R&J Batteries Camaro.

Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen bagged the final place on the podium with a last lap pass of Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters, who was the first Ford Mustang driver home.

In the drivers’ championship, Kostecki now leads by 74 points, from van Gisbergen, Brown, and Mostert.

At the start, Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro) and Jack Le Brocq (#34 Camaro) made fairly even getaways from the front row, with the former prevailing on the inside line at Turn 2, while Kostecki assumed third and Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) fourth.

Kostecki got a run on Le Brocq on Lap 2 and while he could not complete the move at Turn 6 or Turn 7, he was able to hang tough over the Turn 1 hump and finally prise second place from the Truck Assist Racing driver at Turn 2.

However, when they next arrived at Brambles Hairpin, Le Brocq made front-to-rear contact which put Kostecki wide and set off carnage.

As Kostecki tried to recover, his #99 Camaro copped a glancing blow from Waters which put it into the fence on drivers’ right while, just behind, Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) turned Mostert into the embankment on drivers’ left.

Kostecki and Mostert were both into pit lane, with the former eventually resuming five laps down after repairs for steering arm damage, while the latter was a retirement due to a consequent steering rack failure in the #25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang, although Race Control would announce no further action over any of the drama.

Back on the race track, Brown skipped two seconds clear as a result of those clashes, with Waters second, from Heimgartner, Cameron Hill (#35 Truck Assist Camaro), Le Brocq, and van Gisbergen (#97 Camaro).

Van Gisbergen passed Le Brocq for fifth at Turn 6 on Lap 4 and repeated the move on the other Matt Stone Racing driver, Hill, eight laps later.

Waters had closed the gap to Brown to 1.0s before drifting back to 1.6s in arrears when he pitted on Lap 21 and was followed into the lane by Heimgartner.

Tickford Racing changed rears on the #6 Mustang and Brad Jones Racing working side tyres on the #8 Camaro, with the latter able to jump the former in the stop.

Erebus responded by calling Brown in for sides on Lap 22 and he resumed ahead of Heimgartner and Waters, as van Gisbergen assumed the official lead.

The latter pressed on until Lap 27, at which point Triple Eight Race Engineering changed rears and the 2022 champion rejoined behind Waters and hence in an unchanged effective position of fourth.

When the pit cycle washed out at the end of Lap 29, Brown was 1.3s up on Heimgartner and another 1.1s up on Waters, with van Gisbergen several seconds further back, then Scott Pye (#20 East Coast Car Rentals Camaro), James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro), Le Brocq, Tim Slade (#23 Nulon Camaro), Hill, and Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang).

Heimgartner pegged back Brown’s lead, which stood at or just under one second for several laps, although the New Zealander never got quite close enough to seriously threaten.

Van Gisbergen caught Waters with two laps two go and then, on the very last lap, put a criss-cross manoeuvre on the Tickford driver at Brambles which gave him the run up the back straight and an easy pass at Turn 6.

Behind them, Pye got home in fifth, from Slade, Le Brocq, Hill, Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI Mustang), and Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang).

Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) drove to 11th from 20th and Dick Johnson Racing team-mate Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) to 13th from 22nd, with Feeney 18th after losing ground in the Lap 3 incident.

Kostecki finished six laps down and Tickford’s James Courtney was classified 24th at another lap off the pace.

He had a side-to-aside bump with Team 18’s Mark Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro) on Lap 1 which sent him off-road at Turn 6 and into the tyre wall, causing steering damage.

Qualifying for Race 11 and Qualifying for Race 12 will be held tomorrow from 09:50 local time/AEST.

Full Race 10 results here.

Drivers’ championship

Teams’ championship