Tickford Racing Team Principal Tim Edwards has suggested James Moffat’s run-in with Brodie Kostecki was decisive in missing out on another Great Race victory.

While battling for the effective race lead on Lap 46, Moffat (#6 Ford Mustang) got turned around at The Cutting by Kostecki (#99 Erebus Motorsport).

Moffat slammed Kostecki for “driving like a dickhead”, while the tangle put the car the former shares with Cameron Waters on the back foot.

The incident was investigated post-race, though no further action was taken.

Waters was able to pass Kostecki in the final stint to claim third position, the Mildura driver having fallen short of a race win in the Mount Panorama enduro for the third year in a row.

Edwards told Speedcafe.com: “Whether we could have held off [race winner, Shane van Gisbergen], who would know?

“But we wouldn’t have been in that position if not for what happened with getting turned around.

“We had good car speed, But we had to cash in all our chips; we had to do short filling, we had to do all those creative things that you might have done towards the end of the race to improve your position.

“[That] left us no scope to do anything different at the end just to get ourselves back in the race.

“The guys did an amazing job to do that; both the drivers did a great job driving wise but we just had to do everything we could to get ourselves back in the race.”

Edwards unloaded on Kostecki, saying he was “dumbfounded” the Erebus driver didn’t get a penalty.

“I think he’s an imbecile; that’s probably the politest way I could put it,” he said.

“I mean, that is not a corner you overtake; it just simply isn’t.

“Whether he got a penalty or not, it doesn’t get us back into the race, but I mean, that potentially cost us the win.

“The reality is, that was a race of track position, and we lost 35 seconds and 15 positions through his idiotic mistake.

“He’s still an imbecile that tried to pass on a corner that you can’t pass on.

“It just isn’t; never been done, doesn’t work.”

Asked for his view on the incident, Kostecki replied “just don’t turn in”.

When Kostecki’s comment was put to Edwards, he added, “where else was Moff supposed to go? That’s even more stupid.

“If that’s actually what he thinks, he’s an even bigger idiot.

“Because, there is no second line around there; you can’t give way to somebody.”

Edwards drew contrast with an incident a few hundred metres back down the road, 15 laps later.

Then, one of his drivers, Jake Kostecki, was hit with a 15-second penalty for turning Greg Murphy around at Griffins Bend.

“At Turn 2, where Murph and Jake came together, it’s Murphy’s right not to, but he could have actually opened it [steering] up, and they could have gone around there,” the Tickford boss added.

“There is no two lanes around [The Cutting]. So [Brodie Kostecki’s] a f***ing imbecile.”