Kostecki clinches championship as Waters wins Race 27

Erebus Motorsport’s Brodie Kostecki has won the Repco Supercars Championship in the opening race of the Vailo Adelaide 500 weekend, which was taken out by Cam Waters.

Kostecki qualified on pole position and was almost a certainty to clinch the title with a race to spare when Shane van Gisbergen crashed out after being unable to avoid an opening-lap hit with the other Erebus entry of Will Brown.

Needing only to finish to get the job done, he drove a relatively conservative race to bring the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro home in sixth position after 78 laps around the Adelaide Parklands Circuit.

Waters had passed Reynolds for the lead just past the halfway mark and, despite a charge from the Grove Racing driver after his second pit stop, it would be the #43 Tickford Racing taking victory by a margin of 0.6708s to the #26 Mustang.

Thomas Randle finished 15 seconds back in third spot in the #55 Tickford entry, from Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert, and Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Broc Feeney in the first of the Chevrolet Camaros.

Kostecki, who handed over fifth spot to Feeney with three laps to go, got home another 3.7s back in sixth, from Will Davison, James Courtney, Andre Heimgartner, and Scott Pye.

In the drivers’ championship, Kostecki is now 233 points up on van Gisbergen with 150 left on the table, although the championship victory will not be official until the conclusion of Race 28 tomorrow afternoon.

It is then that Erebus is likely to seal the teams’ championship also, given its lead over Triple Eight has only been snipped to 161 points with a total of 288 more on offer.

In a small positive for Triple Eight, Feeney has now moved up to third in the drivers’ championship at 102 points ahead of Brown.

The drama began even before Race 27 started when Cameron Hill failed to leave the grid and his #35 Truck Assist Camaro had to be pushed back into pit lane.

When the lights went out, Kostecki and fellow front row starter Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang) bumped on the run to Senna Chicane before the latter filed in behind for Turn 1.

Down at Turn 4, van Gisbergen’s championship points took a literal and metaphorical blow when he could not avoid heavy contact with Brown after the Erebus driver was bumped into the wall by Anton De Pasquale.

Neither Brown’s #9 Coca-Cola Camaro nor van Gisbergen’s #97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro made it back to the pits under their own steam and a Safety Car was called.

Kostecki led from Reynolds, Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang), De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang), Waters (#43 Monster Energy Mustang), Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang), James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro), Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro), Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang), and Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang), ahead of the Lap 6 restart.

Reynolds immediately attacked Kostecki and while he could not get by then, the championship leader offered little resistance when the Grove pilot outbraked him on Lap 15 at Turn 9.

It was a similar story five laps later when Randle put a move on Kostecki for second place at the end of Dequetteville Terrace.

Kostecki pitted from third place on Lap 22 before Randle peeled off from two seconds behind Reynolds on Lap 25.

The race leader was into the lane on Lap 29 and rejoined just ahead of Randle, although he had a battle on his hands to keep the #55 Mustang behind as they ran through the ‘Staircase’.

Waters pitted from the official lead on Lap 30 and rejoined just behind those two in third, as the opening pit stop cycle completed.

Kostecki was fourth having taken on an estimated 26 litres of the 100-litre drop, about the same as Reynolds and Randle, with Davison fifth from Feeney, Courtney, De Pasquale, Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro), and Mostert.

De Pasquale was soon on the slide down the order due to steering damage from the Lap 1 hit with Brown, before Mostert passed Heimgartner for eighth on Lap 35 at Turn 4.

Having been unable to usurp Reynolds, Randle looked to have been instructed to let Waters through when he left a big gap for the #43 Mustang at Turn 9 on Lap 37.

The Tickford switch did the track, with Waters catching Reynolds and then pulling off a pass at Turn 7 on Lap 41.

Reynolds would soon report a steering issue back to the Grove Racing bunker but was told to try and stick with Waters on the assumption that he would have a shorter fuel fill in his second stop.

Meanwhile, Kostecki continued to circulate in fourth, about five seconds back from the all-Mustang top three.

Randle took his second pit stop on Lap 48 then Kostecki on Lap 49.

Waters had pulled a couple of seconds clear of Reynolds when he pitted on Lap 52, causing the Grove pilot to turn the wick up ahead of his upcoming stop.

That came on Lap 54 and Reynolds rejoined side-by-side with Waters before he went through a wild ride over Senna Chicane and had to file in behind the #43 Mustang.

Mostert had inherited the official lead but stopped on Lap 55 and, try as he might, could not keep Feeney behind him on his out lap when he resumed in fifth position.

Mostert struck with Feeney, though, and reclaimed fifth position from the Triple Eight driver on Lap 58 at Turn 9.

That made for a top 10 of Waters, Reynolds, Randle, Kostecki, Mostert, Reynolds, Davison, Courtney, Heimgartner, and Scott Pye (#20 Toyota Forklifts Camaro), with 20 laps to go.

At the very front, Reynolds pushed himself and Waters into pace which was nearing qualifying territory, as he brought a gap of almost two seconds down to six tenths.

However, the tide then started to turn, with Waters restoring his margin to a full second on Lap 64 and two seconds on Lap 66.

Meanwhile, Mostert had gone down the inside of Kostecki on Lap 65 at Turn 9, with the champion-elect sidestepping any real battle for fourth position.

It was then Feeney catching Kostecki and he would close in on the rear of Car #99 just as it was issued a bad sportsmanship flag for breaches of track limits.

Again, Kostecki did not bother to fight when Feeney went for the inside line at Turn 9 on Lap 75, to take over fifth position.

At the very front, Reynolds was closing back in on Waters but the laps were rapidly running out, and the Tickford pilot looked to be cruising anyway.

In the end, the Race 25 winner denied the Race 26 winner in Race 27, making for two wins in three and three for the season to date for Waters.

The biggest celebrations, though, were for Kostecki and Erebus given they have won the Supercars Championship for the very first time.

De Pasquale ultimately took the finish two laps down in 21st.

Qualifying for Race 28 starts tomorrow at 10:15 local time/10:45 AEDT.

Results: Race 27, Vailo Adelaide 500

Drivers’ championship

Teams’ championship