Kostecki pips van Gisbergen in Newcastle 500 Practice 3

Erebus Motorsport’s Brodie Kostecki has pipped Shane van Gisbergen to practice honours on the opening day of the Thrifty Newcastle 500.

Kostecki spent much of the third and final 45-minute practice session for the Repco Supercars Championship field on top and would reclaim the ascendancy just before the chequered flag with a 1:11.4068s in the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro.

That effort beat the 1:11.4625s set by Triple Eight Race Engineering’s van Gisbergen moments earlier, after the 2022 champion had regrouped from a reported gearbox selection issue on the lap prior in the #97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro.

Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert put a Ford in the top three at just 0.0760s off the pace on a late 1:11.4828s in the #25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang, with the top five on the opening day of Gen3 competition rounded out by PremiAir Racing Chevrolet duo, Tim Slade and James Golding.

Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro) was fastest in Practice 1 and fifth-quickest in Practice 2, then back on top early in the third session on a 1:12.1413s and then a 1:12.1270s.

Kostecki reset the very fastest lap of the weekend when he clocked a 1:11.6160s in an early run, and was still more than two tenths better when Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro) went to a 1:11.8478s just before the quarter-hour mark.

WAU’s Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI Mustang) moved to second on a 1:11.7882s in the 21st minute, just prior to Kostecki taking ownership of the second-fastest lap of the day also, setting a 1:11.6802s.

Shortly beyond the half-hour mark, Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) took up second place with a 1:11.7682s, minutes before Will Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro) gave the tyre barriers a harmless nudge at Turn 8 while trying to catch a mid-corner moment.

With just over five minutes to go, new PremiAir driver Slade vaulted to the top with a 1:11.5649s in the #400 Nulon Camaro, then team-mate Golding went third on a 1:11.6898s.

Van Gisbergen reported a gearbox gremlin back to the Triple Eight bunker with a couple of minutes to go and while he aborted one lap, he went fastest on the next one.

Mostert then went second but Kostecki snipped 0.0557s from #97’s benchmark to claim Friday bragging rights at the Newcastle East Street Circuit.

Percat ended up sixth on a 1:11.7275s, from Davison, Team 18’s Scott Pye (#20 Hino Camaro), and Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang), the latter of whom was on to improve on his final lap before he put in a slow final sector.

Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) rounded out the top 10 at 0.5067s off the pace, with Brown 12th, Heimgartner 13th, and Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) 16th on a 1:12.0274s which was only 0.6206s slower than Kostecki’s best effort.

The next session, starting tomorrow at 11:15 local time/AEDT represents the first time Gen3 cars will qualify, with a Top 10 Shootout to follow later in the day.

Results: Practice 3