Kostecki survives scare to win again at The Bend SuperSprint

Erebus Motorsport’s Brodie Kostecki has picked up a second straight Repco Supercars Championship race win in the OTR SuperSprint at The Bend.

Kostecki qualified second but emerged with the lead from the opening corners and was not headed again, in effective terms, during 20-lap encounter which was Race 21 of the season.

Despite a mechanical scare for the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro, he would win by 1.0687s over pole-sitter Thomas Randle in Tickford Racing’s #55 Castrol Mustang.

Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) snatched the final podium position with a last-lap pass of Penrite Racing’s David Reynolds (#26 Mustang).

Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen hung on for fifth despite apparently scarring a tyre on the #97 Camaro, with rookie Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang) 0.1887s adrift of him at the chequered flag.

With Kostecki also collecting the fastest lap points, his championship lead is out to 111 points over van Gisbergen.

When the start lights went out, Randle and Kostecki made somewhat even launches from the front row but the latter prevailed courtesy of the inside line at Turn 2.

Van Gisbergen took up third, from Payne, Reynolds, Mostert, Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang), Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI Mustang), Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s Camaro), and Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang).

Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro) went for a dive at the Turn 6 hairpin but locked up and hit Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang), who consequently cannoned into Davison, causing all three to spin.

Waters and Le Brocq, the latter of whom was clipped by Jack Smith (#4 SCT Logistics Camaro) as he sat stricken, retreated to their respective garages due to left-rear toe link damage, while Davison came to have his passenger door flapping.

Fullwood dropped two spots when he was off the road at Turn 1 on Lap 2, promoting Brown and Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro), while Race Control issued a drive-through penalty to Le Brocq shortly after he and Waters resumed.

Randle tailed Kostecki initially but slipped to 0.9s in arrears by the time he took his compulsory pit stop on Lap 8.

Kostecki and Payne peeled off a lap later, the former resuming just ahead of Randle but the latter behind team-mate Reynolds, who had stopped four laps earlier.

Reynolds crystallised another position gained when van Gisbergen pitted from the official lead on Lap 10, taking rears as everyone else had done, and resumed just behind the #26 Mustang.

Mostert and Feeney stopped on Lap 11, the former rejoining between Payne and De Pasquale, as Kostecki continued to hold the effective lead by a small margin over Randle.

However, all was not well for the #99 Camaro, with a report from pit lane of some unspecified steering issue.

When Scott Pye (#20 BP Ultimate Camaro) pitted at the end of Lap 14, Kostecki reassumed the official lead by a margin of 0.6s over Randle, from Reynolds, van Gisbergen, Mostert, Payne, De Pasquale, Fullwood, Brown, Feeney, and Heimgartner in 11th.

Brown put Fullwood under pressure before he was forced to look in his mirrors at the #88 Camaro of his future team-mate.

Feeney got down the inside of Brown at Turn 17 on Lap 17 and made the move, with Heimgartner following him through at the next left-hander.

Meanwhile, van Gisbergen was all over Reynolds until he locked a brake into the Turn 6 hairpin on Lap 18 and the 2022 champion would instead cede fourth position to Mostert, six corners later.

Kostecki led by 1.1179s with a lap to go and made no mistake in the final 4.95km, while Mostert went down the inside of Reynolds at Turn 1.

A few seconds back, van Gisbergen came under big pressure from Payne but was able to keep his compatriot at bay in the fight for fifth position.

Rounding out the top 10 were De Pasquale, Fullwood, Feeney, and Heimgartner, with James Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang) 11th, from Percat and Brown.

Davison ended up 22nd, Waters finished a lap down in 24th, and Le Brocq was classified a finisher in 25th at four laps down.

The final 20-lap race of the weekend officially starts at 15:50 local time/16:20 AEST.

Full Race 21 results here.

Drivers’ championship

Teams’ championship