Kostecki win under a cloud after dramatic Supercars Race 5 at AGP

Erebus Motorsport’s Brodie Kostecki has picked up his second Repco Supercars Championship race win in as many days at the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint, pending a post-race investigation.

Kostecki had qualified the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro on pole position and led all 11 laps which constituted Race 5 of the season, at Albert Park, although he is now under investigation for a potential unsafe release.

On the road, Dick Johnson Racing’s Will Davison and Brad Jones Racing’s Bryce Fullwood rounded out the podium but both would be issued 15-second post-race penalties for unsafe releases in the late pit stop cycle.

Shane van Gisbergen (#97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) therefore inherits second place and Will Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro) third for now, with Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) reclassified 11th and Fullwood (#14 Middy’s Camaro) 12th.

That was far from the only drama, with another fire, this time in the James Courtney Ford Mustang, and three further DNFs due to two separate incidents.

Qualifying produced an Erebus front row lockout and Kostecki duly led team-mate Brown away when the lights went out for race start, with Fullwood retaining third.

Just behind, James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro) and Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) lost position when they made contact and became unsettled through Turn 1/Turn 2, before the former had another coming-together, this time with more severe consequences.

Golding and Mark Winterbottom bumped side-to-side through Turn 5 and the latter slapped the wall, causing significant damage to the #18 DeWalt Camaro.

Winterbottom was able to get back to pit lane but a Safety Car was called on Lap 2 for another incident at Turn 5.

Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro), van Gisbergen, and Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) were fighting over fifth position through the Lakeside Stadium car park, which bottled up the chasing pack.

Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang) made contact which caused Macauley Jones (#96 Pizza Hut Camaro) to get loose and he in turn tagged De Pasquale.

Jones and De Pasquale both crunched the barriers, while Payne would be issued a drive-through penalty for a driving infringement.

Meanwhile, for the second time in as many days, a car retreated to the pit lane with a fire from the left-front corner, this time the #5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang of Tickford Racing’s Courtney.

Under Safety Car, Kostecki led Brown, Fullwood, Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang), Golding, Heimgartner, van Gisbergen, Mostert, Payne, and Tim Slade (#23 Nulon Camaro), ahead of a restart on Lap 6.

Van Gisbergen dived past Heimgartner at Turn 3, then did the same on Golding on Lap 7.

A lap later again, Heimgartner looked to do similar to Golding, taking both deep into the corner, and then the three-wide squeeze created when Mostert attempted to capitalised saw Golding turned around at Turn 4.

Only De Pasquale and Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) had started on hard tyres and while the latter was in as soon as the pit stop window opened, the bulk of the stops started the bulk of the pit stops began on Lap 9, with Brown first among that bunch into the lane.

With time-certainty looming, it became clear that not all 13 scheduled laps would be run, and the rest thus took their pit stop at the end of Lap 10.

There was apparent contact between Fullwood and Declan Fraser (#56 Tradie Mustang) in the lane, then again when Davison was released into the path of Fullwood.

In doing so, Davison also ploughed into a Triple Eight Race Engineering wheel and sent it flying towards the Formula 1 pit lane.

He emerged in second place, behind Kostecki, for the 11th and final lap, but would not keep it due to the penalty.

As it stands, the top 10 is Kostecki, van Gisbergen, Brown, Mostert, Heimgartner, Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro), Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) from 21st on the grid, Slade, Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang), and Waters, while Golding got home in 19th and Payne 21st.

Van Gisbergen scored the fastest lap bonus point while Kostecki, assuming his win stands, is now just one point behind Mostert at the top of the championship.

Race 6 of the Supercars Championship season, the fourth and final encounter of the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix weekend, starts tomorrow at 10:25 local time/AEST.

Results: Race 5, Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint Updated

Fastest lap (bonus): Shane van Gisbergen, 1:47.7016, Lap 8