Larkham: Erebus would be worthy champions

Erebus Motorsport and Brodie Kostecki would be worthy Supercars champions in 2023, according to Mark Larkham.

Kostecki is in the box seat to win the Repco Supercars Championship title for the first time given he takes a 131-point lead, over Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Shane van Gisbergen, into this weekend’s Vailo Adelaide 500 season finale.

Furthermore, Erebus is on top of the teams’ championship at 170 points to the good relative to Triple Eight.

While the 2017 Bathurst 1000 victory is undoubtedly its standout achievement at least for now, and while it won multiple races in 2018 as well as in 2023, it is this year that the Barry Ryan-led squad has established itself as the team to beat.

According to Larkham, who has observed the progression of Erebus as a pit lane reporter, the team would deserve its gongs if it does indeed clinch them this weekend in Adelaide.

Hear more from Larkham on this week’s Speedcafe Newscast, below

“Very worthy [driver] and team,” he told host Mark Fogarty in this week’s Speedcafe Newscast.

“I’ve watched that team up close develop from a bunch of very young people, particularly those out on the pit lane, under pressure in pit stops.

“We all saw it over years, making lots of mistakes; we saw Barry copping a hammering…

“I really like Barry; I like his no-bullshit approach to stuff, I just do – in a world that’s gone way too soft – and I think now we should stand back and just pay that team some credit.

“Because, to watch them function on the lane now and get their pit stops right, the strategies right, the engineering of the cars right… That’s the stuff that we don’t see and that’s the really, really hard stuff in our game.

“Then when you put that up against Triple eight and the might of their engineering prowess and people, that’s no mean feat.

“Brodie then, as the driver and a ripping good guy, that’s why I’d love him to win. I mean, I just like him; I’d drink beer with that guy every night.

“He’s a proper Aussie bloke and I’ve just got a real sweet spot for him; I really do like the guy.

“He hasn’t changed, [he is] very humble, and what a talent behind the wheel.”

Larkham will feature on both the Fox Sports and Seven telecasts this weekend at the Vailo Adelaide 500.

For more from ‘Larko’, including his take on Supercars’ latest parity measures, listen to this weekend’s Speedcafe Newscast