Quinn hints at Kostecki Supercar drive at NZGP

The official Facebook page of Highlands Motorsport Park, of which Quinn is the owner, posted the following today:

“Look who’s here, we’ve got the Camaro doing hotlaps this weekend for the NZ Grand Prix and we are in negotiations with someone who rhymes with ‘Jodie’ to drive!!!!”

The post also featured a photograph of Quinn holding a bottle of Coca-Cola, the former major sponsor of the Supercars team with which Kostecki won the 2023 championship, Erebus Motorsport.

Kostecki will not drive in Event 1 of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship although Erebus is yet to confirm any plans pertaining to him or a replacement beyond the Thrifty Bathurst 500.

Quinn was unusually coy when contacted by Speedcafe regarding the post, confirming only that he is enjoying his time in New Zealand, where he will be in attendance at Highlands for the Grand Prix, which is part of the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship certified by FIA (FROC).

Whether or not the post is merely a joke from the larrikin businessman/motorsport enthusiast or something more remains to be seen, but it will certainly raise interest in the event.

Quinn is the largest shareholder in Triple Eight Race Engineering and now the outright owner of chassis 888A-063, the first Gen3 Supercar to win the Bathurst 1000, in the hands of Shane van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway last October.

Adorned in the Red Bull Ampol Racing livery which it sported for most of its race events, having debuted as the Supercheap Auto wildcard entry, it had already caused a stir in a demonstration earlier this year.

Quinn himself, along with Greg Murphy, Steven Richards, and Craig Lowndes – the latter of whom is competing in this weekend’s Bathurst 12 Hour – drove the car at the Taupo Historic Grand Prix, raising eyebrows among some rival Supercars teams.

However, the car was running in a now superseded aero spec, and on Pirelli tyres rather than Dunlops, with the real benefit being to promote Supercars’ inaugural ITM Taupo Super400 in April.

That Kostecki would be behind the wheel this weekend would, however, presumably cause an even greater stir.

The West Australian made his first public appearance since news of the apparent rift at Erebus was broken by Speedcafe when he accepted his gong for winning the 2023 championship title, as well as the Peter Brock Medal, at the Motorsport Australia National Awards in recent days.

Then, he said he is in “generally good health,” albeit “unsure what the immediate future holds,” in an acceptance speech.

Ryder Quinn will race in FROC this weekend at the circuit owned by his grandfather.