That is the take of the bosses from two of the squads which are ahead of Erebus in the Repco Supercars Championship after the first two events of the 2024 season.
The 2023 champion missed those events but makes a sensational return at this weekend’s ITM Taupo Super400, where he will race for the first time in a 2024-spec Chevrolet Camaro.
Penrite Racing CEO Brenton Grove believes the West Australian is a genuine chance of winning races this weekend – but that just makes him one more among many.
“I think having Brodie back’s always a challenge,” said Grove when asked by Speedcafe what he expects from Kostecki.
“He’s an incredible driver and I don’t think it’ll take him very long to get back to the front.
“But, Supercars and the Supercars Championship’s bigger than just Brodie and Erebus.
“There’s 10 teams that can win races and there’s 10 teams that can fight for the championship.
“So, for sure, they’ll be a competitive team, but Todd [Hazelwood] also didn’t do a bad job.
“I think, to say now that would be more wary would probably not be correct.
“It’s more just another driver that can win on any given day but, certainly for us, our approach or attitude doesn’t change.”
It was Erebus enduro co-driver Hazelwood who filled the breach at the Bathurst 500 and Albert Park, with he and Jack Le Brocq combining for fifth on the teams’ championship points table after two events, behind outfits such as Grove Racing in second and Matt Stone Racing in fourth.
Matt Stone himself, whose team fielded Kostecki in Super2 in 2017, was similarly measured in his predictions now that Car #1 is back in the field.
“I think having Brodie back is fantastic,” he declared.
“You know, you’re only as good as the people you’re racing against and to have the guy who had such a fantastic year last year and won the championship back on the grid means we’re all measuring ourselves against the right ruler.
“We want to go out there and win and we want to make sure that the field is as competitive as it can be.
“I think Erebus were a strong team, even without Brodie; they’re sitting fifth or something in the teams’ championship.
“Brodie coming back to a team he’s familiar with, I expect them to be competitive but, at the same time, we’ve made a jump up this year, as has the Grove team as well.
“So, hopefully, we’ve made a bigger jump than they have and we can be competitive against them and see how it plays out on-track.”
Practice at Taupo starts tomorrow at 12:55 local time/10:55 AEST.
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