Erebus Motorsport CEO Barry Ryan has expressed his pride after Brodie Kostecki won the trophy which bears the name of his former employer, Larry Perkins.
Kostecki won the second and third races of the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint weekend at Albert Park and, ahead of the finale, held a one-point lead over Shane van Gisbergen in the Larry Perkins Trophy standings.
Both were starting in the mid-pack, van Gisbergen in 12th position and the Erebus driver in 14th, and they ran alternate strategies given the former began the race on super soft tyres and the latter on the hard compound.
Meanwhile, van Gisbergen had been cutting a swathe through the field and was second on the road when he took his compulsory pit stop on the penultimate lap, resuming in fifth but ultimately classified fourth due to a penalty applied ahead of him.
The #99 Coca-Cola Camaro pilot thus won the Larry Perkins Trophy by five points, in addition to taking over the championship lead from Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert.
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“It’s really good, a proud moment for me personally because I worked for Larry for seven years and I know him really well,” Ryan told Speedcafe.com.
“He’s a top person and a big part of, I guess, why I am who I am as a racer. He taught me a lot about racing, so it’s bloody good.
“And to have Jack [Perkins, Larry’s son] as a co-driver this year too… they were both pretty stoked, Larry and Jack, after the race.
“They wanted us to win it and I’m glad that we could do it.
“For Brodie to drive from 14th to third and actually beat Shane, legitimately, on-track, it’s a good way to do it.”
Kostecki had only become a Repco Supercars Championship race winner this weekend at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix event.
However, he placed greater significance on delivering the trophy which bears the name of the former F1 driver and six-time Bathurst 1000 winner to Erebus.
“I was definitely really excited after the wins yesterday but this meant a lot more to me, and it really meant a lot to our team as well with Barry and his history with Larry,” said the 25-year-old.
“When I got told I was a chance for the podium, I was a bit sort of astounded with that and stoked.
“They just made my job really easy in that race because I didn’t do a really good job in qualifying – I started 14th – but the car had great speed and I was able to pull out not too far behind these guys [race winner Broc Feeney and runner-up Andre Heimgartner] and close the gap to them a little bit and jump Bryce [Fullwood, who crossed the line in fourth].
“It’s great to be able to repay the whole team after the off-season that they had when they were really busy over New Year’s and Christmas [building Gen3 cars], so it’s great to give back to them in terms of trophies.”
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