Brown’s ‘rookie mistake’ gifts Kostecki epic Melbourne win

Dick Johnson Racing’s Brodie Kostecki clinched victory with a pass on Brown at Turn 11 with two laps to go when he locked the rears of his car and left the door open.

With his third win of the weekend, Kostecki clinched the Larry Perkins Trophy.

“What a fantastic weekend for everyone at Shell V-Power Racing,” said Kostecki.

“This Ford Mustang was on fire this weekend and we’ve finally broken the duck. We’ve won a race on Sunday, which is really cool.”

“Really ecstatic to get the Larry Perkins Trophy. It means a lot to me. I hold Larry and Dick (Johnson) and all those guys as the founders and paved the way for us.

“I had the speed everywhere. I just wanted him (Will Brown) to get away a little bit and didn’t want to get too close to him to affect his car a bit.

“I knew I probably had a second up my sleeve when I needed it. As soon as I knew that we had a big gap to us towards the end, the last two laps I was going to put a pretty big attack on.”

Brown was happy with his podium but conceded Kostecki had got the better of him.

“He was the guy I was watching from the start. I thought if he gets into second it’s not going to be good. I saw Randle and thought ‘Please hold him up’,” said Brown.

“I saw him coming, and to be honest, I knew he was fast. I made a mistake. Brodie is the type of guy that’s not not going to have a crack.

“He was going to have a lunge. I went to block, got on the dirty stuff, locked the rears, did it all by myself.

“To be honest, he just forced me into my own error and it was a rookie mistake by me.

“Disappointing. It was cool to have both the Lucky Dogs up there racing. I thought we might actually get into it. I thought, ‘We might still see if the podcast is going next week after this one’.

“Just made a mistake. It’s on me. I’m excited to get a finish instead of just all this carnage I’ve had this year.

“Still proud to get second for the team.”

Race 4 began with wild scenes when Kai Allen’s #26 Grove Racing Mustang leapt into the air from wheel-to-wheel contact with Ryan Wood’s #2 Walkinshaw TWG Racing Supra.

There was carnage at Turn 1 and 2 that took Broc Feeney (Triple Eight), Cooper Murray (Erebus Motorsport), and Zach Bates (Matt Stone Racing) out of the contest as the trio collided.

After a lengthy clean-up, the race resumed with Brown at the front of the field with Tickford Racing’s Thomas Randle second, Blanchard Racing Team’s Aaron Cameron third, and Kostecki fourth.

It didn’t take long for Kostecki to move forward, passing Cameron on Lap 6 at Turn 11 and then Randle on Lap 7 at Turn 13.

While Cameron faded, Payne rose to the podium only to suffer a puncture on Lap 8 at Turn 6. The #19 Grove Racing Mustang finished 20th

Cameron’s suffered the same fate. He was forced to pit on Lap 8 when his right front gave up. The #3 Blanchard Racing Team Mustang finished 19th.

On Lap 10, Jobe Stewart’s #9 Erebus Camaro was tipped into a spin after Jackson Walls locked the rears of his #11 Triple Eight Mustang and drove into the preceding car.

The moment of the race came with two laps to go when Brown tried to defend Kostecki into Turn 11 but bowled well wide of the apex to gift the #17 DJR Mustang the lead.

Kostecki skipped away from Brown to take victory by 1.7558s. Randle was third and 3.4953s back.

Kostecki leads the Repco Supercars Championship with 485 points ahead of Cameron Waters.

Results: Repco Supercars Championship Melbourne SuperSprint, Race 4