Kostecki takes crushing win in frenetic Taupo opener

So dominant was Kostecki that he won by a whopping 16 seconds over Will Brown, who survived a late attack from Ryan Wood.

Wood tried to go around the outside of Brown at the Turn 11 hairpin on the penultimate and last lap, but got hung out to dry by his Triple Eight Race Engineering rival.

It’s the 15th race win in Supercars for Kostecki, who extended his points lead over Brown.

At the start, Kostecki’s Mustang squirmed off the line with wheel spin. He drove deep into Turn 1, which forced Broc Feeney to go wide.

Grove Racing’s Matt Payne sought to take advantage of Feeney’s awkward placement and looked to take second place away briefly before the Triple Eight driver slammed the door shut.

Kai Allen was the biggest loser on Lap 1, dropping from sixth to 11th after an awkward moment through Turn 5 as the #19 Grove Racing Mustang got caught on the nose of Ryan Wood’s #2 Toyota Supra.

Allen continued to plummet down the totem on Lap 2 as he looked to be battling steering damage from contact.

Aaron Cameron was another victim of the opening lap melee, suffering damage to the rear bumper of his #3 Blanchard Racing Team Mustang.

At the end of Lap 2, Cameron tried to go around the outside of the wounded Allen, only for wheel-to-wheel contact to tip Cameron into a half-spin.

As Cameron rotated, Erebus Motorsport rookie Jobe Stewart was left with nowhere to go and clouted the spinning #3 Mustang ahead of him.

Despite damage to his car, Cameron continued. Allen and Stewart, meanwhile, pitted.

At the head of the field, Kostecki edged out to a half-second lead over Feeney by Lap 7.

Brown took third away from Payne while Chaz Mostert made up two places to fifth with his Walkinshaw TWG Racing teammate Ryan Wood just behind in sixth.

Feeney conceded second place to Brown on Lap 9 at the Turn 11 hairpin and soon fell back into the clutches of Payne who had Mostert and Wood in tow.

After Brown got by Feeney, the #888 Mustang looked like he might challenge Kostecki only for the #17 Mustang to skip out to a four-second advantage.

Drama struck on Lap 16 for Feeney when he slowed out of the Turn 11 hairpin, reporting that the engine “just died” suddenly.

Pit stops began in earnest on Lap 17 with Mostert leading Feeney to the lane. Brown pitted on Lap 18 while Payne came in on Lap 19.

Payne lost time when Cameron Waters pitted in front of the #19 Grove Racing Mustang and was forced to wait for the #6 Tickford Racing Mustang to stop.

Payne was later penalised for an unsafe release while Waters copped a pit lane speeding penalty.

Once the pit stop sequence was completed, Payne was sixth and four seconds in arrears of Wood.

Finally, on Lap 20, Kostecki pitted from the lead. A slow stop and the impact of the undercut was massive, but not quite enough for Brown to usurp Kostecki.

Brown came within a car length of the leader and piled pressure through the inner esses, but couldn’t complete a pass on Kostecki.

The biggest benefactor of the pit stop sequence was Mostert, who rose to third ahead of Feeney.

Kostecki kept the margin to Brown stable at one second while Mostert and Feeney lost touch with the top two with 10 laps to go.

On Lap 27, Feeney overshot the chicane trying to pass Mostert and toured the grass run-off at the final corner.

While they battled, Wood began to range up on the rear of Feeney.

With nine laps to go, Feeney finally cleared Mostert for third – but not without a few side-to-side hits. Wood followed suit out of the final corner, passing Mostert.

Wood’s tyre advantage paid dividends on Lap 30 with a pass out of the Turn 11 hairpin on Feeney and the Kiwi set about hunting down Brown.

There was late drama in the race when Jayden Ojeda lost control of his #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro and spun into the left rear of the Waters Mustang. Ojeda had been the biggest improver to that point.

Once Wood reached Brown, he tried twice to round up the Triple Eight Mustang but to no avail.

Their battle only helped Kostecki extend his advantage, which by the end of 37 laps had blown out to 16 seconds.

Feeney was fourth while Payne made something of a recovery to fifth. Blanchard Racing Team driver James Golding was the quiet achiever in sixth ahead of Mostert who finished where he started.

Anton De Pasquale’s decision to run long and pit late paid dividends with eighth place from 15th on the grid. Matt Stone Racing’s Jack Le Brocq and David Reynolds for Team 18 finished ninth and 10th respectively.

Race 2 of the ITM Taupo Super440 gets underway at 1:30pm AEST.

Results: Repco Supercars Championship ITM Taupo Super440, Race 1