MOTORSPORT: Kostecki breaks through at Albert Park

Brodie Kostecki claimed his first two race victories, the Larry Perkins Trophy and the Repco Supercars Championship lead in another drama-charged weekend for the class at the Australian Grand Prix.

From Ford Mustang fires to interesting tyre rulings and shortened races, when the racing was under green flag conditions, it was hard-fought.

To open the weekend was a busy Thursday of running, which culminated in the opening race, which was won by Shane van Gisbergen, who rebounded after a high-speed practice crash.

Polesitter Anton De Pasquale was passed in the early running, although the race turned into a tactical battle, with the heat being declared wet, which eliminated the need to swap between the super-soft and the hard tyre during the compulsory pit stop.

This rule quirk saw the top four of SVG, Brodie Kostecki, Will Brown and Broc Feeney only change two super-soft tyres during their stops.

The second race proved to be chaotic, with a time-certain finish required after the F3 qualifying session ran long.

Once again, the race was declared wet, to the detriment of the hard compound tyre runners, with the safety car entering the circuit early following a first-corner fracas.

A mad dash then ensued on the restart, with three-wide racing the order of the day and the encounter ending under safety car after Jack Le Brocq suffered a failure and found the wall.

Brodie Kostecki ultimately broke through for his maiden win from James Courtney, who was penalised post-race for the turn-one contact with his Tickford stablemate Cam Waters that resulted in David Reynolds being bunkered.

This paved the way to an all-Camaro podium filled by van Gisbergen and Feeney.

More chaos ensued in race three, with a lowlight being the second fire for a Mustang in two races, when Courtney’s car became engulfed, mirroring the blaze Nick Percat experienced on Friday.

On circuit, Mark Winterbottom met the wall early at turn five, with the same section of the track later claiming De Pasquale and Macauley Jones.

James Golding was spun exiting turn three, while chaos unfolded in the pits, with Will Davison and Bryce Fullwood penalised from second and third at the chequered flag for different infractions.

Kostecki was cleared of his own pit-lane dramas post-race to secure the win from van Gisbergen and Brown.

Subsequent to the earlier fires, a safety car start was ordered for the final race to limit the heat build-up in the new Gen3 engine bays.

The finale turned into an interesting tactical race, with contrasting tyre strategies coming into play, with Feeney claiming the victory from pole position.

Brown spun while going for the lead, while Fullwood received another penalty for contact in the pits, after being set for a strong result.

Rounding out the podium was Andre Heimgartner and the hard-charging Kostecki.

The next stop for the Supercars tour is the Perth SuperSprint from April 28-30.

Race 1 – 19 laps

Race 2 – 8 laps

Race 3 – 11 laps

Race 4 – 13 laps

Championship points:

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