THEY say championship campaigns are all about making the best of your bad days.
Well, Erebus Motorsport did just that on the Saturday of the Darwin Triple Crown.
Erebus had a qualifying shocker by its lofty 2023 standards, with both Brodie Kostecki (11th) and Will Brown (19th) missing Q3.
Kostecki’s downfall was a gamble to save tyres which backfired, while Brown was impeded by James Golding.
Back in the pack for the chaotic run to Turn 1, trouble loomed.
But by the end of 35 laps, Kostecki and Brown had charged to fourth and seventh, respectively, to limit damage.
The duo remain one-two in the standings, and new nearest external rival Broc Feeney is 76 points behind second-placed Brown.
“We knew we probably gave away qualifying third or fourth,” Erebus CEO Barry Ryan told V8 Sleuth in relation to Kostecki.
“We just misjudged Q3 thinking we’d get in and we didn’t, although Brodie finished where the car was – maybe it’s a bit better now.
“And Will just did a really good job of racing through.”
Brown’s charge came despite becoming part of a pitlane carpark when the entire field headed to the lane under Safety Car on Lap 5.
Brown was unable to get around the Walkinshaw Andretti United Mustang of Nick Percat, who was queueing to double-stack behind teammate Chaz Mostert.
That wasn’t the only hindrance, either.
“We had an airjack sensor fail so his rear brakes were locked on until he got to the end of pitlane and turned his pit limiter off,” Ryan explained.
“It thought it was still in the air because the airjack sensor failed – when it goes in the air the rear brakes lock on – so when it dropped it still thought the airjack was in.
“He stalled twice. He couldn’t get past (Percat) anyway but he stalled and then he had to drag the car down pitlane until he could turn the limiter off.”
Ryan is confident both cars are top five on pace, positioning them well to challenge for podiums in tomorrow’s two races.
