EREBUS Motorsport championship contenders Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown say they are thriving on the battle with Triple Eight and its stars.
The latest flashpoint in the Erebus versus Triple Eight rivalry came last night, when Brown was defending vigorously from Shane van Gisbergen on the final lap of the Sydney SuperNight opener.
The #97 driver got past on the run out of Turn 8, which sparked a Barry Ryan tirade and promise of protest, before a five-second penalty left van Gisbergen unimpressed.
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Kostecki, who seized the series lead from Brown with victory last night, was pleased with how his crew stood tall under pressure.
“It’s something that we have never been in this spot before, fighting for a championship,” he said.
“We sort of are just focusing on ourselves and not too worried about what the other guys are doing and it seemed to work today.
“But I have had a few bad rounds I guess the last two rounds and just haven’t really executed so it was great to execute today from my side and obviously Will has ended up P3 so we have just got to keep on having days like this and keep putting points in the bank.”
Brown added: “I guess it’s pretty cool to be challenging Triple Eight this year.
“Last year it probably seemed unachievable for us but now with Gen3 coming out and the change and not having the development parts on there, everyone has got the same thing and that has really allowed to do what we have done this year.
“It has been fantastic and I think it’s cool that we have been able to continue the success.
“After AGP I think a lot of people thought we would get knocked off pretty quickly with Brodie leading the championship, and to now be Round 7 and still leading the championship for the team, Brodie is and myself second, is really cool.”
In a fortnight’s time, van Gisbergen and Kostecki will both race in the NASCAR Cup Series at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Asked if the dynamic between them would shift to somewhat allies when in the US, Kostecki was blunt: “I have no allies out on the track apart from my teammate.”
Brown meanwhile admitted he’d faced a catch-22 in the closing stages of Race 1 that had earnt him a rebuke from engineer Tom Moore.
“I would have liked to have come second,” said Brown, who ended up third behind Chaz Mostert.
“It was a bit of a damned if I do, damned if I don’t.
“I knew Cam (Waters) had the five-second penalty but I had Chaz catching me – and Chaz and Cam, that’s a bit of a mix as we know, so I thought I’m sandwiched here and it’s going to be on!
“I thought I could get Cam at Turn 2 and I tried to give him a little bit of door and not be too rude but I knew he was coming back and got me at (Turn) 3.
“We had an awesome battle and I thought ‘this isn’t real good’ and Chaz snuck through and then me, Cam, even Chaz, at Turn 6 we were still into it with everyone and it made for pretty good racing in the end.
“It was disappointing to lose a spot and end up third but still on the podium and still a great result for the team.”
