BRODIE Kostecki has highlighted the period of adversity which he and Erebus Motorsport overcame when it threatened to derail their championship campaign.
It was between Round 7 in Sydney and Round 8 at The Bend that news broke relating to Will Brown’s 2024 defection to Erebus’ archrivals Triple Eight.
Brown had led the championship prior to Sydney, and Triple Eight was on the hunt for a big name to replace Shane van Gisbergen as it became clear the Kiwi would be NASCAR-bound.
Tensions were high for a time, but Kostecki made a statement – a week on from his own NASCAR Cup Series debut – by sweeping a Tailem Bend round otherwise dominated by Fords.
“Probably halfway through the year there was a few announcements that rocked our team a little bit with my mate Will Brown turning into a traitor, so thanks for that!” Kostecki chuckled at last night’s Supercars Gala in Adelaide.
“That was a pretty tough time for the team.
“We’re obviously pretty close and that seemed to rock the team a little bit, and the news sort of came out as I was about to get on a jet and fly over to America and go racing at Indianapolis.
“There was only one way up for me and that was to move on and continue on with what we were doing best, and that was delivering results and finish off the year strong. We definitely did that.
“It was an interesting period to say the least but I enjoyed every part of it and it definitely made us stronger, that’s for sure.”
Along with being officially presented with the Supercars drivers’ championship trophy, Kostecki picked up the drivers’ driver award at the Gala – to which he had a response that drew laughter from his peers.
“It’s a bit of a weird question, to have won drivers’ driver. It’s obviously a privilege but it probably means I didn’t run into enough people this year!” he said.
Kostecki will sport the #1 next year, with recruit Jack Le Brocq to slot into the #9 seat.
