DESPITE an incredible run through practice and qualifying, Brodie Kostecki knew that a maiden Repco Bathurst 1000 win was likely out of reach before the race’s halfway point.
The #99 Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro was demonstrably the fastest car in the lead-up in the hands of both Kostecki and co-driver David Russell, the former soaring to pole position by over 0.4 seconds in the Top 10 Shootout.
In the wake of finishing second to Shane van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway, Kostecki had been asked if it had been too perfect a build-up.
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“It was in the back of my mind a little bit,” he conceded.
The storybook script hit a snag at the start when Jamie Whincup beat Russell to the first corner to lead the early stages, but the #99 hit the front soon after the race’s first Safety Car when swift pit work vaulted it past the double-stacking Triple Eight entries.
They slipped behind the Shane van Gisbergen/Richie Stanaway Camaro in the next round of stops, but the pivotal moment came when the race’s third and final Safety Car period was called on lap 71.
The #97 pitted; the #99 didn’t.
While Russell took over the lead of the race, the decision put the lead Erebus entry on the back foot on race strategy.
“I sort of knew when we didn’t take that Safety Car and (the #97 car) got 13 seconds of fuel on us, and Richie was able to restart only two or three places behind D-Russ (Russell), I knew it was going to be pretty hard from there-on out,” Kostecki reflected.
“(They) were pretty much the class of the field all day and were the fastest cars in race trim. We still had to have a perfect race to beat those guys and they did an awesome job.”
Russell was still leading when he completed his duties on lap 90, pitting for Kostecki to hop in for the run to the flag, but the fuel advantage meant Stanaway was able to run seven laps longer before pitting and spend less time being refuelled.
By the time the two cars cycled back to the top of the leaderboard, van Gisbergen held an almost six-second lead.
The margin edged out towards 10 seconds by the time of the penultimate round of stops, by which point Kostecki felt their hopes of winning were toast.
However, instead of closing the gap, the second-last stint cost them further ground as the fastest Gen3 Supercar around Mount Panorama suddenly felt far from perfect.
Reported during the television coverage as potentially a steering issue, the problem disappeared after the car’s final pitstop.
“I was never going to win the race from where I was (but) I was a bit worried the second-last stint; I thought the thing was falling apart, to be honest,” Kostecki explained.
“I don’t know what happened, but I put a set of tyres on and I was flat-out doing (2m10s). I felt like an absolute wobbler out there.
“Obviously we pitted again for the last stint, and (I) was hoping for a Safety Car and didn’t want to use too much of my tyre, but the car felt normal again.”
Kostecki still holds a 131-point lead over van Gisbergen with two rounds and four races remaining.
