REPCO Supercars Championship leader Brodie Kostecki admits the matter of track position and pit priority is a “tricky” side effect of Erebus Motorsport’s stunning Saturday at Sandown.
Bigger fuel tanks and slower fill rates are going to make for some lengthy pitstops across the 161 laps that will make up today’s Sandown 500.
Consequently, double-stacking – often a norm under Safety Car conditions – will be even more costly than before for the second car in the queue.
Erebus is arguably at particular risk of double-stacking, ironically because of how well it went yesterday.
While Will Brown and Kostecki locked out the front row, teams such as Triple Eight and Dick Johnson Racing have their cars starting at opposite ends of the grid (opening up a buffer which might reduce the stationary time for the car double-stacking).
“Will is going to a different team next year!” Kostecki laughed before answering more seriously about the intra-team battle for pit priority.
“Nah, I’m only joking. It’s actually going to be quite a tricky one.
“Obviously the pitstops are going to be quite long with the fuel we have got to take on, so it will just be one of those things, it will be the same for everyone: if the Safety Car falls, there will be a bunch of cars that gain spots and there will be a bunch of cars that lose spots.
“We’ll see how the race plays out. It’s just one of those things.”
Erebus has made no secret of its plans for co-drivers Jack Perkins and David Russell to be starting the race, with the track position factor adding meaning to what is a big moment in both of their careers.
“To start off the front row, clean side of the road, is going to be good,” said Russell.
“So we’ll get off to a good start and then it will be very, very interesting to see how the co-drivers attack their first stints and how they go about it.
“I think we feel as though we have got a pretty reasonable handle on what the tyre is going to do for the opening laps and I know what I need to do, so just go and execute that, no mistakes, give it over to Bush (KosteckI) and he can do his wizardry.”
Brown’s co-driver Perkins chimed in with: “You still go about the start no different to any other start. You have got a process you have got to work through and if you do the process right, the outcome will come.
“I’m confident that I’ve done the work this year to get there.
“I might drive down the pole line in the Super2 race all day (on Sunday) to keep the pole position clean! Beyond that I don’t think I will do anything different.”
FULL GRID: Where every car will start the Sandown 500
Perkins added special praise for both Brown and Kostecki.
“It has been a joy to watch them just go about their business,” he said.
“I got the opportunity to work with both of them at Eggleston Motorsport before Erebus… they’re having fun, they’re racing each other, they’re working with each other and it’s just a pleasure to be a part of it.”
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