BRODIE Kostecki took the first cleansweep of a three-race Supercars round in more than a year at The Bend, but that perhaps wasn’t the most impressive aspect of his weekend.
At a round where Ford generally outshone Chevrolet, especially in terms of representation in the top 10, Kostecki was unrivalled.
He started all three encounters on the front row and won them all.
All the while, no other Camaro driver featured in the top three of any qualifying or race session.
In Saturday qualifying, he was 0.4907s clear of the next Camaro, being Broc Feeney.
Shane van Gisbergen was his nearest match from the General Motors side in both Sunday qualifying sessions, at 0.3744s and 0.6813s adrift respectively.
Five Mustangs split the two in the latter.
Van Gisbergen was also the second-best Chevrolet driver in all three races, placing fifth on every occasion – twice at more than six seconds behind, and double that margin for the finale.
“Brodie did an exceptional job all weekend regardless of where anyone else was behind him,” said Erebus Motorsport managing director Shannen Kiely.
“There was a lot of blue behind him, but I won’t comment too much on it. I just know that Brodie did an amazing job and that’s what we care about.”
Kostecki described that week, which had begun with his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Indianapolis and ended with him extending his Supercars title lead, as “pretty awesome”.
“We’ve had a fantastic year so far with our team and going to this new era,” he said.
“A lot of hard work has gone into it – every team works hard – but we set out a plan at the end of last year and it’s all sort of gone to plan which is really cool to see, just from all of the hard work that the whole team has put in.
“This weekend will be one that I will cherish forever.”
Now 137 points clear of any other driver (van Gisbergen is second), Kostecki admitted the championship race is lingering in the back of his mind.
“You sort of think about it all of the time but I just jump in my car and do my job,” he said.
“If you have good results, the championship looks after itself.
“I’m pretty excited going to the enduros to share the car with David Russell who has done a fantastic job for our team for the last two years.
“We have got two days coming up that he is going to be driving the car, so I can’t wait for the enduros.”
Erebus’ other co-driver will be Jack Perkins, partnering Will Brown in the #9 Coca-Cola Camaro.
