MEDIA RELEASE/Brad Jones Racing - Photos: Velocity Magazine There’s some work to do overnight for…
BRODIE KOSTECKI TOPS THE CHARTS AT TOWNSVILLE
Twice Brodie Kostecki topped the charts at Townsville only to end up as a bridesmaid on the podium. This time it was Cameron Waters who snared pole with Kostecki second, could the Shell V-Power driver turn the tables on his ford rival and take a win?
Waters got the better launch as Kostecki sat behind the Monster Energy Mustang, content to protect his position and not get caught out trying to sweep around the outside at Turn 2.
But that is exactly what Ryan Wood did. From the second row of the grid the Toyota Supra surged up to Waters and ran-side-by-side through Turn 2, jagging back at the last possible moment to avoid a kink in the outside concrete wall.
Waters kept up the inside of the Truck Assist Supra, giving him the line into Turn 3 and the lead once more.
Macauley Jones and Aaron Cameron had a clash at Turn 2 which spun the BRT Mustang and saw Jone’s drive away with smoke trailing his BJR Supra. Walls and Golding also had contact towards the end of the opening lap at Turn 11 just before the Safety Car was called for Reuben Goodall parked at Turn 3.
Replays showed that it was Andre Heimgartner who initially made contact with Cameron, spinning the Mustang into the path of Anton De Pasqaule, who was then hit from behind by Jones.
The race resumed on Lap 4 with Waters, Wood, Kostecki, Allen, Payne, Mostert, Reynolds, Feeney, Randle and Ojeda.
Kostecki snared second with a classic inside pass at the approach to Turn 2 on Lap. 10. The field remained fairly static from that point until the first round of pitstops began on Lap 16. Kostecki and Payne were the first of the lead group to stop on Lap 17. Mostert ran to Lap 21 before his stop, while Waters ran longer to Lap 26 as did Wood.
Waters was effectively third on his return to the track, though the fuel load strategies and tyre allocations made it difficult to truly assess where each driver sat relative to one another. It would take the second round of stops to know the bigger picture.
At half race distance Kosteki sat 8 seconds clear of Waters who had eventually moved ahead of Payne. Mostert and Wood ran in formation a further 2 seconds in arrears, with Allen, Feeney, Ojeda and Brown the top 10.
Payne, Mostert and Ojeda were amongst the first to take their second stops, looking at around a 22 lap drive to the flag. Kostecki stopped with 20 laps left to run, while Waters again ran longer, looking to hunt down the leader with less fuel and fresher tyres. It hadn’t worked in the previous two races and one wondered if history was about to repeat, given Kostecki’s advantage before the stop.
As the field completed their second stops it was Kostecki in first, 3.3 seconds clear of Payne, who had a further 2.9 second buffer to Mostert. Waters was fourth and seemingly out of contention some 5.3 seconds shy of his former teammate.
Kostecki edged away to an 8.7 second margin over Payne at the chequered flag. Water’s late stop brought him up to third some 5.5 seconds short of second place. Mostert, Wood, Feeney, Allen, Brown, Lebrocq and Ojeda completed the Top 10.
What had been a trouble-free race for the #17 had a blip in the run back to victory lane, after a heavy launch into a tyre belching spin turn saw the Shell V-Power Mustang glance the wall with the left rear quarter panel before heading towards the pitlane.
“I had some guys down from SummerNats. I didn’t want to disappoint, but I have to work on that a little bit. I thought you guy couldn’t see it through the smoke. I need to do a better job getting there with a bit more smoke” Kostecki told Fox Sports of the burnout.
“The Mustang was virtually on fire. It had this potential the whole weekend, we just haven’t executed. I’m so pleased with that!”
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