The track on Mount Panorama at Bathurst. Picture: stock
On a day of records and an aircraft mishap, new Bathurst 1000 Supercars champion Brodie Kostecki revealed how close he came to joining Richie Stanway in running out of fuel.
Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood took out Sunday’s race at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, NSW, in dominant fashion as they led the Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup team ‘home’.
Kostecki and Feeney finished 12 seconds ahead of Will Brown after a badly-timed safety car on lap 132.
The two Camaro drivers pushed each other hard in the final stint to the point where Kostecki’s fuel light came on as he took the chequered flag, according to supercars.com.au.
He had opened up a big lead over the Feeney/Whincup car in a race that featured just one safety car.
Kostecki told the website that he credited his race engineer for his ability to push his car as far as he did.
In what proved the fastest ever Bathurst 1000, Kostecki was put under pressure by Feeney before the safety car’s appearance before he responded to take it home.
Stanaway ran out of fuel on the final lap and dropped from sixth to ninth.
The day features a record finishing rate and the longest stint from race start to first Safety Car in the race’s history.
The website reported that the Bathurst 1000 race time broke the six-hour barrier as Kostecki/Hazelwood completed the 161 laps around the Mount in 5h 58m 03.0649s.
Only one car retired from the race, that being the Matt Payne/Garth Tander Mustang after the Kiwi crashed on lap 131.
The 96.15% completion rate is the highest in the event’s history, according to supercars.com.au.
Of the 25 cars that finished the race, 20 finished on the lead lap, which is yet another record that was broken at Bathurst.
A single-engine stunt plane delivering the race trophy also sustained damage as it turned around but was able to take off again, according to media reports.
