Brodie Kostecki during qualifying for the Melbourne SuperSprint.
After taking pole position for Thursday afternoon’s race, Kostecki got out of his #17 Ford Mustang with a noticeably dirty race suit.
Supercars pit lane reporter Mark Larkham said the 2023 champion had been ill in the car and vomited on his fastest lap.
His team were pictured cleaning the car in between sessions.
Kostecki led the in-form James Golding for the Blanchard Racing Team by a meagre 0.0437s at the conclusion of the 12-minute session.
Third went the way of Broc Feeney in the #88 Triple Eight Race Engineering Mustang while Matt Payne was fourth in the #19 Grove Racing Mustang.
Chaz Mostert was fifth in the best of the Toyota Supra quintet for Walkinshaw TWG Racing, while the best of the Chevrolet Camaro contingent was Anton De Pasquale in seventh for Team 18.
The session was without major incident, save for Macauley Jones suffering an engine issue with his Supra.
“It had no oil pressure when I started the thing up and it didn’t recover obviously,” said Jones.
“I think it looks like we’ve spat a belt, so we’re going to have a look into it. Pretty disappointing to not even get out on track.”
The car was fixed in time for the second qualifying sessions.
Results: Repco Supercars Championship Melbourne SuperSprint, Qualifying (Race 1)
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Car
Laps
Lap
Diff
Gap
1
17
Brodie Kostecki
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
5
1:47.6108
2
7
James Golding
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
5
1:47.6545
0.0437
0.0437
3
88
Broc Feeney
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
5
1:47.8864
0.2756
0.2319
4
19
Matthew Payne
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
5
1:47.8895
0.2787
0.0031
5
1
Chaz Mostert
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
5
1:47.9400
0.3292
0.0505
6
3
Aaron Cameron
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
5
1:47.9693
0.3585
0.0293
7
18
Anton De Pasquale
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
5
1:48.0410
0.4302
0.0717
8
6
Cameron Waters
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
6
1:48.1450
0.5342
0.104
9
2
Ryan Wood
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
5
1:48.2284
0.6176
0.0834
10
99
Cooper Murray
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
5
1:48.2309
0.6201
0.0025
11
800
Andre Heimgartner
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
5
1:48.3222
0.7114
0.0913
12
888
William Brown
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
5
1:48.3343
0.7235
0.0121
13
4
Jack Le Brocq
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
5
1:48.3623
0.7515
0.028
14
55
Thomas Randle
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
5
1:48.3942
0.7834
0.0319
15
10
Zach Bates
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
5
1:48.4857
0.8749
0.0915
16
20
David Reynolds
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
5
1:48.5212
0.9104
0.0355
17
26
Kai Allen
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
5
1:48.5748
0.964
0.0536
18
11
Jackson Walls
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
5
1:48.5972
0.9864
0.0224
19
14
Cameron Hill
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
5
1:48.8950
1.2842
0.2978
20
38
Rylan Gray
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
5
1:49.0493
1.4385
0.1543
21
777
Declan Fraser
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
5
1:49.2362
1.6254
0.1869
22
9
Jobe Stewart
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
2
2:50.5641
1:02.9533
1:01.3279
