ONE of the unusual sights from last weekend’s Darwin Triple Crown was seeing George Commins with didgeridoo trophy in hand on the Hidden Valley rostrum.
Commins is plenty accomplished in motorsport, having operated in Formula 1 with Williams before guiding Rick Kelly to Nissan’s final Supercars race win, and then forging a dream team with Brodie Kostecki that has netted championship and Bathurst 1000 glory.
But filling in for an unwell Kostecki on the podium?
“It was different. Can’t say I’ve ever done that before,” Commins told V8 Sleuth.
Having been drenched in champagne, he added with a chuckle: “I can’t believe how much it stings, if I’m honest.
“Any time I’ve been up there (as the winning team representative) I run away before that happens, but I couldn’t this time unfortunately.”
Cam Waters and Kai Allen douse George Commins in champagne. Pic: Ross Gibb
Commins and Kostecki are known for having an especially tight working relationship; the latter’s entire five-plus-year full-time career has come with the former in his corner.
It’s why Commins was not surprised that the #17 driver was able to defy trying circumstances to hang on for a podium in the Saturday race.
“The main thing was to keep the communication up more so than what we normally would, just to keep him focused and give him hope, I guess,” he said.
“Honestly he doesn’t use that much brainpower to actually drive the car… so he can drive it on autopilot and still do very well.”
Having been replaced by Todd Hazelwood for the Sunday leg, Kostecki is due back for the Townsville 500 in a fortnight’s time.
The Undercut – How hot is too hot?
The Undercut is back for another week, downloading a hot weekend in the Top End for Supercars!