IF Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood claim victory in the upcoming AirTouch 500 at The Bend, the combination will have to overcome a three-decade-old hoodoo that has dogged Dick Johnson Racing – a topic that featured on the latest edition of The Undercut.
Only once in the history of the storied team has the outfit successfully defended a win in an endurance race – that came when Dick Johnson and John Bowe won the 1995 Sandown 500, a year on from their breakthrough victory in the event.
At the time, the outfit was at the peak of their powers, with Bowe cleaning up in the 1995 Australian Touring Car Championship, while they were in the conversation for a second successive Bathurst 1000 win, before Bowe tangled with Glenn Seton on the run out of the Cutting.
The team’s storied history includes a swag of significant endurance race wins, including three Bathurst 1000s in 1981, 1989, 1994 and 2019, plus the 2001 Queensland 500.
Kostecki, though, has significant runs on the board at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park, having won the last four races contested at the South Australian circuit.
In 2023, he took a clean sweep of wins for Erebus Motorsport, setting up a charge that ultimately ended in championship glory.
Following a hiatus in 2024, the venue returned to the calendar last year with its first-ever enduro, which was promptly won by the #17 Mustang.
By winning a fifth straight race at a single venue, Kostecki has the chance to write a special place in the history books, where he would join Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes, Mark Skaife and Broc Feeney for second all-time on the mark.
As it stands, a driver has won four straight races at a given circuit on 19 occasions.
Notably, Kostecki would be the only driver on the list to have an endurance race success included in his total.
Craig Lowndes is the clubhouse leader in the most consecutive race wins at a track, with 12, a feat achieved from 1996, skipping 1997 when he was on sabbatical chasing the F3000 dream in Europe.
Skaife, meanwhile, won four races in a row at Oran Park (three in 1999 and one in 2000).
Russell Ingall won the second race in 2000 – a reverse top-six affair, with Skaife going on to win the next five races, meaning his streak could have easily been 10!
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