Brodie Kostecki. Image: Richard Gresham
New-for-2025 signing Brodie Kostecki turned pole position into his first win with the team with a commanding display in the 100km sprint on Friday.
It marked DJR’s first victory in two years and just its second in the Gen3 era – the other scored by Anton De Pasquale in a 2023 Townsville race where tyre strategy fell in its favour.
Engineer George Commins explained the Friday result followed the discovery of a new setup path in Darwin, after early-season efforts to adapt its Erebus playbook failed to deliver.
While Triple Eight had a slow start on Friday and then struck back with victories on Saturday and Sunday, DJR went in the opposite direction.
Kostecki qualified sixth and finished fifth on Saturday, before a tyre gamble in qualifying had him starting 11th on Sunday.
He ran inside the top 10 through the first half of the race but fell to 16th by the chequered flag in a somewhat mysterious slide.
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Why Erebus path proved a dead end for DJR
“Obviously Friday was really good, [but] we’ve got a lot to look into to [Saturday] and [Sunday],” Kostecki told the Cool Down Lap.
“The car has progressively got worse, so I’m sure we will take it back and dissect it and have a look. I’m sure we’ll find something.”
While the team will not pull the car apart until later this week, Kostecki already had an inkling on Sunday night as to what had gone wrong.
“I was just honestly stoked with Friday and the car feeling good, back in a window and just sort of got pretty goofy over the next two days,” he added.
“I’ve had this feeling before and I’m pretty sure I know what it is, we’ll go back and find it.”
Kostecki had complained of steering issues during the morning’s qualifying session, while front spoiler damage was observed on the car during its first pit stop.
Teammate Will Davison’s weekend followed a somewhat similar path to that of Kostecki.
His best qualifying (third) and race result (seventh) came on Friday before a Sunday disaster in which a wheel fell off following his first pit stop, leading to a 23rd place finish.
Although disappointed with Sunday’s race, Noble said the team shouldn’t lose sight of what it achieved.
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“A bittersweet weekend for us. This sport can turn you upside down, not just from one day to another but from one session to another,” he concluded.
“It’s easy to leave Townsville saying we’re not where we want to be, but the reality is we cannot lose sight of what we achieved on Friday with Brodie Kostecki.
“It definitely feels like we’re moving forward. It comes with a bit of time, but there are things we’ve got to continue to work on.
“We’re excited that Queensland Raceway is back on the calendar, and three races in our state is great for Queensland fans.
“QR is a great track for excitement and good racing. We’re really looking forward to it.”
Kostecki sits sixth in the drivers’ championship after Townsville while Davison is 17th, 195 points adrift of 10th place with three rounds remaining before the Finals cut-off.