Brodie Kostecki passed Will Brown for third on Lap 156 of the Bathurst 1000. Image: EDGE Photographics/Stephen King
Third-placed Brown made his final pit stop of the day at the end of Lap 142 with a 10-second advantage over Kostecki, who ran longest of all the front-runners before pitting on Lap 149.
With just over 10 laps to go, Kostecki was five seconds in arrears of Brown.
The Dick Johnson Racing driver quickly ate away at the gap to the Triple Eight Ford Mustang, reaching Brown on Lap 155.
Kostecki looked to the inside at Hell Corner on Lap 156, but Brown blocked in reaction. That prompted race control to quickly deliver a bad sportsmanship flag.
“When they said that’s Brodie coming out of the pits, I was like, ‘oh jeez, this isn’t gonna be good’,” reflected Brown.
“I did the numbers. I’m like, ‘oh yeah, six seconds over 10 laps, I should be able to hold that’.
“Then I noticed he was catching me. It was two seconds a lap. I just thought I’d make it as hard as possible.
“I didn’t actually think it was for the win, to be honest. They were saying [about] Anton (de Pasquale) – we’re not sure, we think he’s out of fuel.
“Batesy was up the road and I wanted to get on the podium. We’d had a hard fight all day and I wanted to be on the podium, so I was trying to position the car in the smartest spots I could.
“I’ve never seen a bad sportsmanship flag come out so quickly, to be honest. That thing got thrown out quick.”
The pair banged doors going up Mountain Straight and continued to jockey for position until the end of the lap.
Brown joked that he should have ‘hooked’ Kostecki, later clarifying that the battle was never going to result in either driver ending up in strife.
“Up Mountain Straight we were just banging doors. I was actually enjoying it. I was like, ‘oh this is awesome’,” he said.
“There was nothing going to happen. He’d give me one, I’d give him one back and it was exciting. Maybe I just gave them all!”
Finally, Kostecki sold Brown a dummy – swinging from the right-hand side of the track to the left, executing a block pass at Murray’s Corner.
It proved crucial in the outcome of the race as just moments later Chaz Mostert crashed his Walkinshaw TWG Toyota Supra at Forrest’s Elbow.
“It was a great battle,” said Kostecki.
“I always love racing Will. I’m sure he had a big grin on his face when he was trying to door me and push me off the track.
“He’s a smart bugger, he was trying to run me off and just make me drop one wheel off on entry to the last corner.
“Ultimately, I had 10-lap fresher tyres and my car was a lot quicker than his at that point in the race.
“I was going to get by him at some stage, I just wanted to make sure I got by without uprights and stuff hanging off of it.”
Kostecki said he was looking forward to the next 11 months, reminding Brown of who ultimately came out on top.