Return of the champ: Kostecki set for comeback at unpredictable Taupō – MASHAHER

Supercars returns to New Zealand this weekend for a brand-new challenge.

Two years after the sport farewelled Pukekohe, the slack is being picked up by Taupō International Motorsport Park, which is welcoming Supercars across the ditch with fervour.

Kiwi fans, having long ago snapped up every weekend general admission and grandstand ticket after having been deprived of a chance to watch their homegrown heroes on home soil last year, are in for a treat too.

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The 2024 season is shaping up nicely. Just 17 points separate title leader Will Brown from Broc Feeney, and Chaz Mostert is less than 100 points adrift in third after a consistent start to the year.

New tracks always bring new challenges, especially one as characterful as Taupō, where a mixed surface and busy layout will ensure drivers earn their wages.

But most of all, New Zealand will bear witness to the return of the champion.

Brodie Kostecki makes his long-doubted by highly anticipated return to Supercars, and after missing the first two rounds of the season, he has no time to waste if he wants a shot at defending his title.

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KOSTECKI STEPS UP

Some doubted we’d see it this season, but Brodie Kostecki has patched things up with his Erebus team and will resume his seat in the Camaro cockpit this weekend.

It’s not a moment too soon for both team and driver.

Erebus has had an unspectacular start to its title defence. Having snatched the 2023 teams championship from Triple Eight, it already lags behind the table-topping Banyo behemoth by 535 points from its place down in fifth.

Jack Le Brocq and Kostecki stand-in Todd Hazelwood collected just six top-10 finishes from 12 starts to open the season, with no podium appearances.

With both drivers new to the team this year, the obvious question is how much the decline is team and how much is driver.

Kostecki has a chance to answer that question.

The 26-year-old ended last year in powerful form. Replicating that — even getting close — would surely represent a step forwards on what the team’s delivered so far.

He’ll need to be operating close to the peak of his powers too, because he has a mountain to climb if he wants to defend his championship.

Brown and Feeney’s lightning starts to the year, claiming all but one win between them, have left Kostecki a monumental 575 points off the championship lead.

With 10 rounds remaining, he must outscore Brown by 58 points per round to nose ahead in Adelaide.

Spelled out, that would require him to win every race for the rest of the season with Brown in fourth.

If it sounds like a massive ask, that’s because it is.

But it wouldn’t be unprecedented.

Last year Brown led Kostecki by 43 points after winning the Saturday race in Townsville. He ended the year 624 points off the championship lead.

That amounted to a 667-point turnaround in six and a half rounds, an average loss of 102.6 points per weekend.

Complicating Kostecki’s mission, however, is that Feeney is practically level with Brown on points. If one of the T8 teammates suffered some cruel run of luck, there’s a good chance the other would happily pick up the pieces.

But you’ve got to be in it to win it, and Kostecki is at least back in it.

TAUPŌ SETS UP STERN TEST

Taupō will be an interesting first race for Kostecki to make his comeback.

Not only is it completely new to the series, but the track itself presents a unique challenge.

It was overhauled almost 20 years ago and has been periodically patched up ever since, particularly in the years since the pandemic.

The result is a mishmash of different surfaces yielding wildly inconsistent grip levels for drivers to manage.

“The surface is very patchy,” Broc Feeney said. “You’ve got turn 1, which is like a Formula 1 track, super gripped up, and then you go into turn 2 and it’s quite an old surface.

“Lots of challenges for us drivers. I think to do a good lap is going to be quite difficult.”

The sum of that is an expectation that the twin 200-kilometre races will be defined by tyre degradation, with strategy sure to be key, particularly given the narrowness of the circuit will make overtaking complicated in a straight-fight scenario.

“It’s a pretty tight track,” Feeney added. “We’ve got 14 corners, but they’re really tight — it’s nearly like a go kart track. For the Supercars it’s going to be pretty interesting.”

As much as Taupō is a new track, it represents a return to more traditional circuit lengths for Supercars, coming in at under 4 kilometres — albeit it’s still the third-longest track after Bathurst, Albert Park and Sydney.

A shorter track means closer margins — and a smaller margin for error.

“The first two rounds have been really long tracks, so it’s probably been spread out a little bit more than what it’s going to be here,” Feeney said. “It’s going to be super tight.

“Just limiting mistakes is going to be the big thing. We’ve certainly had really good speed this year, so qualifying’s going to be super important here.”

And then of course there’s the weather.

Friday should remain dry given the series is on track for only 90 minutes in the middle of the day.

The Saturday forecast, however, is more grim, with New Zealand’s MetService predicting possible heavy falls and thunderstorms through the day.

Most alarmingly, the service’s usually chirpy barbecue forecast has downgraded conditions from ‘choice’ to ‘yeah, nah’ for those hoping to get on the sausage sizzle.

It all adds up to a set of taxing conditions for teams and drivers for their first visit to Taupō.

KIWIS IN FINE FETTLE

Shane van Gisbergen gave Pukekohe the send-off the fans wanted, winning the final two races of the weekend to win the round and claim the highly sought-after Jason Richards Trophy.

SVG was a vocal proponent for the sport’s return to New Zealand, but his departure for a tilt on the NASCAR tour means he isn’t around for his home country’s comeback.

It might also have been tempting to believe those delirious Auckland scenes of 2022 might have been difficult to recapture this year.

Fortunately, however, New Zealand representation in Supercars is stronger than ever.

The Kiwi contingent is five strong in 2024, including the all-New Zealand Grove line-up boasting leading lights Richie Stanaway and Matt Payne.

With the team set to race in a special-edition silver Kiwi livery, it’ll be the de facto home team for the sold-out crowd.

“It’s very special to have an iconic livery with the New Zealand theme as a New Zealander,” Stanaway said. “Getting the opportunity to race back at home once a year gives us a chance to feel what it’s like for all the Australian drivers that get to race at home on all the other rounds.”

Stanaway is sixth in the standings after an unsurprisingly strong start to his full-time comeback following victory at the Bathurst 1000 last year with Van Gisbergen.

He’s still battling an experience gap, but the new-for-all Taupō track gives him a chance to compete on level terms this weekend, making him a potentially dangerous competitor.

“It’s nice timing for me to be back racing full-time in the same year we have New Zealand back on the calendar,” he said.

“No-one’s raced at Taupō before, so I’m looking forward to not being a year behind everyone else, obviously coming back full-time for the first year.

“I’m looking forward to that clean slate for everyone.”

Teammate Payne is one place and 19 points behind Stanaway in the standings. Already with a pair of podiums this year and coming off the back of his maiden victory in Adelaide in the final race of 2023, the 21-year-old will be one to watch this weekend.

“What would it mean to win in New Zealand? It would mean everything and be the biggest achievement of my career,” he said. “It would be a very emotional day for me and my family. It’s always been a dream of mine to win in front of a home crowd.”

They’re not alone competing in their home race.

Andre Heimgartner has had a slow start to the year with Brad Jones Racing but is eyeing a bounce-back in Taupō from 17th in the standings. Teammate Jaxon Evans is still finding his feet in the series but showed signs of progress in Melbourne.

But Walkinshaw Andretti United young gun Ryan Wood might be the wildcard in the pack. The rookie has been rapid already this season but has understandably lacked consistency in the opening two rounds.

Counting for him is that he has plenty of race experience in Taupō from his recent junior career, so he arrives with a small advantage ahead of the sole practice session of the weekend.

With WAU on the up, Wood has a golden chance to string together the first big result of his Supercars career at home.