Brodie Kostecki wins ‘fairytale’ Bathurst 1000 with Todd Hazelwood after bouncing back from difficult year

And that’s that for the Bathurst 1000!

Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood, take a bow.

Untroubled from pole and untroubled off the restart to the finish, it was a deserved win and certainly not one we expected when Kostecki was off the grid to start the year.

We’ll do it all again at the Gold Coast 500 in a fortnight, before the championship is decided at the Adelaide 500 in November.

Richie Stanaway had such a great day for Grove Racing and sat a steady sixth in the closing stages.

But while all the focus was on this year’s champion Kostecki, last year’s winner Stanaway tumbled down the order on the last lap to finish ninth.

The reason? He ran out of fuel.

Stanaway took the restart after the final safety car in fifth position but was never truly in the mix to reach the podium, immediately finding himself in a fight with Chaz Mostert.

The finish added to a seriously disappointing final hour for the Groves.

Matt Payne crashed out when he was running comfortably inside the top 10, setting off the chain of events that led to Stanaway losing multiple spots when he ran out of fuel.

“To run out of fuel on that last lap was a real heartbreak,” co-driver Dale Wood said.

“Sixth was there for us. That was the number and I thought that was about where we were at for the day, and to run out of fuel on the last lap hurts.”

With just one safety car period, Kostecki crossed the line first after 5:58.03 of driving.

It’s the fastest Bathurst 1000 in history.

“I’m pretty knackered,” Feeney said on the podium.

“Brodie and Todd were faultless. I drove my heart out, I didn’t leave anyone out on the table, I had absolutely no tyres left at the end. We gave it our all.”

The champion is over the moon, saying it was redemption for finishing second last year.

“I just can’t believe it,” Kostecki said.

“I’m just in awe at the moment.”

Kostecki said it was 30 “shootout laps” to hold off Feeney at the finish.

“Balls to the wall,” he said.

“It’s kind of funny around here. You can bring your pace back a little bit and get yourself into trouble.

“I just knew if I did shootout laps every single lap I knew that I wouldn’t make a mistake.

“Just really glad that I’ve got this one ticked off the bucket list, and I can’t wait to celebrate with all the guys and girls tonight.”

Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood are Bathurst 1000 champions!

“The politics, the drama, the trauma of the commencement of the 2024 season for him well and truly behind him,” Neil Crompton said.

“Brodie Kostecki has shaken off the awkward start to the year to earn the biggest win of his career. He is the king of the mountain!”

It’s redemption for Kostecki after finishing runner-up 12 months ago in a year he won the Supercars title.

But that feels like a lifetime ago.

Kostecki, unwell at the start of the weekend, was not even supposed to be here, sitting out the first two rounds this year and widely expected to never again race for Erebus.

Yet he returned for the third round and has battled for success, finishing on the podium just once. And here is - about to lift the Peter Brock Trophy.

“In an extraordinary set of circumstances to start the 2024 Supercars championship, he lands himself in this car at a time - with the great effort today by Todd Hazelwood to position this car absolutely, with just over four laps remaining, in a position to win Australia’s biggest race,” Mark Skaife said as the race came to a close.

“It’s a fairytale for Brodie Kostecki. He’s been very fast and very committed. We know how much effort he puts in. But to get all this together, the complexity of winning a race like this is extraordinary, isn’t it?

“You think about the team effort. The men and women behind the scenes there at Erebus, and the complete preparation and professional protocols that you have to put in place to get a result like this is one of the toughest tests in sport.”

Hazelwood hasn’t previously come close to a victory in his time at Bathurst, finishing in the top 10 just once.

But his decision to join the Supercars champions as a co-driver has paid off.

Today’s triumph was his first ever win in Supercars and just his second podium.

Crucial laps at the start of the year, filling in for Kostecki at the rare Bathurst opener, no doubt played its part today.

“Unbelievable. I think I’m hallucinating. I’m just absolutely speechless,” Hazelwood said.

“Bush (Kostecki), he’s an absolute legend. We’ve been mates since day one. To do this together with him, absolute rocket ship of a car, thanks to everyone, it’s been a tough year. When you win Bathurst it makes up for everything.”

Bathurst top 10

1. Brodie Kostecki/Todd Hazelwood (Erebus Motorsport)

2. Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup (Triple Eight Race Engineering)

3. Will Brown/Scott Pye (Triple Eight)

4. Cam Waters/James Moffat (Tickford Racing)

5. Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth (Walkinshaw Andretti United)

6. James Golding/David Russell (PremiAir Nulon Racing)

7. Anton De Pasquale/Tony D’Alberto (Dick Johnson Racing)

8. Jack Le Brocq/Jayden Ojeda (Erebus)

9. Richie Stanaway/Dale Wood (Grove Racing)

10. Cam Hill/Cam Crick (Matt Stone Racing)

Feeney is fighting but he’s watching Kostecki drive away from him - relatively speaking.

The No.1 car is now 1.2 seconds ahead with 10 laps to go.

“You have got to remember this is only the sixth time that he’s contested this race,” Crompton says of Kostecki.

“This is a fellow that gives the vibe that he’s a senior, that he’s been around for a long period of time. He’s not. He’s a young guy. Only 26 years of age. He’s relatively new to the sharp end of the game by comparison to some out there who have had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Supercar drives. Yet he drives like a guy who’s been doing it for 20 years. There is incredible wisdom inside that cockpit in car No.1.”

Triple Eight have asked Brown to save fuel but he should be clear to finish on the podium, with Waters more than three seconds back.

Supercars officials have confirmed 193,219 attended the Bathurst 1000 weekend.

Waters didn’t get the best exit out of turn one but Mostert could only close a little bit by turn two.

It seems like a matter of time before Mostert gets his old teammate.

Crucial in the hunt for a podium finish, crucial for his championship fight.

Some gaps are opening between key battles but Feeney is hanging with Kostecki, Mostert is hunting Waters and Golding is chasing Stanaway.

We’re on lap 142.

Mostert has made his way past Stanaway for fifth and it was feisty.

Meanwhile Kostecki has just set the fastest lap of the race as he attempts to put a gap between himself and Feeney.