Rags to riches: Billionaire backstory to Supercars disaster

Erebus Motorsport’s story is one befitting of the silver screen – a real-life rags-to-riches tale with more parts anguish than ecstasy.

Just months after reaching the pinnacle of success in Australian motorsport – winning the Supercars crown – the team finds itself the subject of an ugly split.

So how did we get here nearly a decade after the underdog team made its debut?

WHO IS BETTY KLIMENKO?

Conceived in Kings Cross jail, born addicted to drugs, and abandoned after just a few weeks, Betty Klimenko never properly met her biological parents.

Klimenko was adopted by John Saunders and his wife.

Saunders, a Jewish man from Hungary and Nazi concentration camp survivor, went on to co-found the multi-million dollar Westfield Group.

He kept Klimenko humble, never letting the money get to her head. She worked for the family as a cleaner in Westfield malls then in the men’s jeans department at Grace Brothers, and as Santa’s Little Helper.

Despite falling out with her father over her second marriage to a non-Jewish man, they reconciled upon the birth of her third child. When Saunders died in 1997 she received an undisclosed share of the family’s billion-dollar fortune.

EREBUS’ BEGINNINGS

In the late 1990s, Klimenko gained an interest in motorsport. She never raced herself but began sponsoring cars in the 2000s.

In 2011, Erebus Motorsport was born as a GT racing team. They quickly enjoyed success, winning the 2013 Bathurst 12 Hour with a trio of German drivers.

SUPERCARS

By the end of 2012, one of the sport’s most well-known motor racing families called it quits.

The ‘Stone Brothers’ sold up and gave Klimenko the keys to their Queensland workshop.

In doing so, Klimenko became the first female team owner in Supercars.

With purple streaks in her hair and tattoos all over her arms, she burst onto the scene in style.

In doing so, Klimenko, a successful businesswoman in her own right, rocked the foundations of Supercars.

However, she found the swathes of success she enjoyed in GT racing didn’t come as easily in touring cars.

A new set of rules and regulations meant the two Ford Falcons the Stone Brother Racing team had run previously were no longer eligible.

Supercars effectively forced Klimenko and her team to bring a new manufacturer to the championship, and with an affinity for the Silver Arrows from her GT success – Mercedes joined the category.

The German marque didn’t endorse the program, however. The team paid an astronomical sum for bespoke engines to be developed and built.

The process was ultimately fruitless.

“Everyone thought we’d go out there and blitz the field,” she told Speedcafe nearly a decade after the team made its debut.

“No, we didn’t. That’s where I learnt that you can lose a lot. Not just lose once or twice and then win, no, you lose a lot before you even get close to winning.”

WINNING THE BATHURST 1000

Erebus endured growing pains initially. Its attempts to be front-runners yielded just two race wins across two cars from more than 200 race starts with their AMG E63 machines.

The team gave up on winning the title with Mercedes after three years and switched to Holden for 2016 and signed David Reynolds as its lead driver. Mercedes never returned to the series.

The transition paid dividends. In 2017, the team reached the ultimate climax at Mount Panorama, winning the Bathurst 1000 with Reynolds and co-driver Luke Youlden.

In just their fifth season, the team had done what many thought was impossible.

(ALMOST) WINNING THE BATHURST 1000

Erebus rode the wave of its 2017 Bathurst 1000 win into the following year with Reynolds, who featured on the podium regularly that season.

Cruel luck killed their hopes at the Bathurst 1000 that year when Reynolds began to suffer severe leg cramps.

In a decision that condemned their chances, the team opted not to pull the stricken driver out of the car.

Instead, Reynolds carried on until it was too late and the team forfeited the lead, finishing 13th.

Reynolds later blamed the intensity of the weekend, a lacklustre build-up, and the demands of being the previous year’s Bathurst 1000 winner on his poor preparation.

DECADE DAVE’S DEMISE

Off the back of his most successful season with Erebus, Reynolds signed a record 10-year deal with the team.

It lasted all of a year. By the end of 2020, he had left the team and joined Kelly Racing.

The exact details of why Reynolds left have never been divulged.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a relationship breakdown with team principal Barry Ryan are rumoured to be at the heart of the split.

Anton de Pasquale, pictured in 2019, left Erebus Motorsport at the end of 2020 to join Dick Johnson Racing.

AN EXODUS EN MASSE

At the same time as Reynolds, teammate Anton De Pasquale called time on his spell at the team.

Touted as the next Scott McLaughlin, the up-and-comer joined Dick Johnson Racing in place of the then-IndyCar-bound driver.

All the while, Reynolds’ long-term engineer Alistair McVean left Erebus to join the Bathurst 1000 winner at Kelly Grove Racing.

Despite being a leader of the team’s COVID-19 response, De Pasquale’s off-sider Mirko De Rosa also left the team and wound up at a rival team.

The team’s primary sponsor, Penrite, left to join Reynolds too.

Talks of discontent within the team continued to grow.

BLOODING NEW TALENT

With Reynolds and De Pasquale out the door, Erebus instilled its faith in two young guns – Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown.

The pair had both proven themselves in the second-tier Super2 Series and as co-drivers for Erebus.

Brown already had titles to his name in Formula 4, Toyota 86, and TCR. Kostecki, meanwhile, was a race winner in Super2.

Both were touted as stars of the future.

At the same time, the team also put its faith in George Commins and Tom Moore to engineer the new signings.

Brodie Kosteck (left) with Will Brown after qualifying at The Bend Motorsport Park.

THE RISE

In only his fifth race as a full-timer, Kostecki stood on the podium.

More podiums came and in his first two seasons, he wound up ninth and seventh across 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Erebus enjoyed the fruits of a new era for Supercars. With the advent of Gen3, the team rose to the front of the grid.

Kostecki won six races and stood on the podium 18 times across the 28-race season.

Kostecki replicated history by winning the Supercars title in just his third season – something Marcos Ambrose achieved two decades prior.

Ambrose went on to race in NASCAR after his success in Supercars, a discipline Kostecki has his eyes on.

THE FALL

Just months after winning the Supercars crown, the honeymoon is over.

The team would have you think otherwise, but Kostecki’s spell with Erebus Motorsport is almost certainly done.

The champion pulled the plug on the team over an apparent feud with the team’s CEO Barry Ryan.

Sponsors walked out with him, including Coca-Cola, Shaw and Partners, and Southern Cross Truck Rentals.

The exact details of why those sponsors left hasn’t been made clear, although it’s understood it’s in solidarity with Kostecki.

Erebus Motorsport goes into the 2024 season in a state of disarray.

Kostecki is gone. Brown is gone. Three of its biggest backers are gone. Yet, the team says it’s business as usual.

In Greek mythology, Erebus is the personification of darkness and the offspring of Chaos.