'Sad' predicament sums up team's decade-long turmoil

Three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen has become the latest to weigh in on Brodie Kostecki’s bizarre split with Erebus Motorsport.

The team on Wednesday confirmed the 2023 Supercars champion would be missing from the grid at the season-opening Bathurst 500 amid reports Kostecki had left the team after a falling out with chief executive Barry Ryan.

His would be the latest in a long list of premature and at times ugly departures from the team that trace right back to van Gisbergen’s own exit.

Taking to X, van Gisbergen described Kostecki’s predicament as “sad”.

“I went through a similar situation 10 or so years ago,” he said.

“Not being able to say much, plus the team and media setting the narrative out of your control is not fun.

“Full support here and hope that it works out the correct way, with Brodie enjoying driving race cars in 2024.”

SVG had spent five seasons driving for Stone Brothers Racing, which was sold to Westfield heiress Betty Klimenko and was to be renamed Erebus for the 2013 season.

While the Stones had run Ford Falcons throughout their history, Erebus were entering Supercars with all-new and unproven Mercedes E63s.

Van Gisbergen had in 2012 signed a fresh three-year contract with the Stones that would transfer to Klimenko and Erebus as a part of the takeover.

What a sad situation to read about in Australia right now with @BrodieKostecki. I went through a similar situation 10 or so years ago – Not being able to say much, plus the team and media setting the narrative out of your control is not fun 1/2 pic.twitter.com/rb2MyHfDle

— Shane van Gisbergen (@shanevg97) January 31, 2024

But he told his team bosses with two races remaining of the 2012 season he wasn’t enjoying racing anymore, and wished to return to New Zealand. The team agreed to release him on the proviso he not drive for any other team in 2013.

Much fanfare was made of van Gisbergen’s shock retirement from motorsport and included the full field signing the bonnet of his car.

When he showed up at Tekno Autosport at the 2013 season-opening Adelaide 500 to the shock of almost everyone, the Stones unsurprisingly started legal proceedings against van Gisbergen’s ‘unconscionable conduct’ – which was settled out of court.

The exact details of why SVG did not want to drive for Erebus remain unclear more than a decade later, although the surprise switch from Ford to Mercedes has long been thought to be a key reason.

Although viewed unfavourably – particularly among Ford fans – it was a sign of things to come.

In Erebus’ first five years on the grid, no less than 10 drivers held lead roles across the team’s two cars. The last six years have seen relative stability – only four drivers in that time.

But on both occasions, three-year periods were ended by complete upheavals.

At the end of 2020, Erebus lost both drivers – David Reynolds and Anton de Pasquale – as well as several other key personnel within the team.

De Pasquale was off-contract, but was head-hunted by Dick Johnson Racing. His exit was viewed as a massive loss to the team.

Kostecki during practice for the Bathurst 1000.

After all, it was Erebus who had helped the then-21-year-old back to his feet. Through an arrangement with Paul Morris, de Pasquale did two seasons of the second-tier Super2 series before making his Supercars debut in 2018.

Although his talent was obvious, Erebus helped convert him from a lightning fast open-wheel driver to a brutish touring car gun.

He was viewed as the team’s long-term future. But when three-time champion Scott McLaughlin’s departure left Dick Johnson Racing looking for a new pilot, de Pasquale was their man.

Meanwhile, Reynolds’ exit came only a year after he signed an incredible decade-long contract.

Breaking that contract was seen as proof of behind-the-scenes turmoil, but to rub salt into the wound he also took the team’s title sponsor with him to another team.

It was about then that rumblings began of just what the team environment was like at Erebus, but they died down as Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki led another three-year period of stability.

Like de Pasquale, both Brown and Kostecki made their full-time Supercars debuts with Erebus.

And also much like de Pasquale and Reynolds, both made the step up from the mid-field to become regular front runners during their time with the team.

But now, Erebus will enter the 2024 season in an eerily similar situation.

Much like 2021, they will have two new drivers at the season-opening Bathurst 500 after one signed with a rival team and another left in largely uncertain circumstances.

Brown has joined close friend Broc Feeney at Triple Eight. Rumours of that deal began with speculation van Gisbergen would leave the sport for the US a year early, and it was confirmed not long after.

Brown’s departure is curious in so much that he left the championship-winning team for the runner-up squad where he could conceivably play second fiddle to Feeney – though the team will tell you it doesn’t play favourites.

Erebus will also have a new team principal – a position some have suggested was created to insert a layer between Ryan and the rest of the team.

But it’s Kostecki’s departure that is the most puzzling.

Like SVG, Kostecki has NASCAR connections, but he was only scheduled to run a handful of races in 2024 to complement his Supercars championship defence.

Peter Adderton of Boost Mobile, who sponsors Kostecki, has said as much and explained there was no collusion to scrap the Supercars drive for NASCAR.

The team’s statement – and also that Supercars chief executive Shane Howard made his own – only raised more questions than answers.

Erebus’ statement said Kostecki remained a “valued member of our team” but confirmed he would be unavailable for the opening round.

They also confirmed Todd Hazelwood would be in Kostecki’s car at Bathurst. It’s believed he will drive for the team on a round-by-round basis thereafter.

Howard said in his statement Supercars “understand the gravity of Brodie’s decision”, and “the challenges he may be facing at this time”, which perhaps suggests Kostecki’s reasons were on a more personal level.

“On behalf of everyone at Supercars, we wish Brodie all the best, and we sincerely hope to witness his return to the Repco Supercars Championship in the future.”

Klimenko has largely portrayed the team publicly as a privateer squad. The little guys who can. It made them a favourite among fans on both sides of the manufacturer divide that formed the basis of Supercars’ popularity for decades.

But behind the scenes, it has a reputation of being a place of intense pressure applied mostly from those at the top, particularly from Ryan.

Given the NASCAR season is scheduled to begin in only a matter of weeks, a full-time tilt in any of the three tiers is almost certainly not going to happen for Kostecki.

So surely facing the prospect of a year on the sidelines – to decide that’s a better option than continuing to drive for the team with whom he delivered his first championship – is a massive vote of no confidence.

For the team to be long-term front-runners, those back-end issues must be sorted.