Latest / Rusty's Garage / The Motorsport Brief: Supercars Championship points leader Brodie Kostecki's insights from Perth

Transcript

The Motorsport Brief: Supercars Championship points leader Brodie Kostecki's insights from Perth · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:05
  G'day, it's Rusty here and this is the Motorsport Brief, your short, sharp update.
• 0:10
  And just a few days after, a ripper weekend on both the local and global scene.
• 0:16
  Today, the Supercars Series leader will join us.
• 0:21
  Hi, everyone.
• 0:21
  Welcome to another edition of our new Rusty's Garage shortcast.
• 0:26
  Thank you very much for all the feedback, too.
• 0:28
  We would love you to rate and review the pod, whether you're using the free listener app or any of the other major platforms.
• 0:34
  It is great to know that you're enjoying it.
• 0:37
  And I always appreciate the guest suggestions, too.
• 0:39
  Keep them coming.
• 0:40
  Our latest long format with Michael Pickens dropped in the past week.
• 0:44
  It is a fantastic conversation around his Speedway achievements in New Zealand, Australia and the United States with a little bit of discussion dedicated to what he might do next.
• 0:55
  too.
• 0:56
  Today's guest has been doing some sprint car racing and is pretty handy at that.
• 1:01
  It's early days in the 2023 Supercars Championship, but that is clearly the big target for him and the Erebus team.
• 1:09
  Brodie Kostecki is on the line.
• 1:11
  Hello, mate.
• 1:12
  How are you, Russ?
• 1:13
  Nice to see you, mate.
• 1:14
  And this is an audio experience, but can we start?
• 1:17
  You are actually sitting in your simulator for this.
• 1:19
  This is highly appropriate, mate, isn't it?
• 1:22
  Yeah, well, I thought I would, you know, I used to do a bit of streaming and stuff, sometimes still do, when I have a bit of free time.
• 1:27
  And, yeah, it's already set up, ready to go.
• 1:30
  So I thought I'd just jump in and I can get straight into a race afterwards.
• 1:33
  You're having a great season, mate, which we can talk about.
• 1:36
  But does the sim stuff help all of that?
• 1:39
  I mean, a number of guys do it, obviously.
• 1:41
  Do you find it beneficial?
• 1:42
  Yeah, definitely.
• 1:43
  I've always done, you know, I've always had a racing simulator since I was probably seven years old.
• 1:48
  And I think it really...
• 1:51
  We only race 12 times a year in the supercars calendar, so you need to try to fill your time up with racing as much as possible.
• 1:59
  And sometimes it'll be hard these days to go jump in a car and go to a racetrack.
• 2:04
  So fortunately enough, technology's come so far these days with different racing platforms.
• 2:10
  I generally use iRacing and spend a bit of time on there as well as some other drivers as well.
• 2:16
  Yeah, I like to have a burn around there.
• 2:17
  Good on you.
• 2:17
  Probably worth opening the batting in this conversation, mate, by rewinding a little to the Grand Prix, getting the Larry Perkins trophy from LP himself.
• 2:29
  Where does that rank for you in career terms?
• 2:31
  Pretty special.
• 2:33
  Yeah, it is actually very special.
• 2:35
  It was a bit of a surreal moment at the time, obviously getting my first race win that weekend and backing it up the race afterwards.
• 2:42
  But it sort of really meant nothing at the time to me because I knew that there was a lot on the line and I knew how much the Larry Perkins Trophy would mean to the team.
• 2:50
  And, you know, it was a big sigh of relief.
• 2:54
  Obviously starting that last race from, I think, 14th or 15th and racing Shane, he was starting 12th.
• 3:00
  And, you know, we had to beat him to get the LP trophy.
• 3:02
  So obviously to get on the podium last race from where we started was, you know, pretty unreal.
• 3:07
  And, you know, when we crossed the line and, you know, got told that we obviously got the LP trophy and was able to give it to Barry, which was a really cool moment for myself.
• 3:16
  Awesome.
• 3:17
  Early days.
• 3:17
  I know you'll be keen to remind us of that in this championship.
• 3:21
  Erebus, though, even at this point, I think it's fair to say, looks like a more consistent package than it perhaps has been in recent years.
• 3:28
  And no doubt there's many factors in that.
• 3:32
  Garth Tander has even described you in the press very recently as the team I'm talking, as the real deal.
• 3:37
  What are all the factors that have come together here in your mind with this new car, perhaps, that have given you that sort of start to the year?
• 3:45
  Yeah, I'll be honest here.
• 3:47
  The last two years was really difficult for myself.
• 3:51
  I'm a really competitive person and really not the best sort of loser, as I guess many probably professional competitive people are and whatnot.
• 4:02
  But when I first signed on to Aerobus as well as Will as well, the whole goal was...
• 4:06
  to be prepared when Gen 3 showed up.
• 4:09
  And a lot of hard work and effort has gone into, you know, the Erebus Gen 3 program.
• 4:15
  And, you know, when I first hit the track, you know, for the first time in the car for the shakedown,
• 4:21
  there at Winton, you know, all my, well, not doubts, but all my questions got answered straight away.
• 4:27
  You know, the team did a fantastic job.
• 4:29
  The car was unreal straight away.
• 4:31
  And it was, you know, great to see that, you know, carry on into Newcastle to get the first ever pole for Gen 3 as well.
• 4:38
  And obviously, you know, the year that we've had so far has just been amazing.
• 4:42
  But, you know,
• 4:43
  I'm not counting my chickens yet.
• 4:44
  Like you said, it's still really early in the season, but it's definitely been exciting so far.
• 4:48
  I think there's still more to come from us as well.
• 4:50
  Good job.
• 4:51
  Did it give you a great feeling from the very outset, mate?
• 4:54
  I mean, much has been said about the car, what different people think about it and so on.
• 4:58
  I don't necessarily want to ask that, but did you walk away from that opening experience thinking, you know, we're in good shape here.
• 5:05
  This is a good way to start the year?
• 5:07
  Yeah, definitely.
• 5:08
  I was really open-minded when I first jumped into the car.
• 5:11
  I did a bit of prototype testing in the Supercar Zone Gen 3s, and I wasn't really too sure what to expect straight away, but I just wanted to stay open-minded because at the end of the day, it's about what the fans see, not about what we feel or say.
• 5:26
  It's about what the fans see in the show that we put on for them.
• 5:29
  And I think so far Gen 3 has been fantastic in terms of that.
• 5:32
  We saw that on the weekend, so...
• 5:35
  Yeah, it's been a good challenge for myself and also for the team and as well as other teams as well.
• 5:39
  I'm just excited to be a part of it and excited to be a part of the team that's getting the most out of it as well.
• 5:45
  You've been doing some debrief notes just before you kindly joined us today.
• 5:49
  One thing you may not have done as a part of that is look right back over the broadcast.
• 5:53
  There was a nice little snapshot in there, Brodie, of your career that Mark Larkham did.
• 5:57
  I thought it was superb.
• 5:58
  And it reminded viewers about the time that you spent in the US
• 6:05
  things like the K&N Pro Series against the likes of Bubba Wallace.
• 6:09
  I mean, they're physical cars, mate.
• 6:12
  That's a little while ago now, but has that variety, has a little bit of that history been beneficial for where we are now?
• 6:18
  Yeah, definitely.
• 6:19
  I probably wouldn't put it down to one category.
• 6:22
  I'd probably put it down to the variety of things that I've raced and also to have...
• 6:26
  I've had a lot of support around me the last few years.
• 6:29
  Paul Morris as well has always said to drive as many different cars as you can and just stay open-minded.
• 6:37
  You don't really want to get stuck in a single way of thinking or driving.
• 6:42
  You want to be as open-minded as possible and have as many tools from the toolbox you can draw from.
• 6:48
  I've been pretty fortunate enough to drive, you know, cars like that NASCAR K&N Pro Series car and, you know, other cars as well, which has been, you know, fantastic.
• 6:58
  And I probably put some of my success down to, you know, driving all those variety of different things.
• 7:04
  that leads me naturally to sprint cars.
• 7:06
  People can find on your social media, some of the stuff you've been doing over, over summer.
• 7:10
  Um, that that's, I mean, very, very different if we're talking diverse things to drive here, how much have you enjoyed that?
• 7:16
  Has it helped?
• 7:17
  And will you do a bit more of it in the summer of 24?
• 7:19
  Yeah, I'm actually going to be doing quite a bit more of it.
• 7:22
  Um, you know, when the calendar aligns properly and I have enough time after a sprint car around.
• 7:28
  to sort of catch my breath.
• 7:30
  Those cars are absolutely unreal.
• 7:32
  And I've really enjoyed the challenge so far.
• 7:34
  And it's probably been the most frustrating thing I've ever done in my whole life is jumping that spring car.
• 7:42
  I've always been, you know, jumped into a car and it hasn't taken me too long to, you know, sort of get the swing of things.
• 7:47
  But to be honest, these cars are just absolutely crazy.
• 7:51
  I mean, you're strapped to 900 horsepower and, you know, I've been
• 7:54
  you know, you get out of the car and, you know, you feel like you've got back into a world that's in slow motion.
• 7:59
  So that's, it's been great for me, you know, jumping out of that car and then jumping back into a supercar.
• 8:04
  Everything feels like it slows down a lot, which has been, you know, pretty cool.
• 8:07
  And yeah, it's definitely helped me out a bit this year.
• 8:09
  Good on you.
• 8:10
  I'm glad you're doing more of that.
• 8:11
  Great endorsement from your engineer, George, as well, who has worked with almost a dozen Formula One drivers during his career.
• 8:19
  And he rates you, you know,
• 8:21
  the best of them, mate.
• 8:22
  What is it that's working so well between you two, do you think?
• 8:26
  Yeah, I've been with George now since I first started racing supercars full time.
• 8:33
  And I've had a great relationship with him so far.
• 8:36
  And he's such a quiet character when he's around the pit lane.
• 8:40
  And good fun to be around in the team environment.
• 8:44
  Like you said, he's worked in many different forms of motorsport and has got a lot of wisdom that the team draws from as well.
• 8:49
  And he's a very smart man.
• 8:52
  And I think we both...
• 8:54
  get the most out of each other as a combo, which is really cool to see.
• 8:57
  And it's been great working with him.
• 8:59
  And, you know, we've had a really good year this year so far.
• 9:01
  And, yeah, we're just sort of just trying to tick boxes together.
• 9:05
  And, you know, hopefully, you know, we can get to the end of the year and, you know, have a smile on our faces.
• 9:11
  More may that continue.
• 9:12
  More smiles.
• 9:13
  Now, you probably can't tell the full story.
• 9:14
  That's understandable.
• 9:15
  I like a little laugh along the way.
• 9:17
  You know that.
• 9:18
  Your nickname is Bush.
• 9:20
  Who gave that to you?
• 9:21
  And there is a little bit of a story about how it kind of came about, isn't there?
• 9:25
  Was it Paul Morris?
• 9:27
  Yeah, it was.
• 9:27
  Paul Morris gave him the nickname.
• 9:30
  He gives a lot of people nicknames.
• 9:32
  He's great with one-liners.
• 9:34
  Very good.
• 9:34
  Yeah, he is.
• 9:35
  He is very good with one-liners and was very fortunate enough coming up through the junior ranks to be able to spend a lot of time at Norwell to polish up.
• 9:43
  improved my skill set and was driving some cars one day with him.
• 9:48
  And we got into a bit of a brake failure with my cousin, Kurt, was actually driving the car at the time.
• 9:53
  I wasn't really too excited about being in the passenger seat of a car with no brakes.
• 10:00
  And I definitely wasn't going to stick that out all the way to the earth bank or the trees there.
• 10:05
  You bailed, didn't you?
• 10:06
  You bailed.
• 10:07
  Yeah, I bailed out.
• 10:09
  I think we were doing like 120 at the time.
• 10:10
  Likey.
• 10:12
  And I let Kurt take care of the rest.
• 10:15
  He guided it directly into a tree.
• 10:16
  So he did a pretty good job there.
• 10:19
  And I was out and slid along.
• 10:24
  It was wet and raining.
• 10:24
  It was absolutely a miserable day.
• 10:26
  So I was slid along the grass for probably 100 metres up an earth bank and come out of a bush.
• 10:31
  There you go.
• 10:33
  Yeah, I was reborn that day as bush.
• 10:34
  Do not try that at home, kids.
• 10:36
  Now, it does lead me to the fact that Norwell has been fantastic for all sorts of reasons, for the development of your own career that you've talked about there.
• 10:45
  But also, too, mate, you give back a little bit now.
• 10:47
  You share a bit of that knowledge to others.
• 10:49
  Do you enjoy that stuff?
• 10:51
  Yes.
• 10:51
  Yeah, definitely.
• 10:52
  I think it's really important to do.
• 10:55
  And if I was a 12 or 13 or 14, 15-year-old kid, I'd be asking for as much advice as I could.
• 11:02
  And there has been some of those kids that are out there that are racing in Super 2 right now that are really eager to make it to the next step.
• 11:08
  And I think it's really important to put back into the sport.
• 11:12
  You know, it is actually really hard to, you know, with the cost cuttings these days to go out and practice a supercar and it's hard to get laps.
• 11:20
  So, you know, having, you know, Norwell there as, you know, a training ground, you know, to be able to improve your skill set, you know, was really beneficial in my career.
• 11:28
  And I would love to help out as many, you know, young fellas as possible.
• 11:33
  Good on you.
• 11:33
  That podium at Race 9 in Perth represented a very young brigade.
• 11:37
  You, Brock Feeney, your teammate Will Brown.
• 11:40
  I think the V8 Sleuth guys quite rightly reminded us the average age across the three of you, 23 years, 234 days.
• 11:48
  It is the youngest podium in supercars history.
• 11:52
  It feels pretty good to be kind of part of a new wave as well, mate.
• 11:55
  I know you're respectful of others that have come through it, but to be a bit of that new brigade, does that feel good?
• 12:00
  Yeah, it does feel good.
• 12:03
  It means all those sleepless nights and days of preparing my own Super 2 car and sleeping on different people's couches and whatnot and just sort of trying to make it all happen was all worthwhile.
• 12:15
  Yeah.
• 12:16
  And yeah, it's been great so far.
• 12:18
  And it's great to see Brock getting some success as well.
• 12:21
  Hopefully he doesn't get too much more than the little bastard.
• 12:24
  But no, he's been great for the sport as well.
• 12:28
  And it's great to see young, you know, some youth coming through and showing some success.
• 12:34
  Yeah.
• 12:35
  Now, Chas Mostert, you lead him by 100 points going into Tassie.
• 12:39
  That's in a few weeks' time, next round of the series.
• 12:42
  What are kind of the team debriefs like?
• 12:45
  Because, as you said before, early days, but the goal here is to maintain, to build Brodie, isn't it?
• 12:51
  Yeah, definitely.
• 12:52
  I think, you know, the common sense sort of prevails in these sort of scenarios.
• 12:57
  We, you know, we rolled out the start of the year really, you know, really fast.
• 13:01
  And I think the gap has slowly been diminishing to the rest of the teams as, you know, as we saw in Perth, the qualifying was really tight and whatnot.
• 13:08
  So as the year goes on, you know, other teams are going to start to, you know, become more of a challenge to us and as well as other teams as well, like...
• 13:17
  you know, triple eight.
• 13:18
  So, um, yeah, we need to sort of keep on improving as well on our front.
• 13:22
  So yeah, like you just said, these debriefs are really important about, you know, what we can do better.
• 13:27
  And, um, yeah, I didn't feel very strong on the Sunday and obviously to have two podiums that day is really cool.
• 13:32
  So it shows that, you know, there's, you know, there's more for us.
• 13:35
  When you look up and down the pit lane, you identified Triple Eight there a moment ago and obviously yourselves.
• 13:39
  Are there a couple of others now that you're starting to go, hang on, they're getting it, they're coming, those guys.
• 13:45
  What about other teams up and down the lane?
• 13:48
  Yeah, I think, you know, the most obvious one for me is probably Groves.
• 13:51
  You know, they've done a fantastic job and Dave was really fast all weekend and races probably didn't swing sort of his way.
• 13:58
  But, yeah, he's had a really fast car, you know, the last couple of rounds and whatnot.
• 14:03
  And, you know, there's been BGR that, you know, Grand Prix had some really good pace at times.
• 14:07
  But they seem to struggle a little bit at Perth.
• 14:09
  Yeah.
• 14:10
  Yeah, we've been lucky in that area, having the consistent speed throughout each round, which has been really cool.
• 14:15
  So, you know, Tasmania's next stop for us and hopefully it carries on there.
• 14:19
  Barry Ryan's a tough racer.
• 14:20
  He's got some great experience in that sport, in that paddock.
• 14:24
  What sort of things is he saying to you guys, both of you?
• 14:28
  I mean, Will had a great weekend in Perth as well.
• 14:31
  What sort of things is he saying in the wake of the limelight that you guys are enjoying and the start to the year that you've had?
• 14:38
  Yeah, I think it's been a bit of a shock to be system this year, if I'm honest.
• 14:43
  We went from last year and the year before to fighting just inside the top five and maybe here or then snagging a podium to now it's the last couple of rounds it's been, why have we not been able to win?
• 14:56
  We finished second or third or pretty much why haven't we been able to sort of win and whatnot?
• 15:02
  it's been a bit of a shock to everyone but it's you know we've had to change our attitude a lot and um you know expectations are a lot different than you know what they were they're a lot higher now and uh the whole team's just done a fantastic job you know i don't feel like i have any pressure on me and you know will feels the same way as well as well as the crew it's just everyone's just um putting in their individual you know performance and as a team you know we've been a fantastic team what about betty clemenco what's she saying
• 15:30
  Yeah, she's said a lot that I probably can't say here.
• 15:35
  Yeah, she's said that she's never sworn so much at a TV and she was glad that she wasn't at Perth because she reckoned she would have had a heart attack when we got the one too.
• 15:45
  Okay.
• 15:47
  Yeah, she's been really excited about this year and I believe she's coming to Tasmania, so it'd be great to have her there.
• 15:52
  We'll squeeze in a quick break here.
• 15:54
  Brodie's going to kindly stick around for a little bit longer on this edition of The Brief.
• 15:58
  We'll have more in a moment.
• 16:03
  Few to finish here.
• 16:04
  The flashpoint, obviously, the big headline was the battle that you had with Shane Van Gisberg.
• 16:08
  And it looked like, from the outside, a couple of blokes at Norwell in some old cars going at it.
• 16:15
  What did it feel like on the inside, both at the time it was happening and then when everything sort of settled down later?
• 16:21
  Yeah, it was an awesome race I had with Shane there.
• 16:23
  And, you know, I've been really looking forward to, you know, some of these battles that we're going to have.
• 16:29
  And I knew with, you know, four or five laps to go that he was going to get to me with about three laps to go.
• 16:33
  And obviously George was in my ear, you know, letting me know lap times and whatnot.
• 16:37
  So I knew, you know, with about three laps to go, he was going to be on my bumper.
• 16:39
  And, you know, with three laps to go at that point, it's sort of anyone's race.
• 16:43
  So, you know, I wasn't just going to hand it to him.
• 16:46
  You know, I wanted him to work for it.
• 16:47
  So...
• 16:48
  Yeah, it was an awesome race between us both and I enjoyed every second of it.
• 16:52
  The protest, I think everyone sort of talked about it.
• 16:55
  It's set a precedent.
• 16:57
  A few days have passed since then now.
• 16:59
  How do you guys sort of feel in the wake of that?
• 17:01
  Yeah, sort of the protest.
• 17:03
  Yeah, the protest sort of was just to, I guess, see, you know, what the racing was going to be like.
• 17:09
  And, you know, I was not necessarily happy with the moves prior to the protest incident that we had.
• 17:16
  On track you're talking, on track you mean, yeah.
• 17:20
  Yeah, on track.
• 17:21
  And, you know, we raced to a rule book and that spot, you know,
• 17:26
  that's what everyone races to.
• 17:27
  And, you know, we're bound by the rules.
• 17:29
  And I was a bit, I was really disappointed that I got a bad sportsmanship flag and, you know, took...
• 17:37
  you know, six to seven hours to get an answer why I was, you know, given the sportsmanship flag.
• 17:43
  And then I saw the day after on TV that, you know, they put it down to one move going to turn six, which was a lot before the protests.
• 17:50
  And every single camera angle was cut from the corner before where I was getting...
• 17:56
  you know hit pretty hard up the ass by Shane which you know is against the rules but you know I don't actually care like you know that's just racing to me and you know I enjoyed every second of it but I was just really disappointed in you know how that sort of played out and I didn't really care about the protests to be honest it was more about you know getting that flag and you know the bullshit surrounding it and you know just not not necessarily the truth was you know really given to
• 18:25
  Is it because you're a hard but fair racer, mate?
• 18:29
  That's the thing people probably need to take away from this chat.
• 18:32
  Yeah, definitely.
• 18:34
  You know, in my opinion, I played by the rules.
• 18:36
  You know, I know the rules off my heart as, you know, you'd need to be, you know, going to those, you know, those sort of scenarios.
• 18:43
  And yeah, I love racing hard.
• 18:45
  And to me, that is hard racing.
• 18:47
  Even when Shane was rubbing with me, you know, I don't really have a problem with that.
• 18:50
  But it's just, it sets a precedent now against the rules for, you know, for the future.
• 18:56
  So it's going to be interesting to see how the races sort of play out
• 19:00
  And, yeah, I've been penalised in the past before for, you know, for less.
• 19:05
  But it just is what it is and we're just going to play on now.
• 19:08
  And to be honest, I don't really necessarily care about the whole deal, but some other people do.
• 19:12
  I would encourage people listening to this to listen to your answers in full, not little soundbites to give you, you know, fairness in the way that you've...
• 19:20
  expressed your your viewpoint there mate i think that's uh important i think it's also important to remind people that when we have high stakes sport of any kind you use every asset in your armory and that means using the rule book at times as well so mate to that what is the relationship like with shane because typically you guys have got on super well but now we're we're batting for a championship here is it okay has it changed what's that like
• 19:45
  No, no, to me, man, it's just all racing.
• 19:47
  So, you know, I can go out there and put my helmet on.
• 19:50
  And, you know, I believe that we can both have, you know, a massive ding-dong battle like how we did on the weekend and get out and shake hands and, you know, and just sort of just be happy for each other.
• 20:01
  So I'm sure to get more heated as we go down the line.
• 20:05
  But, you know, as of right now, I really enjoyed racing with him.
• 20:08
  And, you know, I believe he enjoyed racing me as well.
• 20:10
  You know, we both got out after the race and, you know, said how awesome it was.
• 20:13
  So...
• 20:14
  Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how it goes down the line.
• 20:17
  But, you know, so far it's been, you know, great, you know, being great, able to, you know, race each other so hard and, you know, fair in my opinion.
• 20:24
  Hopefully you can preserve that.
• 20:26
  Is the threat here too, mate, and in managing relationships, you've got to think internally too because Will had a great weekend in WA.
• 20:32
  That's got to kind of be in the back of your mind as well, doesn't it?
• 20:35
  Yeah, definitely.
• 20:36
  Will's been an awesome teammate and he's definitely no such either.
• 20:41
  Like we showed on the Sunday, he got a pole and drove away in that race against me when we get our first one too.
• 20:47
  And was putting pressure on Brock for the majority of the race in the last one.
• 20:53
  So he's had great speed as well.
• 20:55
  So definitely can't count him out either.
• 20:58
  Brock's not too far behind in the championship.
• 21:00
  So as far as I'm concerned, anyone's a threat at this point inside the top sort of six.
• 21:07
  Yeah, we just have to keep our heads down.
• 21:08
  And, you know, we've had, I think, seven podiums in the last eight races, which has been really cool.
• 21:13
  So we'll just keep that up.
• 21:14
  All right, let's finish on that note.
• 21:16
  Keep your head down, as you say.
• 21:17
  Go well for the remainder of the championship.
• 21:20
  We're grateful that you've come on and given more of an insight into who Brodie Kostecki is.
• 21:25
  And hopefully we get to have a little beer later down the track in the season, mate.
• 21:29
  Enjoy the remainder of 2023 and go well.
• 21:32
  Thanks, mate.
• 21:33
  Thanks for having me.
• 21:36
  Before we go, a couple of other quick yarns.
• 21:38
  Gritty drive from Oscar Piastri, who battled a stomach bug over the F1 weekend in Baku.
• 21:44
  He finished just outside the points in the main race in 11th.
• 21:48
  Sergio Perez won again.
• 21:50
  He trails teammate Max Verstappen by six points in the Drivers' Championship, now heading to Miami this weekend.
• 21:57
  James Small, who we added to the
• 22:03
  Racer turned engineer who now works in NASCAR.
• 22:07
  Well, he returned to the winner's circle with his driver, Martin Truex Jr. in Dover there.
• 22:12
  James has been working damn hard with the Joe Gibbs team to get back to Victory Lane after winning at the Coliseum at the start of the year.
• 22:20
  Well done.
• 22:21
  Congrats to Ben Barguana who picked up the TCR Europe Rookie Trophy and almost finished in the top 10 in the second race of his debut in the TCR World Tour in Portugal.
• 22:32
  He'll be back in action at Phillip Island in 10 days' time for round two of the Aussie series.
• 22:38
  Dick Johnson Racing has announced an unchanged line-up.
• 22:42
  Will Davison and Anton Di Pasquale will be its front line again in 2024.
• 22:46
  Consistency.
• 22:48
  is the key according to management.
• 22:50
  They're keeping a nice, stable line-up.
• 22:52
  And Scott McLaughlin, their former driver, headed into the month of May in the best possible way with what he described as the most complete IndyCar drive of the year.
• 23:03
  that part of his career so far.
• 23:05
  Taking out the race in Alabama ahead of Romain Grosjean, we have got a member of the NBC commentary team joining us on the brief in the weeks ahead to preview the big one, the Indy 500, at the end of the month.
• 23:19
  So keep an ear out, an eye out for that.
• 23:22
  That is it for today.
• 23:23
  Our thanks to Barry Ryan.
• 23:25
  Shannon and all the team at Erebus for helping us to get Brodie Kostecki on today.
• 23:29
  We hope you enjoyed it.
• 23:31
  No doubt we'll get him on for a longer chat further down the track as well here on Rusty's Garage.
• 23:36
  Catch you next time, everyone.
• 23:37
  Bye for now.