Kostecki deal a “lifesaver” for Team 18

Following Lee Holdsworth’s accident in Darwin a little over a fortnight ago, Melbourne-based Team 18 sent the damaged chassis to Queensland in the hope it could be repaired and raced by enduro driver Karl Reindler in Townsville.

However, the team quickly recognised that the chassis couldn’t be repaired in time, instead opting to buy a new chassis from Triple Eight, and do a deal to run Dunlop Series driver Kurt Kostecki in his own T8 chassis at Townsville.

Speaking on the Inside Supercars TV programme, team boss Schwerkolt said the Kostecki deal was a “lifesaver” for the squad, and revealed that it was actually Reindler who set up the deal, despite it meaning that he himself misses out on a drive.

“It’s a unique way it’s all happened really,” explained Schwerkolt.

“[We were] hoping to fix our car,we couldn’t. It’s really not worth fixing for us; it’s nearly as cheap to go and buy a brand new one, which we already done.

“We’ve sourced a new car from Triple Eight. Unfortunately it won’t be ready for Townsville,and it won’t be ready for QR either. They are not sitting on the shelf or anything like that.

“So we chased around everywhere looking for a car, couldn’t find one because of the Townsville [Dunlop Series] race. It was actually Karl Reindler that came up with an idea; he’s friends with the Kosteckis, why don’t you give them a call.

“Karl had a bit of a chat to them, and put it together that young Kurt stepped up to the main game. It’s a bit of a lifesaver for us that we get going, because we didn’t have a car to use.”

Mixed emotions for Kostecki

While being a sub driver for an injured main series star isn’t exactly how Kostecki dreamed of making his main series debut, the 18-year-old says he is ready to grab the opportunity regardless.

“The whole team has been great, even Lee has been great,” Kostecki told Inside Supercars. “He’s given me as much advice as possible, because he knows it’s the way it is – when you race a car, you run the risk [of injury].

“For me, it’s not the way I wanted to get my first main series start but I’m going to take every opportunity I can with both hands and try and make the most of it.

“It’s only been just over a week since I found out, so it’s a lot to take in, a lot to learn because it’s such a big jump from the DVS to the mains series.

“So it’s all a full mix of emotions really. I was excited, nervous, but I just wanted to get stuck in as soon as I could and try and take in as much as I could to be as best prepared [as possible].”