Kostecki 'in way too hot' in Reynolds clash

Brodie Kostecki admitted he was "in way too hot" in the clash with David Reynolds that garnered the returning Supercars champion a penalty.

Jack Le Brocq led Erebus Motorsport’s charge with a strong fifth, with Kostecki battling to 14th after being caught up in an incident with Team 18 driver Reynolds.

On lap 15, as Reynolds and James Courtney disputed eighth position, Kostecki barrelled in and hit Reynolds, which also delayed Courtney.

Kostecki was later hit with a 15-second penalty, but recovered to finish 14th in his return Supercars race. The 26-year-old star was reclassified 13th, with Matt Payne penalised over a clash with Thomas Randle.

"I didn't quite maximise qualifying, had a bit of a run-in on-track and didn't quite get the prep to start my lap with a drying track," Kostecki said in an team video.

"The race was wild... we both made it through Turn 1 which was pretty good. There was a lot of cars getting taken out off the start there.

"Unfortunately I got parked in a little bit during a pitstop which put us back in the running order a fair bit.

"But excited about tomorrow, it looks like it could be wet again tomorrow but I just want to thank all the fans for hanging out today.

"It was very, very wet out there, I was getting wet inside the car, so just thanks to everyone that was standing out there in the rain.”

Reynolds battled to 16th, but was disappointed to have his race unravel after a number of incidents, saying: “It was just a very odd race of snakes and ladders.

"I'd make it through the field and then have a crash with someone. I had probably three separate incidents that were unavoidable. That sort of ruined my day.

"One was quite costly and then that put me on the back foot and then I'd come through and then had another crash, dropped back and then I ended up 16th overall."