{"id":366017,"date":"2024-02-07T18:48:25","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T19:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=366017"},"modified":"2024-02-07T21:02:55","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T21:02:55","slug":"disgusting-act-slammed-as-new-kostecki-details-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=366017","title":{"rendered":"'Disgusting' act slammed as new Kostecki details revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Supercars<\/a> team boss Jeff Grech has ripped Erebus Motorsport<\/a>'s decision to run the champion's No.1 on Todd Hazelwood's car during pre-season testing.<\/p>\n

The No.1 is reserved for use exclusively by the previous year's champion. Brodie Kostecki<\/a> won his maiden title in 2023 before his highly-publicised exit from the team.<\/a><\/p>\n

Having run the team's customary No.99\ufeff on his way to the title, Kostecki had previously indicated he would run the No.1 for his title defence.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Premiership star Burgess poised to leave Rabbitohs<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Ponting's big prediction for emerging star's future<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'We need to stop': Scott's terrorised ex blasts Fox Sports<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Grech worked for the Holden Racing Team \u2013 which has now morphed into the Ford squad Walkinshaw Andretti United \u2013 for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n

\"Todd<\/p>\n

Grech joined HRT ahead of the 1993 Bathurst 1000<\/a>, only months before Peter Brock<\/a> joined for what would be the final four years of his full-time racing career.<\/p>\n

In only two seasons, he took HRT from a middling squad to the powerhouse of the sport, and was at the helm for each of Craig Lowndes<\/a>' three titles in 1996, 1998 and 1999, and then for Mark Skaife's three-peat between 2000-2002.<\/p>\n

Grech left Supercars at the end of 2009, but returned for a three-year stint with Team 18 between 2016-2018.<\/p>\n

Now working as a consultant with the Winton Raceway, where several teams including Erebus were testing this week, Grech labelled the team's decision to run the No.1 on Hazelwood's car was "disgusting".<\/p>\n

\"Jeff<\/p>\n

"The bloke that won the championship is the No.1 bloke," he told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"It's totally disrespectful (to Kostecki)."<\/p>\n

News of Kostecki's split with the team \u2013 amid accusations of Erebus being a "toxic workplace"<\/a> \u2013 broke last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since then Erebus has issued only a brief statement on social media, before Supercars released their own shortly after with quotes attributed to chief executive Shane Howard.<\/p>\n

Howard on Tuesday also released an open letter to fans, defending accusations of bias and inaction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Brodie<\/p>\n

Erebus have confirmed only that Kostecki would be "unavailable" for the season-opening Bathurst 500, but it's widely believed he will not return to the wheel this season.<\/p>\n

Hazelwood, who was set to spend at least a year on the sidelines, will drive for the team at Bathurst and then on a race-by-race basis thereafter.<\/p>\n

Ryan also broke his silence on Wednesday<\/a>. He told V8 Sleuth the situation had been "blown out of proportion", but didn't elaborate further.<\/p>\n

Grech said the split between Kostecki and Erebus was unprecedented.<\/p>\n

"I've never seen anything like it in my life. Throughout my years in motorsport, I've seen disagreements and drivers move on, but this is bizarre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I feel for the sport, I certainly feel for Brodie and I feel for the fan base.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It's a sad state of affairs \u2026 I'm just really gutted for Brodie. Absolutely gutted.<\/p>\n

"I've had dealings with drivers and contracts and it's a bit of a two-way street. Sometimes the drivers expectations aren't what the teams are, but you work it out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Jeff<\/p>\n

"I don't think I've ever seen it get to the point where it's been on-show this bad."<\/p>\n

Wide World of Sports believes Kostecki's split from the team is believed to have stemmed from a falling out with team boss Barry Ryan, and legal intervention has begun to negotiate an early exit from the squad.<\/p>\n

Grech said motorsport, like every other workplace, is as susceptible to conflict and disputes between management and staff. He said Erebus' handling of Kostecki's grievances left much to be desired.<\/p>\n

As did their apparent poor communication with sponsors, which saw three \u2013 including their two biggest backers in Coca-Cola and Shaw and Partners<\/a> \u2013 walk out on the team.<\/p>\n

\"Brodie<\/p>\n

Grech said the team should've had full and frank conversations with sponsors well in advance to ensure they weren't blindsided.<\/p>\n

"When we were a factory team at HRT, we always kept Holden, and for that matter the rest of the sponsor group, up to speed on everything," he said.<\/p>\n

"We had to. Not only because it's polite to do so, but they're your major sponsors, you always let them know before anything got out the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"You work with them so they can get well ahead of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Brodie<\/p>\n

"Generally, if you do that, they respect it and then look to the team to sort the issue out. You keep them abreast of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"But my mail is the sponsor group wasn't told until the last minute about a dispute that had been going on for a while, and it caught them out."<\/p>\n

The two brand new Erebus Camaro's ran problem free during across Tuesday's shake-down and Wednesday's official Supercars test day.<\/p>\n

Both Todd Hazelwood and Jack le Brocq ran in plain black and white liveries devoid of any major sponsors.<\/p>\n

Category rules will force Hazelwood to run a different number at the Bathurst 500, likely the team's customary No.99, which Kostecki ran in 2023.<\/p>\n

The Bathurst 500 begins at the Mount Panorama circuit on February 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Supercars team boss Jeff Grech has ripped Erebus Motorsport's decision to run the champion's No.1 on Todd Hazelwood's car during pre-season testing. The No.1 […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":366019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=366017"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":366021,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366017\/revisions\/366021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/366019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=366017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=366017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=366017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}