{"id":370041,"date":"2024-02-23T02:14:17","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T03:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=370041"},"modified":"2024-02-23T06:05:09","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T06:05:09","slug":"supercars-team-boss-brought-to-tears-by-driver-split","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=370041","title":{"rendered":"Supercars team boss brought to tears by driver split"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erebus Motorsport<\/a> CEO Barry Ryan and the team's owner Betty Klimenko have broken their silence in an emotional interview amid a dispute with its driver Brodie Kostecki<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Supercars<\/a> season will get underway on February 23-25 without last year's champion who has abstained from competing at Mount Panorama<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Exactly why Kostecki has decided not to race for the team has not been revealed by either the driver or the team. However, allegations of a "toxic workplace" have permeated the pit lane.<\/p>\n

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Erebus will field Todd Hazelwood in Kostecki's place with Jack Le Brocq taking the reins of the car formerly driven by Will Brown.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"We respect the privacy of Brodie," said Klimenko when asked if she could shed any light on the situation.<\/p>\n

\"Erebus<\/p>\n

"Because of that, we can't say anything. Really, we need to look forward and talk about Todd and Jack. But as far as Brodie is concerned, we can't say a word."<\/p>\n

Klimenko later added, "It will be set straight at some point, but that's not what matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"What matters is that we respect Brodie's privacy, we respect the fact that we can't say anything, and we've just had to take this on.<\/p>\n

"We've had to take on the haters, we've had to take on the people saying these things and try to let it go, but sometimes in the dead of night, you can't let it go. It affects you.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Coming in today I burst into tears on the plane. I wanted to go home. But then I thought no, I've got a team here waiting for me. I've got fans here waiting for me. I've got Barry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I've got everyone else who are there to protect us and that's what they do. But the hurt is something that it's real. You just have to let it go."<\/p>\n

\"Erebus<\/p>\n

On Friday ahead of practice at The Mountain, Ryan and Klimenko said they were coping before detailing the online abuse they had received in the wake of the news.<\/p>\n

Ryan also made note of the passing of Dana Wyhoon, the wife of close friend Terry Wyhoon who runs Image Racing in the Super2 Series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"At the end of last year we were on top of the world," said Ryan.<\/p>\n

"Everybody believed in us. To have people decide that they didn't believe in us anymore, that hurts.<\/p>\n

"I've got to have the energy to make sure we can rebuild this and do it again, which I have, but yeah it hurts, it definitely hurts. We just want to get back and worry about racing.<\/p>\n

"The biggest thing for me is my wife and daughter making sure I'm not going to hurt myself or do something silly," he added.<\/p>\n

"There's been so much hate and I'm not that sort of person. I'm not a bully. I don't do anything but care for people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"In the whole process of this I've had one of my best mate's wife pass away. I've been in intensive care hospitals with him and trying to support him. It's just been hard."<\/p>\n

\"Brodie<\/p>\n

Klimenko said she was asked questions by her grandson, who had read comments about her on social media.<\/p>\n

"The worst was when one of my grandchildren \u2013 I don't know where they read it, but they read it somewhere \u2013 and said to my son, 'Is grandma a bad lady?'," she said.<\/p>\n

"That did me in. I just had to go, 'No, I'm not a bad lady, I'm just not saying anything'."<\/p>\n

By all accounts, it's unlikely Kostecki will race again for Erebus Motorsport in its current guise.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/supercars\/status\/1760836940964974597<\/a><\/p>\n

Ryan would not confirm the team's plans beyond the Bathurst 500 regarding stand-in Hazelwood.<\/p>\n

It's expected Hazelwood will continue to race for the team in Kostecki's absence.<\/p>\n

Klimenko said Supercar CEO Shane Howard had offered to help but noted their hands were tied.<\/p>\n

The team lost primary sponsor Coca-Cola Europacific Partners in the wake of Kostecki's absence as well as Shaw and Partners and Southern Cross Truck Rentals.<\/p>\n

Supercars has two races at Mount Panorama on Saturday and Sunday respectively, each 250km long.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Erebus Motorsport CEO Barry Ryan and the team's owner Betty Klimenko have broken their silence in an emotional interview amid a dispute with its driver […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":370044,"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\/370041"}],"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=370041"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":370048,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370041\/revisions\/370048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/370044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=370041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=370041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=370041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}