Reigning Supercars champion Brodie Kostecki is reportedly on the brink of a shock split from Erebus Motorsport amid rumours of a falling out with the team and CEO Barry Ryan.
The 26-year-old led Erebus to a maiden Supercars driver and team championships after a decade of racing, but could withdraw from the final year of his contract with less than a month before the season begins.
According to Speedcafe, Kostecki has decided to leave and is set to be replaced by Todd Hazelwood, who was widely expected to be named as an Erebus co-driver this year.
News Corp reports last-ditch talks were taking place Tuesday in an attempt to convince him to stay.
The Supercars grid is full for the upcoming season, meaning another team would have to axe a driver to make room for Kostecki - or else he would be sidelined.
Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton, whose company is Kostecki’s personal sponsor, took to Facebook on Tuesday to writer: “This is a Huge loss for Supercars and those supporting partners and most importantly the fans it’s clear there are issues across the Board from Teams, to drivers...no Brodie, No SVG, what a huge loss.
“Boost and MobileX will continue to support Brodie as we always have.”
It is another major blow for Erebus, who already lost young gun Will Brown to Triple Eight, where he replaced the great Shane van Gisbergen following his departure to NASCAR.
Co-driver Jack Perkins has also departed the Erebus team, while there has been an internal restructuring with Crew Chief Brad Tremain promoted to Team Principal.
Kostecki drove the #99 Chevrolet Camaro to six wins and ten pole positions, with 18 podiums in total from 28 races.
He also made his NASCAR debut last year with Richard Childress Racing, with Childress in November telling multiple outlets the plan was for Kostecki to race in up to five NASCAR Cup events in 2024.
“Hopefully, we can race him two or three [times] on the road courses,” Childress told Fox Sports.
“But I want to run him on an oval, he’s raced on them earlier in his career.”
