A crash resulting in the back of a Supercar being “totally destroyed” in a “massive whack” led to Melbourne 400 qualifying ending early.
A red flag was implemented when Jake Kostecki of Tradie Racing smashed his Ford Mustang in a crash at turn five of the first and last qualifying session on Thursday afternoon.
The cars that followed avoided the crashed Ford Mustang and Kostecki emerged unscathed at the Albert Park Circuit.
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“… look at that thing. It got away from Jake straight away,” said former Supercars driver Neil Crompton on the Fox Sports broadcast.
“As soon as he turned it in, the back of that car was disconnected.
“It has speedwayed straight into the barrier up there and totally destroyed the back of that car, not to mention the barriers.
“It’s done its job, but that has taken a massive whack.”
Kostecki was consigned to 25th on the grid for races six and seven as David Reynolds of Penrite Racing secured his first pole position since 2019.
Kostecki said he was “sorry” to the other drivers for “making a mistake” and explained the cause of the crash.
https://twitter.com/supercars/status/1511952514102759428
“We took a big swing at it for that session, we were pretty pacy in practice two,” Kostecki said.
“We made a big change for qualifying and it made my car really loose.
“Just took a bit too much out of the tyre there.”
Broc Feeney of Red Bull Ampol Racing had collided into the barriers at turn five, too, crashing in practice one, but also walked away fine.
“It’s a tricky corner, but it’s not like it’s on the driver,” Kostecki said.
“You’ve got to trust the car through there.
“We made a big change for qualifying and it didn’t pay off at all.
“It was really loose and that was the end of it.”
The cars will return to the Albert Park Circuit for dual qualifying on Friday morning.
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