Kurt Michael Kostecki (born 4 July 1998) is an Australian racing driver of Ukrainian descent.[1]
Biography
Australia
Super2 Series
In December 2014, Kostecki became one of the youngest people to drive a V8 Supercar when, at the age of 16, he debuted in the Dunlop Series support race for the Sydney 500 for MW Motorsport.[2] Failing to finish his first race and finishing 19th in the second, he was picked up by RSport. His season lasted four rounds, but with a best result of 14th, he stepped down from the drive to focus on school studies and was replaced with privateer Phil Woodbury. The Kostecki family purchased two Gen2 Holden VF Commodore chassis from Triple Eight Race Engineering (who Kurt worked for as a third mechanic), running Kurt and brother Jake from 2016 onwards. His fortunes improved with six top-ten finishes (including two fourth placings) and 16th in the championship. He finished eighth in the 2017 Super2 Series and is also competing full time in the 2018 Super2 Series. In 2019 he switched to Triple Eight Race Engineering finishing second in the championship.
Supercars Championship
In 2016, Kostecki was also gifted the unusual opportunity to drive for Team 18 at the Townsville and Ipswich rounds of the championship following extensive damage to the teams' original chassis and injury to driver Lee Holdsworth, seeing as he could provide the team a spare chassis.[3] At Townsville he finished 25th in Race One and DNFed in Race Two, and in Ipswich he finished 23rd in Race One and 21st in Race Two.
For 2018, Kostecki is entered as a wildcard at round 9 at Queensland Raceway[4] and round 11 The Bend SuperSprint driving a Holden VF Commodore.[5]
United States
Kostecki was initially slated to run the second half of the 2014 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East alongside his cousin Brodie Kostecki, however this plan did not come to fruition.[6]
Career results
Career summary
Complete Super2 Series results
(key) (Round results only)
Supercars Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results
| Year | Team | Co-drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Overall position |
Class position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 |  Hobson Motorsport/GWR
|
Brett Hobson Garth Walden
|
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 (2015) | Silver | 288 | 21st | 5th |
Complete Bathurst 1000 results
| Year | Team | Car | Co-driver | Position | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Walkinshaw Andretti United | Holden Commodore ZB | Bryce Fullwood
|
DNF | 147 |
| 2021 | Matt Stone Racing | Holden Commodore ZB | Jake Kostecki
|
13th | 161 |
| 2022 | Tickford Racing | Ford Mustang Mk.6 | Jake Kostecki
|
17th | 161 |
References
- ^ "Supercars team shows support for Ukraine". Seven Network. 3 March 2022.
- ^ "Dunlop Young Guns - Kurt Kostecki". Supercars.com. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
- ^ "Lengthy repair forces major shake-up at Team 18". Speedcafe.com. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
- ^ "Kostecki felt like a debutant again at Ipswich". Speedcafe.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ^ "Two Wildcard entries have been confirmed for Supercars' first visit to The Bend circuit in South Australia later this month". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
- ^ "Kurt Kostecki chases US Dream". Speedcafe.com. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
External links
- Kurt Kostecki career summary at DriverDB.com
- Kurt Kostecki driver statistics at Racing-Reference
- News, pictures & video's at Motorsport.com