Supercars’ parity dispute erupts at Bathurst as Barry Ryan fires back at Brodie Kostecki and Ford: ‘I’m sick of it’

Brodie Kostecki has fired the latest shot in a Supercars’ parity dispute, believing Ford drivers will have an “incredibly difficult” Bathurst 1000.

Despite setting a new qualifying record to take provisional pole at the Bathurst 1000, Kostecki blasted Supercars for a lack of action over an engine deficiency.

The Ford camp are concerned over a straight line speed disadvantage after recent testing by Supercars on the barometric pressure on the different engines.

Aerodynamic changes were also made to the Mustang last month, with Kostecki and co-driver Todd Hazelwood leading a Ford podium at The Bend 500.

Kostecki then flaunted blistering speed on Friday to shave 0.241 seconds off his 2023 Gen3 qualifying record at Mount Panorama and take out provisional pole for Sunday’s Great Race.

He put down a lap time of two minutes and 4.030 seconds, finishing ahead of championship leader Broc Feeney in the Chevrolet Camaro.

Fellow Ford driver Ryan Wood was third, but Kostecki insisted the qualifying lap speed “doesn’t matter” in terms of race pace.

“The best way to put it is we’re at our biggest race of the year and it’s like a footy grand final, points are tied,” Kostecki said.

“There’s a free kick and you have to ask the other side to miss the free kick to win the grand final.

“It’s pretty disappointing for everyone that’s on the Ford side, and it’s going to make it incredibly difficult come Sunday.”

Kostecki has been a crucial factor in comparing the Camaro and Mustang this year after winning the Supercars title in 2023 and Bathurst with Erebus last year.

Pipped by 0.006 seconds, Triple Eight ace Feeney didn’t think much of Kostecki’s parity concern.

“I mean, they went pretty well at The Bend,” Feeney said.

Anton De Pasquale was next best for the Chevrolet camp, finishing fourth ahead of Erebus rookie Cooper Murray.

But Erebus boss Barry Ryan was similarly unmoved by Ford’s concerns and said “there’s no way we can test barometric pressure properly in Australia”.

“I haven’t seen any data, and they haven’t shown anyone any data,” Ryan told AAP.

“Straight-line speed here is how good you come off turn one and how good you come off first elbow.

“It’s not just when you get your foot flat and the engine’s better.”

Ryan believed the parity dispute was threatening the motorsport category.

“They just want to complain about it. I think it’s something they’re just making up,” Ryan said.

“Unfortunately, in the last few years, they’ve threatened the sport.

“They’ve said that they’re going to pull out of the sport and basically bullied the sport, and personally, I’m sick of it.

“Even if I was a Ford team, I’d probably be saying, ‘Hey, guys, you need to pipe down and look after the sport’.

“If I see the data and I see that they’ve got something wrong and there’s a disparity, yeah, fix it.”

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