Kai Allen escaped penalty for a tyre breach in Perth. Image: Supplied
Allen’s Grove Mustang breached the Supercars tyre pressure regulations on the Sunday in Perth when two of its tyres dipped under the 16 psi minimum on the grid.
However, despite the breach being established, stewards elected not to issue Allen with a penalty due to a range of mitigating circumstances.
That outcome infuriated much of the paddock, including Supercars itself which unsuccessfully appealed the decision from the stewards.
The matter was a talking point on the post-Perth episode of the Lucky Dogs podcast, with Kostecki – known as one of the most technically astute drivers in the field – claiming the advantage was as much as three-tenths of a second per lap.
Kostecki’s podcast co-host Will Brown agreed that it was a “massive advantage”.
Those comments drew the ire of Grove Racing chief Brenton Grove, who took aim at Kostecki and Brown on Friday in Ipswich.
“I think there were a couple of drivers that made that comment who also had a pretty horrible Perth,” he said.
“So I’m not surprised that they did that and they’ve got a voice in their podcast to do so.
“I think Will and Brodie’s strong suit is not maths. To claim the advantage was as big as what it was is ridiculous.
“And ultimately you can go back and look at the pace of the race and Kai was fastest at the end of the race.
“People can say what they want, it doesn’t change anything at the end of the day. We had a fast car, the other car won the race. Numbers are numbers.”
There have been concerns that the non-penalty sets a precedent that teams may look to exploit by flirting with lower starting pressures.
However Grove says for his team the saga will likely prompt a more conservative approach.
“Our job is to always be at the limit and our job is to understand the ruleset that we have,” explained.
“I can guarantee you we won’t be going lower in tyre pressure. It’s not a great situation to have been in and it’s not a whole lot of fun going through it.
“We’ll certainly make sure we’re not putting any results in jeopardy or putting any extra pressure on ourselves than what we need.”