Erebus management breaks silence amid Kostecki controversy
Erebus Motorsport owner Betty Klimenko and team CEO Barry Ryan have spoken about their team’s split with Supercars Champion Brodie Kostecki, but what happened to cause the rift remains a mystery.
Photo by: Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics
In a television interview with Fox Sports' Jess Yates at Bathurst, the venue of the season-opening round of the 2024 Supercars Championship, Klimenko and Ryan said that they were hurt by the split but have not opened up to what has caused Kostecki to sit out, at least, the opening round, in which Todd Hazelwood is driving the team's #99 Chevrolet Camaro.
“At the end of last year we were on top of the world,” said Ryan.
“Everybody believed in us. To have people decide that they didn’t believe in us anymore, that hurts.
“I’ve got to have the energy to make sure we can rebuild this and do it again, which I have. But yeah, it hurts, it definitely hurts. We just want to get back and worry about racing.
“The biggest thing for me is my wife and daughter making sure I’m not going to hurt myself or do something silly. Because there's been so much hate and I’m not that sort of person.
“I'm not a bully. I don't do anything but care for people. And in the whole process of this I’ve had one of my best mate’s wife pass away. I’ve been in hospitals with him and trying to support him. It’s just been hard.”
Betty Klimenko, Erebus Motorsport
Photo by: Fox Sports
During the off-season, in the wake of Kostecki’s apparent departure, the team lost some of its major sponsors, including Coca-Cola and Shaw & Partners.
Klimenko said that, at present, she could not shed light on the reasons for the split.
“It will be set straight at some point, but that's not what matters. What matters is that we respect Brodie’s privacy, we respect the fact that we can’t say anything, and we’ve just had to take this on.
“We’ve had to take on the haters and try and let it go. But sometimes in the dead of night you can’t let it go. It affects you. Coming in today I burst into tears on the plane. I wanted to go home.
“But then I thought, ‘no, I’ve got a team here waiting for me. I’ve got fans here waiting for me. I’ve got Barry. I’ve got everyone else who are there to protect us’. But the hurt is something that is real.”
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