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'That is remarkable': Bathurst 1000 delayed by shock poisoning drama

Sam Goodwin
·Sports Editor

The start of the Bathurst 1000 was delayed in bizarre scenes at Mount Panorama on Sunday.

The Great Race was meant to get underway at 11:30am AEDT, however organisers were forced to push things back when one of the cars stopped on the track during the formation lap.

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Brodie Kostecki got out of his car and left it on the track after suffering an issue with his cooling system.

A cooling system failure in the Commodore forced Kostecki to stop at the top of Conrod Straight and he was taken to the medical centre, forcing his cousin and co-driver Jake to start.

Brodie Kostecki, pictured here getting out of his car.
The race was delayed in bizarre scenes. Image: Supercars

He suffered burning eyes and breathing difficulties as a result of a problem with his helmet fan, suffering carbon dioxide poisoning.

But Brodie Kostecki was later cleared to drive after he was assessed in the medical centre where he received oxygen and also underwent a concussion test.

"It was pretty scary but yeah, I'm back," Brodie Kostecki said.

The incident caused a 15-minute delay to the race start with Jake Kostecki forced to begin from pit lane after their Commodore was towed back to the garage.

Frenetic start to Bathurst 1000

It initially did not look good for Brodie Kostecki's return with team official Paul Morris telling TV reporters he was concerned by his driver's condition.

"Obviously he's pretty crook but we've got Kurt here who was on the podium in the Super2 race (support category)," Morris said.

"It makes sense to do it (replace driver). It's been done before, not at this late notice.

"But we'll see where Brodie is first but he didn't look too healthy."

It was the first time in the event’s history that a Bathurst 1000 had been delayed after the cars had come to the starting grid.

The bizarre scenes left fans and commentators stunned.

“That is remarkable for that to happen,” Mark Skaife said in commentary for Channel 10.

There were more crazy scenes when racing eventually got underway, with Tim Slade crashing into the fence on the opening lap.

with AAP