Erebus Motorsport boss Barry Ryan broke down as he defended his character amid the ongoing Brodie Kostecki saga, saying he is not a “bully” as he and team owner Petey Klimenko have maintained it is “none of our business” if the reigning champion races for the title. team this year.
Breaking their silence on the bombshell that rocked the Championship team and Supercars, Erebus team bosses were unable to shed light on why Kostecki would not take part in the season-opening Bathurst 500 with Klimenko saying she had to “respect Brody’s privacy”.
After claiming his maiden Supercars title with Erebus last season, Kostecki will be conspicuously absent from the grid when the 2024 championship kicks off this weekend following a breakdown in relations with the team.
Todd Hazlewood will race in place of Kostecki at Bathurst, and Ryan said it remains to be decided who will be in the car for the next round at the Australian Grand Prix – and beyond.
There are still doubts about whether Kostecki will compete with Erebus again.
While Ryan and Klimenko have remained tight-lipped about the conversations with Kosticki, they have spoken openly about the personal toll the situation has taken on them.
“The most important thing to me is that my wife and my daughters make sure I don't hurt myself or do something silly because there's been so much hate,” an emotional Ryan said in an interview with Fox Sports' Jess Yates.
“I'm not that kind of person, I'm not a bully, I don't do anything but care about people.
“(Through) the whole process, the wife of one of my best colleagues passed away and I was with him in the intensive care hospitals trying to support him.
“They will (be seen) as fake tears across social media soon. I'm ready for all of that.
“At the end of last year we were on top of the world and everyone believed in us, and now, for people to decide that they no longer believe in us, it hurts.
“I have to have the energy to make sure we can rebuild this and do it again, which I have. But it hurts, it definitely hurts.”
“Barry, you have a heart of gold, but they don't see it,” Klimenko added.
The Erebus owner said the saga had also affected her family.
“The worst was when one of my grandchildren read it,” Klimenko said. “I don’t know how they read it, but they read it somewhere and said to my son, ‘Is grandma a bad lady?’ And that’s what happened to me.”
“I had to say no, I'm not a bad lady, I'm just not saying anything.”
“We've had to put up with it, we've had to face the haters, we've had to face the people who say these things and we try to let it go, but sometimes in the middle of the night you can't let it go, it affects you.
“I burst into tears on the plane (coming here) because I wanted to go home. But then I thought 'No, I have a team here waiting for me, I have fans here waiting.'
“But the hurt is real and you have to let it go.”
Asked to shed light on the current situation with Kostecki, Klimenko said the team was unable to say more.
“We respect Brody's privacy…that's why we can't say anything,” she said.
“We need to look forward and talk about Todd and Jack (Le Brocq), but as far as Brody is concerned, we can't say a word.
“Things will get right at some point, but that's not what matters.
“What matters is that we respect Brody's privacy, and we respect the fact that we can't say anything.”
When asked if Kostecki would run for Erebus this year, Klimenko said: “It's not up to us. It's not in our hands.”
Klimenko vowed that the team would get back on track.
“Don't worry, this is just bus 167,” she said, “We've been under a lot of buses, Baz.”
“We're always working our way up.”
Erebus won the Drivers' and Team's Championships last year, but has a completely new driver line-up for the opening round with Lou Brocq replacing Will Brown, who defected to rival Triple Eight.
Amid the Kosteck drama, Erebus lost two of its major sponsors from last season, including naming rights backers Coca-Cola.
