Todd Hazelwood described it as “truly cinematic”. Brodie Kostecki labelled it “truly incredible”.
And for Anton De Pasquale and his team, there was no hiding from the truth of one of the biggest final-lap blunders in Australian motorsport history.
Kostecki and Hazelwood were on Monday still coming to terms with their remarkable Bathurst 1000 triumph, following a late-night partying session that was befitting of the dramatic last-gasp victory at Mount Panorama.
“I’ve said it many times: Todd’s the fastest co-driver out there, and I feel so lucky to have him,” Kostecki said.
“But he was much faster at drinking beers last night than what he was on the race track, so that was pretty impressive.”
The Shell V-Power duo celebrated their dramatic victory in style, which came courtesy of two significant strokes of luck on Sunday.
After Chaz Mostert’s crash that triggered a safety car with five laps to go, De Pasquale ran out of fuel in the closing stages to enable Kostecki to breeze past.
Kostecki revealed he had chatted to his rival via text message in the aftermath of the result to help support him following the late heartbreak.
“Sometimes you’re on the good end of the stick, and sometimes you’re on the bad end of the stick,” Kostecki said.
“Ultimately, if there was no safety car, they were going to run it out with three laps to go.
“It’s pretty tough for him. Anton’s a great mate of mine… but that’s how it goes sometimes.
“He’s a pro, so I have no doubt in my mind that he’ll win one of these.”
Hazelwood said the victory was testament to the never-say-die approach of his team.
“We always say ‘never give up’ and ‘it’s not over ‘til it’s over’,” he said.
“I was actually scanning the other team’s radio – we can tune in to what the rivals are saying to their drivers.
“I was hearing a lot of desperation from their engineers to Anton, mentioning ‘maximum fuel save’.
“It became apparent to us that they might not make it on fuel.
“I was in complete shock… I couldn’t believe what I was watching.
“There wasn’t a dry eye in the garage.”
The thrilling finish helped provide a ratings bonanza for Seven, who had more than 1.45 million people tuning on Sunday.